Quote Originally Posted by Watchman
If you go and dismantle the extant law-enforcement system without setting up a decent replacement, the resulting anarchy is pretty squarely your fault. Human societies have developed more or less extensive systems for enforcing the assorted rules of behaviour that keep people from murdering each other at the drop of the hat for the quite simple reason that without those, they will and do. There's always enough violent assholes around for that, even without the pre-existing tensions Iraq had. "Doesn’t change the fact that the individual citizens have a personal responsibility to carry on in a civil manner and act according to the law" is nothing more than a cheap cop-out in the context.
You don’t think people should be responsible for their actions? Even children without parental supervision know the difference between right and wrong and understand that there will be consequences if they do something considered wrong. It’s hardly a cop-out to say that people should act responsibility if given a little freedom. It may be a bit presumptuous given the circumstance but hardly a cop-out.