Why I'm an anti-anti-American

[Guest hawaiisoxfn]

That was beautiful! I really wish I could have had this article handy when I decided to try to tell all the good things about this country in "American Freedom" the other day. It would have worked a whole lot better, as my post was rather pity.

 

I really like point number nine. The one about our foreign policy. I mean, we annihilated Japan and Germany in WW2, and then we created the Marshall Plan to rebuild them. We built in West Germany into a nice place to be, while the Soviets turned East Germany into a communist slum. We dropped food in to help the people of Berlin during the Berlin Blockade. Can you imagine the Soviets or Nazis flying warplanes over their adversaries and dropping anything but bombs? Or picture the Nazis taking over the world, now in complete desolation, and lending money to rebuild the new countries under its rule. In fact, not lending, but giving! We forgave most of the Marshall Plan benefactors of their debts, if I recall correctly. And like he said, even with Germany and Japan, we propped them back up and left them alone. No matter how wrong you think the Iraq War is, you gotta realize that no other civilization in world history has defeated an enemy, then propped them back up and pulled its troops out ASAP to let them go about their business.

 

And with point number one is great as well. I assume everyones seen the commercials where they ask you to sponsor a child who is living in some third world country in a tin shack, with a nasty, trash filled sewage river right outside. Even the very poorest people in the US dont have such lousy conditions. OK, maybe like the lowest 2% or so, but in countries like Brazil and India, a good deal of the population lives like that.

 

As for moral decadence, I cant say Im too envious of some of these other countries great morals, like Holland where hash bars and hookers are common place, or many Muslim countries where terrorists are called martyrs and women are forced to wear veils. So anyone who thinks were the moral decadents can kiss my ass. Im not saying were perfect, but then again, who is?

 

Apu, as for pulling out of the Mid East, it might end terrorism against us (but it wouldnt bring world peace or a better way of life to the Mid East). But we cant do it though. It would be a betrayal of our allies in Israel, and the terrorists would also see it as a victory over what they consider to be the Great Satan. We cant back down from terrorism. We must surge forward and destroy all who believe that terrorism is the path to take. America has prevailed throughout its history, and it will prevail this time.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Apu, as for pulling out of the Mid East, it might end terrorism against us (but it wouldnt bring world peace or a better way of life to the Mid East). But we cant do it though. It would be a betrayal of our allies in Israel, and the terrorists would also see it as a victory over what they consider to be the Great Satan. We cant back down from terrorism. We must surge forward and destroy all who believe that terrorism is the path to take. America has prevailed throughout its history, and it will prevail this time.

If we end disproportionate tax-payer funded foreign aid to the nations then the problem of them getting tons of weapons would be greatly reduced.

 

As Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) recently stated: "We conveniently forget, however, that American tax dollars militarized the entire region in the first place. We give Israel about $3 billion each year, but we also give Egypt $2 billion. Most other Middle East countries get money too, some of which ends up in the hands of Palestinian terrorists. Both sides have far more military weapons as a result. Talk about adding fuel to the fire! Our foolish and unconstitutional foreign aid has produced more violence, not less...This illustrates perfectly the inherent problem with foreign aid: once we give money to one country, we have to give it to all the rest or risk making enemies. This is especially true in the Middle East and other strife-torn regions, where our financial support for one side is seen as an act of aggression by the other. Just as our money never makes Israel secure, it doesn't buy us any true friends elsewhere in the region. On the contrary, many Muslims hate the United States despite the billions we give to their governments. It is time to challenge the notion that it is our job to broker peace in the Middle East and every other troubled region across the globe. America can and should use every diplomatic means at our disposal to end the violence in the West Bank, but we should draw the line at any further entanglement."

 

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=3705 is a really good article about why we are losing the war on terror with a testimonial from who used to be the head of the CIA department on bin Laden (he "resigned" in this most recent purge of the CIA) Michael Scheuer, the agent being quoted said: "As I complete this book, U.S., British, and other coalition forces are trying to govern apparently ungovernable postwar states in Afghanistan and Iraq, while simultaneously fighting growing Islamist insurgencies in each – a state of affairs our leaders call victory. In conducting these activities, and the conventional military campaigns preceding them, U.S. forces and policies are completing the radicalization of the Islamic world, something Osama bin Laden has been trying to do with substantial but incomplete success since the early 1990s. As a result, I think it fair to conclude that the United States of America remains bin Laden's only indispensable ally." You can say that bin Laden is a sadistic sonofab**** for what he does -- but he does have a game plan and the entire notion being put forth by certain sectors of the neo-liberal/neo-conservative/conservative debate that OBL did all this because "he hates freedom" isn't necessarily true.

 

I'm not saying cut diplomatic ties with Israel but the 100% unconditional support is something that is a definite fuel for what goes on in the Middle East. If we remove ourselves from the situation, it makes it much harder for terrorists to recruit and in that way, their movement is strangled because it can never get off the ground. Plus, nations that are just as free as us but have not wrought violence have not been attacked -- a point Scheuer makes in his book "Imperial Hubris".

 

I'd elaborate more but this is already too damn long and I wanna go eat a snack.