There has been a lot of talk about other countries participation and support in the "war on terrorism" (does this mean we'll have a Terrorist Czar?). What I'm curious is to know if a plane was crashed into say the Kremlin or the capitol building in Bejing, would everyone here be in favor of going into battle with Russia or China in their war against terrorism? Would we do it without asking for anything in return? We seem very quick to demand support from other nations when something like this happens to us, but would we be as quick to reciprocate if it was the other way around?
Point Point Point. When someone mentioned helping w/ Chechnyia (sp???) earlier I joked "uhhh, sure". I imagine several countries believe we got what we deserved. Perhaps that explains some of the hesitance.
There are quite a few people around the world who think that we are arrogant. No shock there. Remember when France wouldn't let the us fly over their airspace when we bombed Syria and we "accidentally" dropped a bomb on the French embassy? There were lots of jokes about France and how they should have helped, etc. Now, France has said they will fight with us. Hmmmmm.
<B>What I'm curious is to know if a plane was crashed into say the Kremlin or the capitol building in Bejing, would everyone here be in favor of going into battle with Russia or China in their war against terrorism?</B> Doubtful. We would express our sorrow and hope they come to a peaceful solution by negotiating with whomever did it. It's what we do with Chechnya, the IRA, the Basques, and even the PLO/Israel. <B>Would we do it without asking for anything in return?</B> Hell no. We would demand it be done our way, and then we'd remind them at every opportunity that we helped them out. Just my opinions...
You don't even have to go as far as overseas. Sounds as though people who claim to be Americans wouldn't support this one.
I was thinking this earlier and came to a conclusion that there was no way we would support any war as much as we are expecting from some countries. Even when Mexico cancelled its independance day, I was thinking is there any way we would cancel 4th of July if another country had this tragic event happen to them...
The United States did more then their part in helping the other countries by entering a war they didn't have to enter (WWII) and stopping them from becoming Germany. So the U.S. is just collecting on past debts. Never mind the fact that they owe the U.S. countless billions of dollars.
<B>The United States did more then their part in helping the other countries by entering a war they didn't have to enter (WWII) </B> Yes, because we entered WW2 voluntarily... except for that damn Pearl Harbor incident. Until then, we were content to let all of Europe become Germany.
<B>And we all know the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. </B> Ummm, who bombed Pearl Harbor is irrelevent. That's the event that forced us into the war -- Germany and Japan were allied and thus we declared war on both of them. Until then, we were content to sit it out until we realized that if we didn't stop these countries (Japan AND Germany, they would eventually target us). We did not "enter a war they didn't have to enter (WWII)".
You love saying things are irrelevant and you even keep mispelling irrelevant. You say who bombed Pearl Harbor is irrelevant but then you say we declared war on both of them because they were allied. That would seem to say who bombed Pearl Harbor was pretty damn relevant. LOL If Algeria had bombed Pearl Harbor we probably wouldn't have declared war on Germany. Or maybe we would have, we all know that the US loves to oppress the "lesser people" of the world so that we can have cheap tennis shoes.
Jeff, I think all we're really asking for is for the other countries to get out of our way. The only support we need if for other countries to not be against us. Sure, we need assistance as far as foreign harbors, airspace, and passage, but we're not asking Pakistan or Russia to invade Afganistan for us. Besides, we have come to the aid of countries countless times: Kuwait, Vietnam, South Korea, Israel, the Bolsheviks, etc.
Basically, I agree. I'm just posing the question in this situation. The fact remains that these types of incidents have occurred all over the world. It took basically the entire world to get us involved in Ruwanda where the government was essentially committing genocide. I'm not really a big fan of miltiary intervention in most situations and I certainly understand that when attacked, you feel the need to retaliate. However, I just wonder how far we would be willing to go if the shoe was on the other foot - or the Nike on the other oppressed laborer - sorry, couldn't help it.
