and it's sickening to read/watch the news events unfold. If the US did not try to intervene and broker peace for the middle east AND intervene when Kuwait was invaded by madman Hussein AND intervene when Milosevic slaughtered all those innocent people...not to mention WWII, JUST THINK where would the world be today? IT scares the hell out of me. Who else is going to assume a leadership type role and do something about it...NATO? Yeah...in our dreams. NATO is nothing without our backing. As much as everyone hates the US for their intervention, we will not be dissuaded from helping to achieve world peace. It is obvious that the east cannot do it alone. If we did not intervene, that entire region would be a war zone. IT may be still. In the end, I think our efforts may be in vain. Does this mean I support every thing our govt does? HELL NO. I support the things we try to do which our morally right which serve to protect not only our national security but the security of the eastern region. Of course, playing the moderator means we are villanized by the east. Everyone has to have their scapegoat. God forbid the day comes where we just stick to our own turf and let the easterners play out history all by themselves. It will be a bad history...wrought with war, death, and zero peace. On the other hand, since the US is in no immediate danger, I hate to see our military and citizens abroad being killed due to our intervention. But, there is a reason we are there....that reason is PEACE and SECURITY not just for America but for the entire world. Somebody needs to stand up for those who wish to live in peace but cannot because of some ruthless dictator who lives by his own religion which condemns everyone but himself(aka Saddam). We may not always do the right thing and make the right decisions...but you have to believe our hearts are in the right place. We don't have the problems they have....HELL we had our civil war. We have enough land, freedom, sovereignty, etc. . So, we cannot pretend to know what it's like for them. But, by God, if we see skirmishes turn into battles that turn into war, we are not going to turn a blind eye and let it all unfold without intervention. We made that mistake in World War II and millions upon millions of people died while we lied to ourselves that no atrocities were occurring. Once we took our heads out of our asses and did something about it, the world ended up getting rid of that evil Hitler and peace ruled again...at least for a little while until Communism tried to spread it's evil influences. In the end, I fear it is not enough. The world is out of control and I am afraid our efforts are in vain. Intervention may help but it also creates our enemies. So, even if the world is at peace, we will always have to watch our backs. It may all be downhill from here....world war may be inevitable. And, with that and all the sovereign nuclear powers, Lord help us. One of our generations is going to pay a heavy price...the question is...which one? Several in the past already have. One day...the war will invade our homeland and affect not only soldiers but citizens alike. It may take a nuclear holocaust to cleanse this earth and start over. Then, maybe peace can rain down. Don't bash me...these are my opinions mixed in with some fact. If you don't agree, fine. Offer a rebuttal. I would like to hear your sides. Surf ------------------ [This message has been edited by Surfguy (edited October 12, 2000).]
Surfguy, Judging by your last statements, you have been rebutted (is that a word?) harshly here in the past! On your topic, it always saddens me when we intervene in foreign affairs. I hate to hear about loss of life, and american soldiers dying, leaving their families alone back in the states. However, in some instances, such as Kuwait (even though the almighty dollar may have been a factor there), I think it was necessary. There is no telling what Hussein would have accomplished or what terrorist acts he may have waged if we did not intervene. Each time Saddam gets a little froggy and decides to jump, he needs to be knocked back down. ------------------ There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Nah...I just don't want to be a bashee if someone disagrees as this can be a touchy subject. I want some intellectual feedback and discussion. Surf ------------------
I thought it was absolutely ridiculous during the 2nd debate when Bush implied that it was the Clinton/Gore administration's fault that Sadaam Hussein was still in power in Iraq. Hey Dubya, if you're gonna blame someone then blame your pops and your running mate.
He did not blame them for Sadaam still being in power, he said that they had allowed the support(Sandi Arabia, Kuwait,Syria,Jordan,etc.) to erode and allowed Sadaam to dictate to us how the weapon inspectors were to be used. If I recall correctly, it was Gore who accused the previous administration of leaving them with the problem of Sadaam. Now the weapons inspectors were kicked out somewhere around 1994 & have not been allowed back in since. Who's watch was that? Clinton/Gore Now if an administration was serious about being tough on Sadaam , why have they not put pressure on him to allow more weapons inspectors back in? ------------------ Houston Rockets Forever!! In Rudy We Trust
We get a lot of flack for "sticking our noses in other peoples business". It's a no-win situation if you aske me. If we ignore the problems overseas then we risk the chance of allowing another Hitler-like situation developing. With the power-mongers that exist in this world, it would only be a matter of time before some dicator got tired of conquering Europe and felt it was time to take on the mighty US. On the other hand, we go and try and help the less fortunate and we get criticized by the world. What we weren't a superpower? What if we were like the middle east and our states were in constant battle with each other over borders and land ownership? Would the rest of the world be concerned? Would they step in and try to make peace at at this stage or would they wait until George W. had already taken over 30 of the 50 states and was becoming stronger every year? Am I making any sense?! I think that we are doing the right thing in helping the small guy achieve some form of democracy. We may take our hits in this process but it will be well worth it when the whole globe is on the same page. Besides, everyone knows this world has to be united before the Aliens will make contact with us. ------------------ RocketFuel is dead!
you guys give saddam to much credit this conflict has nothing to do with him, this conflict is only one man's fault-Arafat the israeli goverment was ready to go far for a peace deal Barak was willing to give him just about everything but he thought it wasn't inuff and went back to his old ways-Violence you have to remamber this guy is a terorist who is resopnesble for the killing of many pepole from both sides. Arafat is makeing fun from israel and the US both when clinton called for a meating he refused and continued to send kids to the streets to provoce the IDF, EVERY PICTURE OF A DEAD CHILD IS A GOOD THING FOR HIM AND PLAYS TO HIS HANDS, I think that the US should not do any militery action we are a rational country with a reasonable leadership and we will not lose control and let this conflict turn to a war as long as we want feel that our backs are ageinst the wall and the being of our country is at stake. ------------------ The holy land #1 rocket fan
israeli rocket, although i appreciate how you may blame arafat for the problems in the peace process, however, i have a lebenese friend that would swear to the death that it is israels fault that the process fell apart. remember that israel is holding plo members as political prisoners, and it was israel that began bombing civilian targets in labanon(they were after PLO refugee camps). i am certainly not a sympathizer with either side, but i am aware that there are 2 different versions of the truth here. On the U.S. foreign polocy: nobody likes a bully. no one ever will. the us began meddeling in other countries business back in the cold war. we were trying to influence more countries than russia did. it made sence, and we weew fed all kinds of propaganda telling us we were making the world safe for democracy. well now that our great threat is gone, the powers at be are continuing with this policy. the reason other countries are pissed is because they wonder what gives us the right to make the rules for other cultures. hell if there was a superpower of americas power during our revolution imsure our founders would have bees persecuted by that power. the whole world thought that what our founders were dong was atrocious, and would have happily imposed sanctions against us. not to mention the "peace keepig forces" what the hell is that all about. do you think america would stand by and let nato put forces from another nation inside their borders for any reason. let alone to inspect things, and tell you that your ideology is wrong, and that they have to conform to their views ok well ive made a mess of this post, but i really just wanted to point out that if you look at Americas actions from both sides you will see some validity to the hating of america. ALSO remember this. all of the news and info we get on americas actions in the world theatre comes to us by way of the american media. hell general electric owns nbc or cbs (one of those) general electric is americas largest military contractor(they build nucular subs for gods sakes). dont you think that the version of the news we get is already edited up the ass. during the gulf war if you watched the news you left beleiving that the patriot missles were invincible, and scuds were powerless. infact after we sold thousands of those patriots the truth came out. they were less than 20% effective, and the scud missle was responsable for most american deaths. also friendly fire, and "accidental"deaths(like car accidents, fires,getting run over by tanks) killed more americans than the iraqis. but ofcource none of this was on our TVs untill after the war, and after bush lost the election. just keep an open mind to the other side of the story ------------------
Voice- israel does not hold any plo members they were once held when the plo was a terror orgenaziton-that killed inoscent babys kids old man and women after the oslo agreement they were realesed to the west bank and gaza the few who are held in israel are held because they can hurt the israeli pepole. your freind from lebanon can not hold israel responsible for the end of peace because of the simple fact that there was no attempt for peace with lebanon because there is NO TRUE lebanese goverment they are ruled by sirya and the goverment they choose is seamply an act just like saddam is holding elections evrey 5 or 6 years. about the bombing of civilien targets you have to remamber that the pepole which houses were bombed were hosting terrorist, and remamber that the americans in vietnam did the same thing and even in WWII citeis were leveld (and killing camps where jews were murderd were gased shot and worked to death were not bombed) you have to understand we are not talking about B-52 bombers here the bombing is the most accurte bombs that can be used (as was used yesterdy in ramalla after the lynch of 2 israelies by the palastenians police). ------------------ The holy land #1 rocket fan
