Honestly, how much could it hurt to read? Just read something other than a blog for a change. Is that the end of the world? Is the suggestion of reading so heinous, the idea of learning new information so terrible?

Please, in all seriousness and honesty, just read a few of these. What could it possibly hurt? What do you possibly hope to gain by refusing to read them? I know it’s easier to make fun of me and suggest that I haven’t read them, that all I’ve done is skim them, that they’re from a class reading list, etc etc etc, but all that isn’t particularly insulting to me when I have read them and you are refusing to read them. If you want to insult, I recommend finding a different avenue.

Ok, now I am done.

I believe there has been some confusion. I go by Anon, while another commenter goes by Anonymous. I can easily see how the mix-up might have been made, especially coming from someone who already has a tendency to lump everyone who disagrees with her into one giant, monolithic Enemy.

But, I digress. I’m going to stop talking in this thread, but before I leave, I’d like to recommend a few articles. These articles, which may at first appear to have nothing to do with each other, are really all about why organized violence occurs, and why it is decreasingly happening at the state level and increasingly happening at the sub-state level, especially in the Third World. It might not be immediately obvious what relevance they have for Iraq, but I imagine that if you read them, you’ll understand.

-Stephen Van Evera, “Offense, Defense and the Cause of War,” International Security, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Spring 1998)

-Chris Hedges, War is a Force that Gives us Meaning (New York: Anchor, 2002) (esp. ch. 2, “The Plague of Nationalism” and ch. 3, “The Destruction of Culture”)

-J. Fearon and D. Laitin, “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War,” American Political Science Review Vol. 97, No. 1 (February 2003)

-Mohammad Ayoob, “State Making, State Breaking and State Failure,” in Chester Crocker, Fen Hampson, and Pamela Aall, eds., Managing Global Chaos (Washington, DC: USIP, 1996)

-Deborah Avant, “The Implications of Marketized Security for IR Theory: the Democratic Peace, Late State Building and the Nature and Frequency of Conflict,” Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 4, No. 3 (2006)

-Azar Gat, “The Democratic Peace Theory Reframed: the Impact of Modernity,” World Politics Vol. 58, No. 1 (October 2005)

-David Laitin and James Fearon, “Neotrusteeship and the Problem of Weak States,” International Security Vol. 28, No. 4 (spring 2004)

Well, I guess that’s more than I remembered, but I highly recommend that you (or anyone here) read these. Beats, you know, getting information about Iraq from a psychiatric professional with no IR, foreign affairs, or Middle Eastern studies background.

Ultimately, the person to blame is Neo-neocon, who sets the example by making violent, sweeping generalizations about the “left.” What’s vexing is that she should know better — her mind is subtle — but she doesn’t and there you have it.

I do have to split for a lecture now (lol), so I’ll just wrap by again appealing to you to channel your energies towards booting these bastards from power rather than indulging your curiosity or trying to engage them in a meaningful conversation. Most of the liberals in the world can only wring their hands and watch; you’re an American, you can can actually step out there and help turf this godawful administration. Please consider it.

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