Our role in creating the mujahadeen, and by extension the roots of the Taliban, can be traced directly to the cynical maneuvers of the Realists who directed US foreign policy at the time. We used the Afghans in a proxy war against the Soviets. One could argue it was bound to come back to haunt us sooner or later.
In Iraq, by contrast, we are giving our blood and our treasure to help the Iraqis fend for themselves as a free nation. The aim of the whole enterprise is to give the Iraqis the same freedoms, peace, and security that free nations in the West take for granted. The underlying goal, as I have believed from the start, is to change the game in the Middle East by showing Arabs and Persians that an Arab state can be free and live in peace with its neighbors. I believe that more and more Iraqis have finally realized that the US is not there to govern them but to help them govern themselves. The only people still fighting us, apparently, are AQ, a few Sunni dead-enders in Mosul aligned with AQ, and the Shiite proxy militias of Iran. Yes, it has been very expensive, but not more than the 80's arms race, and far less costly than Vietnam, Korea, and let's not even get started on WWII and WWI. As a free, democratic society and the sole superpower, I believe we have a moral obligation to help free oppressed and persecuted people around the world. We freed Iraq from the criminal regime of Saddam Hussein. We now have an obligation to help the people of Iraq protect those freedoms that our people have paid for in blood and treasure. Sorry you don't have a rocket car yet. I would like one, too. Whenever I see a really fancy car on the street, like a Ferrari or Bentley, I think,"Yeah, but can it fly, or go underwater like that Bond car, or drive itself and talk to you like that Kitt Car in Knight Rider?" Because otherwise, it's still just a car. ;-) On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 3:39 PM, denstar wrote: > So what about Gruss's Afghanistan connection? > > Is the idea to bind them to us in a "mutual destruction" type deal? > > We're spending all this money, but really, it's all for them, right? > > I do like the idea of giving them the power to say "laters" to us, > that's free will and whatnot... but man... > > we're spending so much, and STILL don't have rocket cars... and it > looks like the corporations will get to mars before "we" do! > > Meanwhile, China... :-P > > :DeN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:258385 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
