The fact is that "we" can reform internally all we want but "we" can't reform another society in another sovereign country. It's their hive and they won't accept the rule of foreign bees
Did you happen to see Rumsfeld's announcement that the US would leave Iraq IF ASKED to do so by the Iraqi interim government when it is established.
Your reference to the "America First" movement in the 1939-40, time period intrigues me. Are you suggesting that we should have preemptively invaded Germany or Japan and "reformed" their societies?
Not being as familiar with the actions the League of Nations took against Japan prior to WWII, I'm not sure what legitimate international actions could have been taken in China.
But with regard to Hitler, the minute he occupied the Rhineland, or even Austria or Czechoslovakia, we had ample cause to confront and force a showdown with him. And such an action might have saved the lives of millions of people and caused Hitler's downfall..
Even Hitler himself admitted that his invasion of the Rhineland was a calculated risk, based upon his belief that neither France or Britain, or the US, had the stomach for a confrontation. And he was fully prepared to immediately retreat rather than risk such a confrontation.
There are clear cases where the appeasement of dictators and militant ideological movements have led to even more severe consequences later on..
Effectively where an ounce of prevention could have prevented a pound of cure later on.
If it's the latter, I'll refer you to Vietnam and Iraq as instances where those who counseled patience were clearly correct.
Actually, in Vietnam, patience, combined with the willingness to retaliate in kind against the North, such as invading them or cutting the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos near the DMZ area, might just have stabilized the situation..
As for Iraq, I hardly see where it was a "winning" strategy to continue to permit Saddam to corrupt the UNSC with his oil money, as well as violating 17 different binding resolutions that rendered the UN a joke (after displaying its strength during Desert Storm).
Listen cnyndwllr.. We're making mistakes in Iraq. But we're also doing things right (more electricity, oil, and water production than existed prior to the war)..
If folks like yourself want to offer constructive criticism about how to alter our strategy that makes us more effective in Iraq, I'd welcome them.
But if all you have to offer is reason why we can't succeed, then you should maybe just spend less time online and go off and dig yourself a little deeper into that canyon... (just remember that canyons generally act as a major wind tunnel which will deliver fallout, biological, and chemical agents right to your doorstep)...
Hawk |
