Operation Iraqi Freedom, Shmoperation Shmiraqi Shmreedom

I was asked the other day if I didn't think the humanitarian cause was reason enough to go to war with Iraq. Sure it is. It's just not the reason we're going to war with Iraq. There are a myriad of other countries that have horrible human rights violations that we don't seem to have a problem with. In fact, some of them are members (however dubious) of the "coalition of the willing".

Read this CNN.com article.

When asked why the U.S. felt it could have countries who were criticized in the report as members of its coalition against Iraq, Powell said, "We do not believe it is inconsistent to work with nations who are willing to assist in this effort who themselves have some problems with respect to human rights that we candidly talk to them about and encourage them to change."

Uhh huh. I'm sure Saudi Arabia also talks candidly back to us and encourages us to buy their oil.

The article also notes human rights violations in China, Israel, Palestine, Colombia, Afghanistan (wait, didn't we liberate them already?), and other nations. We're not going to war with any of those nations. I'm going to "go out on a limb" here and say that "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is hideously misnamed.