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Originally Posted by Lebell
"Bat-shit crazy military moves including unprovoked invasions" certainly is a colorful turn-of-phrase, but it is partisan and not universal opinion.
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Okay, remove the "bat-shit crazy" phrase, of course that's opinion, and look at what you're left with: truth.
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And many countries do like us, which you should at least admit, including many former Eastern block countries, many countries in our own hemisphere, and many western European countries.
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I'll admit that many countries
did like us. The U.S.
was looked to as a source of optimism, democratic ideals, and, in general, a beacon of light in the world. In the last two years however I've seen that light extinguished by an overwhelming wave of anti-americanism. The turning point is obvious too, there
was a great deal of sympathy for the U.S. following 9/11 that was reversed when the Bush admin. began selling the world the "product" of an Iraq invasion (see Andrew Card for quotes).
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As to Saudi Arabia, I explain our policy towards them in two ways.
Yes, we handle them with kid gloves when IMO, we should not, but we do it because the government there is amenable to change as well as to working with us against al quaeda (even though it is not as fast as I would like).
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Our differences here are minor, I won't quibble.
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This was not true with Afghanistan or Iraq.
And it was Clinton and the presidents before him that "allowed" North Korea to get nuclear weapons. To lay that at Bush's feet is dishonest.
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You're right that blame doesn't entirely fall on Bush for N. Korea's nuclear proliferation, but it did happen on his watch. And, in any case, you miss my point about nuclear weapons. My point is that the Bush doctorine apparently doesn't apply to nations that have nuclear capability, the lesson being that if your nation is a possible target of U.S. aggression you had better develop them
post haste.
I think your reasoning is sound that when the U.S. flexes its military muscles it gains respect from some would-be enemies who may respect nothing else. But why did this occur only with the Iraq invasion and not Afgahnistan? What will happen to that respect after another 1, 3, 5, 10 years of Iraq war? Another 1000, 5000, 10,000 U.S. casualties? Will we have to kill 20,000 more Iraqis? 50,000 more? News trickles out of Iraq slowly, unbiased news reports are almost entirely missing, but it does not appear to be a war we are winning. I'm not even sure who we are actually fighting. Saddam is in jail and yet we're fighting in regions that historically hated Saddam as much as they apparently hate us. What happens to that respect for our military might if resistance to U.S. forces continues indefinitely?