Well, in general my answer is no, a country should not support the US if and only if the US had provided aid in the past.
However, when we look at France and the current situation, we must remember, part of the reason the US went down this path to begin with, is because France made a promise, their ambassador to the UN told Powel they understood resolution 1441 was a precursor to war unless Iraq met the demands swiftly. Similar sentiments came from Russia and Germany. Decisions were made based on what they told us. Now when the US and the British are following through on their promise, the other countries that made similar promises, are no where to be found. Now France is saying they would never support force in Iraq unless chemical weapons had been used, a complete 180 on what they said with 1441. They lied to us and stabbed Powel in the back; that was wrong. Many people in both the US and Britain disagree with the war, but the respective leaders have show evidence that has caused a lot of people to change sides. As we are now in Iraq, and we see some of the things first hand, how the troops are being treated by the civilians, it makes more and more people understand some of the reasons, these things couldn't not have been realized until after the troops were in there. Sometimes people are so against something, it becomes a fault, sometimes, no matter what the problem or the solutions, some times we have to do things we don't agree with to get the job done. Like I said many times before, War is never the "Right" thing to do, but sometimes it is necessary to achieve the goals. If some people don't agree, then that is fine, and in the end if I am wrong, I will eat my words with humility, something I doubt the French or Germans will do. > -----Original Message----- > From: Haggerty, Mike [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 10:06 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Time to pick on the Germans... > > Devil's advocate here: > > Should a country provide material support to the US for a cause which is > opposed by the majority of their citizens? > > America is a unique political institution in that it was founded on the > ideal of self-government, that the people know best how to rule > themselves. > People's personal beliefs about right and wrong are vital to the > institution. > > If the people are against a cause, should we expect them to go for it just > because we have provided them aid? > > M > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nick McClure [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 9:54 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Time to pick on the Germans... > > > I think the point, is that it seems when other countries ask for US > support, > it is given. When the US asks for other countries support, we told how > arrogant we are. > > Of course this is not the norm, look at Afghanistan many countries > provided > support in one way or another, of course for that many of them will > receive > major aid packages, so it wasn't just because we asked. > > Germany and France were able to bounce back from WWII thanks to the > support > of other countries. I cannot find any numbers on how much the Marshall > plan > actually gave to those countries, so I don't know how much or who gave > more. > > I know that this year we will give 11.4 billion in foreign aid money, not > counting additional monies that go to Iraq, and 4.3 billion will be spent > in > UN peace keeping operations. > > Japan is second in foreign aid with 9.7 billion, then Germany (4.9b), > UK(4.7b), and France(4.3b). > > My point here is that we do a lot for the rest of the world, and seldom > ask > for anything in return. Everyone should know that after WWII it wasn't the > US that rebuilt the world; there were a number of countries who had hands > in > rebuilding the world > > But keep in mind, that when Britain said they could no longer afford to > aid > Turkey and Greece who were battling communism in 1947, it was the US who > took over providing the money. > > The Marshall plan also did more than just give people money, it provided a > way for the companies to get back on their feet, part of it stated that > part > of the money should be used to buy goods and services from foreign > companies, allowing them to reestablish themselves in the market. > > The British often stand beside the US, and the US will always stand beside > the British, if either side should ask for support, I am confident that > the > other side will provide as much as is possible, regardless of the > endeavor, > the British are our friends, and if it weren't for them we wouldn't be > what > we are today. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
