Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "There's no ..."
Since it's so obvious to you that Iraq is not Vietnam, tell us when the Iraqis are going to quit shooting at us.
Re: "Just a bunch of whining people who couldn't care less about the number of US troops who DIE EVERY DAY in training accidents, but suddenly think it's unbearable that some of our boys die in Iraq. That's what we get (in my case, got) paid for. We accepted the contract, the money, the free health care, the low salaries, the long hours, and the knowledge that the media and whining liberals without alternatives would spend every waking moment undercutting our mission, our morale, and our very lives."
These are very brave words, coming from a guy who's thousands of miles away from the action. All our media is doing is reporting what our soldiers are saying. If you don't trust the media go read the troop blogs themselves.
The truth is that our troops are on edge, and are complaining bitterly about the fact that the Iraqis hate them, they're stuck interminably in Iraq, and you're calling those of us stateside who want them back "whiners".
Re: "if you have a viable solution to the problem of militant Islam, terrorist states, and the general economic and social degradation occcuring in the Middle East, please offer it."
Just leave it alone. Eventually they'll catch up with the rest of the world. But for God's sake don't go waking up hornets that you don't have the guts to kill. Just because you can't understand the alternative strategy doesn't mean that your weak strategy is the only one in existence.
Re: "IMO, we were going to have to fight there one way or another."
It all boils down to your opinion. The problem is that the rest of the world, and the majority of the American public does not now, and never will share your opinion. As the Iraq conflict grows, the public will force the administration to pull out just like they did with Vietnam.
I need only point out that your opinions on the Vietnam war were similarly disjoint from world and US public opinion, and that the US pulled out from that war as well:
Any war is winnable if one has the will to pursue it to victory. And one doesn't have to be a member of the "war party" to realize that Vietnam could have at least resulted in a stale mate between north and south, as it did in Korea.
... #reply-18052225
Re: "People with their heads in the sand who ignore the demographic and economic repercussions of what has been transpiring in the Middle East over the past 15 years."
I don't have my head in the sand. You're the one with your head in your sand. You look at the same demographic trends and conclude that the Israelis are "winning" in Palestine and that we can remake the entire Middle East. What a joke! In the arms race between us producing weapons that can control civilian population (hint: we have zero), and the Arabs producing suicide bomber candidates, we slip farther behind every hour.
If you want to take a look at what happens when an industrialized country insists on controlling a chunk of Moslem territory that don't want to be controlled, then take a look at what is happening to the Russians.
The Russians are getting their butts blown apart every few months and it has been going on for years. The Israelis have had to resort to incredible losses in personal freedom in order to reduce their losses to suicide bombers to a level that is nevertheless unacceptable.
If we imitate the Russian / Israeli foreign policy, it is inevitable that we will reap the same harvest that they already reap. So far, with less than 4000 dead, we have gotten off very lightly. As time goes on, this number will increase just like it has for the Israelis and Russians.
It was bad enough when we were Israel's big buddy, but occupying Iraq will bring the crap down on us far worse.
-- Carl
P.S. All the stuff you say about Iraq being "there's no" is stuff that also does not apply to Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya or Lebanon, but the Russians, Indians or Israelis have been able to pacify none of them. |
