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

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (271934)	12/10/2009 1:34:36 PM
From: SARMAN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Well, our "government" didn't just put itself in power. The American people elected them. Does that mean there aren't special interests influencing our government? No. But we still have the option of kicking them out every 2, 4, and 6 years if we're not happy. Agreed. However, in that time frame, the government can do what ever it likes and not necessarily for the good of the people. And maybe some unknown power might want to grab your property and build something else on it. So it's in the interest NOT to permit the fire dept to save your home. And these police and firemen?? They get paid regardless. Yes, however, it is there job to at least try. It is like any job be it in a store or an office. No.. what motivates them to keep your life and property safeguarded is the community accountability, and primarily the fear of the media taking pictures of them not doing their jobs. But additionally, most of them take their service to the community seriously. That is called integrity. But that goes with any time type of job. And many communities have volunteer, or reserve, police and firemen, who are not paid full time. They do it because they care and they like helping people. My hat is off for those people. Volunteering is a type of charity, like I said earlier, we go out of our way to help others. No I don't. Because I've actually served on Military humanitarian missions where we built schools and roads in Central American countries. It derived a LOT of goodwill, and let people in these countries form lasting memories of the GOOD THINGS that American soldiers do. Additionally, it was great training for our soldiers, and gave them the opportunity to actually do something positive in helping others. Most soldiers would rather spend their time helping other people rather than learning to wage war. There is certainly less danger involved and absolutely no animosity from the local population. They love us when we do something their own government can't bring itself to accomplish. Again it is a humanitarian mission. It is either you send civilians or the military to complete the job. Oh.. yes I can. Because a lot of what our soldiers are doing RIGHT NOW in Afghanistan has a humanitarian angle to it. We have PRTs and Civil Affairs units working with the locals building infrastructure that benefits the society at large. It's not all about killing Taliban and it shouldn't be. We have to given the Afghan people a "hand up", not just a hand out, so they can eventually take care of their own security. Maybe we are misunderstanding each other. You can send civilians to rebuild, you can't send civilians to fight a war. The new surge to Afghanistan is not for humanitarian nor for charity and for sure not to catch OBL. The start of the discussion was "what is in it for us?" Yes, our military does lots of humanitarian work, but, in the case of Afghanistan there is more than humanitarian work and eliminating the Taliban.