The End of History

I've just read a piece on Francis Fukuyama whose name has recently become a buzzword again in the international political-world. Notice the use of again: He initially gained attention when he wrote a paper titled "The End of History" which I think I've may have mentioned before.

Mr Fukuyama was among those who urged the Bush administration to take out Saddam Hussein in Iraq during President Bush's first term in office. But now he's making a roundabout turn and says that the Iraq War has been, "wrong in theory and practice".

Mr Fukuyama believes that although Saddam Hussein was leading a very oppressive regime in Iraq, he implies that perhaps the "human costs" of removing him may have outweighed the benefits.

The article was pretty informative and it gave me a better idea on what Mr Fukuyama stood for. I'd like to think that the Iraq War was a necessary evil because of the potential threat posed by the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction. But on the other hand, the amount of damage that this unilateral act has done in terms of sunken military costs, military casualties, civilian casualties, American credibility, UN credibility, oil prices etc. begs me to think otherwise.

Here's a random ramble from an excerpt I picked up from an excerpt of his new book, "After the Neocons":

"Much of the campaign against jihadist terrorism will be fought out in Western Europe by our allies; we will have little direct role in this struggle since many of the terrorists will be European citizens.Outside of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the anti-jihadist campaign will look more like a police and intelligence operation than a war."

The first part is quite a bold claim and he hasn't backed it up. Maybe I'll need to read the actual book for more info on this. I agree with the second part. My lecturer said the other day that we're all being monitored 24/7.There are CCTVs everywhere; using your Oyster Card when taking public transport allows the system to keep records of all your journey details(that's probably why using your Oyster is so much cheaper now compared to buying single tickets).