America's honor is at stake in Iraq....

[mike_c]

America's honor is at stake in Iraq, and what we do about the situation will determine how the rest of the world views us for many years to come, and how we regard ourselves as well.

Our national honor is not at risk because the outcome of the war against Iraq is uncertain, but rather because we are waging it in the first place. The war against Iraq is an international crime. It is a war of aggression, a crime against humanity. It is defined as such by the Nuremburg Principles and the U.N. Charter, both of which are codified into law by Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, and no internal legislation, such as the Iraq War Resolution, can supplant the international laws founded upon the Nuremburg Principles. That principle was itself established by the United States. We are surrounded by a multitude of our own petards these days; we cannot escape the fundamental principles of international conduct that we ourselves established.

Our honor is uncertain because we are engaged in a monstrous crime, and because rather than ending the crime we waste our morality debating the merits of being criminals. Surely there can be no doubt that the perpetrator of a deliberate international crime against humanity is by definition a criminal nation? Again, the rule of law is clear on that point. We are currently a criminal nation. The question now is "what do we do about it?"

The first responsibility of any criminal is to stop committing his crime. The first obligation of society is to protect the right of victims to relief from crime, whether individuals or nations. Justice can only begin when the crime is stopped. Restitution, punishment, and reconciliation must follow, but they cannot begin until the crime ceases. A period of deliberation is often necessary, and an examination of the facts, but again, this cannot begin until the crime is stopped.

All justice follows from this. No justice can begin while the crime is ongoing. No honor can be reclaimed. No reconciliation can be accepted.

America's honor is at stake because its crime against Iraq continues. Those who argue for continuing it further-- whether to "win" it or simply because they cannot face the consequences of our crimes-- they are ultimately refusing to allow justice to begin. They are demanding that the crimes continue.

The U.S. presence in Iraq is criminal. The only road to justice requires that the crime be stopped before anything else can be undertaken. American can only prevent tarnishing its honor further by withdrawing from Iraq immediately. No crime can be assuaged by further injury.

[seabeyond]

1. honestly, ... we lost our honor a long time ago. that is ok

it is what it is. we wil have to start all over to ever retai that honor again in the future. it will take work and time and being a better person than what we have been of late. my kids are willing to do the work

[Beelzebud]

2. We lost every ounce of honor when we invaded Iraq.

Shock and Awe pretty much blew our sense of honor away for decades to come.

[bluerum]

3. Honor,,, is an illusion,,, a vaporous concept that is often waved in

our faces as the reason that we should fight and die for someone else's cause.

An illusion that we can never quite grasp - its seductive smooth surface just out of reach. But we are told that it is something we can realize if we just stay the course.

edit for content.

[Porcupine]

4. Our "honor" has been working the streetcorner in a very short skirt.

It was sold for a big black Cadillac Escalade and plenty of gas to fuel it. It owes the next few years earnings to the bookie for that big house south of town. Oh, and the AC quit.

[pansypoo53219]

5. our honor was lost when the SCOTUS went partisan and appointed

the lesser man.

[Solly Mack]

6. I'm in the "what honor?" pew

America's "honor" (what honor America had) is already kaput.

If nothing else, torturing people strips a country of its honor - more especially when the government pretends it isn't happening even as they speak of it in terms of "bad apples" and "necessary interrogation techniques"

If America ever hopes to rebuild some measure of honor, the war criminals will have to be held accountable - otherwise, America will always be the country that allowed its war criminal government to walk free...and there will never be any recovering from that.

If you're an American, you're a citizen of a war crime nation - and anyone that can just accept that, anyone that can make peace with that...is someone who can overlook any evil...is someone who only pretends to be outraged by it all. Is someone who has shut out the good and embraced the bad.

[jannyk]

7. No honor left to lose. nt