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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (182134)	2/19/2006 11:54:16 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

You have to take in to account the massive destruction of Japan (look up the percent of destruction for Japan's major cities.) The unconditional surrender, the fatalism of the Japanese, and their notion of their own collective participation in defeat, all made the Japanese example an odd case of nation building- and helps explain why there were no attacks on US forces. The Japanese were utterly and completely defeated. It's hard to get to that point with another civilization- and until you do get to that point, I'd say remaking the nation becomes a little more problematic. Here's some data: historynet.com " 17 square miles of the capital were reduced to ashes. The attacks cut the size of Tokyo in half, destroying a total of 56 square miles. " "While the first troops walked through the ashes and rubble of Yokohama with their guns at the ready, there were no 'incidents.' Fire had reduced the Japanese to a complete and abject surrender."

To: neolib who wrote (182134)	2/21/2006 3:21:14 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

I really have no idea how Iraq will turn out. My gut level feeling is we have made too many mistakes and rather screwed the place up. Now I hear again and again that somehow we "screwed up" Iraq. It's as if folks somehow are asserting that Iraq wasn't ALREADY screwed up. I see some people telling us that we have to get out and set the Iraqis loose upon one another in order to create a dominate power center that creates social order, but at the same time somehow we're to blame for the fact that some Iraqi factions have perpetuated the violence rather than putting Iraq's national integrity and interests first. Mistakes? Yeah.. I guess I think we've made some mistakes (such as disbanding the army while permitting them to take their weapons home, nor forcing all soldiers to be processed in a detainment center). But the responsibility for recreating a new democratic Iraq rests squarely upon their elected officials, not the US. And they should receive the blame for failing to achieve that goal. Hawk