Originally Posted by ssd View Post
Well, when it comes to the Middle East, as far as I am concerned, they only understand one thing and that is force. As I have posted in this thread or another, the area has always been ruled by dictators and despots. We are not going to change that and it is a fool's errand.
We should be supporting democracy in the Middle East with our words and with humanitarian aid where and whenever we can. Democracy cannot be spread at the end of a gun barrel.
Look at how they treat their own people. Force is all they understand. We should not be there in any form.
If Bush et al were after oil, they should have invaded, taken control of the oil fields, set up bases, etc and pumped the field dry and left.
And what on earth could possibly give us the right to do that?
You miss my point. What gave us the right to go to war there? All I'm saying, if the issue was oil, we would have been better off to just take the oil than what we have done
This 'nation-building' exercise is a waste of human life. At least that way, we would have gotten something out of the money we spent and, important note here - the ME hates the US anyway so it's not like it would have damaged our reputation.
Wrong. The Middle East does NOT hate the U.S.
Middle East nationalists hate interventionist U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and until we make radical changes in our foreign policy, that will continue and will only get worse.
Really? Spent anytime in the Middle East? I would say the uprisings in the ME are a result of the people being tired of the regimes that have been set up and supported by the US - they do not see the US as a place of freedom but as a repressor nation. They do not want us there
As far as Iran goes - I think the only solution there will be military unfortunately. Iran and China scare the living bahjezuzz out of me.
Sorry, but I'll never understand this kind of boogeyman mentality.
Islamo-facism and communism do not scare you? The fact that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, they will use it? The fact the the US has essentially made China into the next superpower, since 1971 and at any moment, they could dump their US Treasury holdings and economically cripple the US? Does a 20% rate on your mortgage sound fun?
I would not say that the right is better than the left in this arena - Fox is the only real right outlet along with talk-radio and the left is still in control of the mainstream media sources and Hollywood so both have their avenues.
I wasn't referring to the media. I was referring to party politics.
I would disagree here. The Dems are much better at the propaganda and mind control. There is a reason Dems held the House for so long, from 1952 - 1992 before a Republican Majority was installed.