arcthemonkey;157558 said:
Don't you mean, "then Hirohito came along"
Japan attacked us for being "World Police" and trying to save China. Never mind they were trying to squash communism at the time.
Wh-wh-whaaat?
We weren't trying to be world police, we put in place embargoes not as a direct attack against Japan, but to try and protect American assets with the south-east, which were being affected by the Japanese invasion forces. Australia and the Netherlands were doing the same thing and I doubt it's because they up and decided to be world police as well.
Besides, I think a lot of the American gusto to become "world police" was because of how we helped the rest of the allied forces defeat Hitler. Many people (or rather, most American history books) view America's sudden involvement at the end of the war the reason why the allied forces won in the first place.
Lastly (and most importantly) let's not forget Roosevelt's insistence on the United States NOT going into WWII and pulling America into that whole mess. Why? Because America is a young country compared to everywhere else, it's more important that we worry about ourselves than anywhere else unless it affects us (that being the embargo in the South-East, which was a non-confrontational way of dealing with the problem that unfortunately led to Japan attacking us, thus drawing us into WWII.)
And squash communism? Seriously, umm... I... Do I even need to say anything about that? Look dude, communism wasn't a problem until
after World War II. Facism came before Communism. Russia wasn't that heavily on our mind at the time.
I don't want to sound rude but, go read up on your history about WWII and Americas involvement as well as the Cold War after that, then come back, ok? You're sort of mixing up dates here.
EDIT: And about this...
Anyway, politics are a complicated thing. The whole WMD thing? I don't think many people realize this but there is a such a thing as FAULTY intelligence. I mean, never mind that pretty much every major world leader was looking at the same intelligence we were and came to the same conclusion. It's not as though Bush swung down on a vine and ordered the war outright. this situation, like many others, has gained a political skew. Seeing as must of us aren't memberx of the intelligence community, I don't see where we get off making these accusations.
Ok, no? China, France and Russia all looked at what we looked at and threatened to veto the invasion of Iraq. That's why half the world doesn't like the United States now (or at least our government), because some of them were going "Uhhh, WTF US?!"
Besides, we should not forgive the government for having faulty intelligence, that's NOT acceptable. You can't kill dozens of people and just go "oops." The lives of thousands of American and Iraqi people should not be considered a commodity that can be tooled around with.
The current situation in Iraq is no better I think. I'll state simply that I think war in Iraq was absolutely 100% necessary, but I will also concede that it was executed poorly. Was this Bush's fault? I can't say we're in a position to say that. I think people forget the role that secretaries of defense and generals play in making war. It's all politics, and in many ways I think we aren't in much of a position to really try and get into it.
Yes, but the reason we have a central president that makes these kinds of orders is so that when shit hits the fan we can all point at him and go "you're in the wrong dude, get off the chair." He's the sole one responsible for the military, navy, police force and just about anybody allowed to legally carry military grade fire arms. That's why he's the "commander in chief." He's the one who supports and puts in place those people. He's the boss. It's like a right hand-left hand situation.
The fact is that Hussein need to be deposed, and I think when the dust settles Iraq will be a better place for it.
What does it take for American citizens to care about other countries enough to fight for them?
And don't think I'm just some detached republican either. My brother is fighting in Iraq as we speak.
Yes, Hussein needed to be disposed. Should we have been the ones to do it? I don't think so, especially since we needn't have done it alone. I have friends as well as loved ones also fighting in the war, that doesn't mean I approve of it or try and gloss over the facts I see right in front of my face.
And personally, I don't care about foreign countries, I see no point. Unless it affects America or it's allies we shouldn't get involved. We're not going to win brownie points from the world just for strong-arming our way into other people's business. No other countries helped us out when we fought against the British, China didn't walk into France and help them win their revolution, why should we bother other people as well?
And furthermore why do we have to throw civics books at the countries we help "liberate" right after we help them? Seems more like a conglomerate than a country if you ask me.
