It is amazing how off topic this thread has gotten.
But I'll feed the fire a bit.[plasma]
While we're on 9-11, and as an American, we expected nothing less than some sort of military response from our government. I was angry and wanted Bin Laden's head on a stick (and still do). :arrow: I did cringe when we went into Afganistan. I was and still am seeing this thing drag out for a much longer time than we as the public were led to believe. The Soviets were there for 10 years.
I didn't like the Taliban. They were very repressive, but they had made in USA stamped all over them. We supported them as the mujadeen (sp?) against the Soviet occupation, not because of what or who they were, but because they were anti-Soviet. No good deed goes unpunished. They forced the Soviets to withdraw then turn around and allow Al Qaida to base there against the US.
The country is in disarray, and will take time. We helped the northern alliance get rid of their repressors. They were happy. But again, no good deed goes unpunished. We are now being criticized for not helping stabilize the new government. Now the factions will have to sort it out.
Another example is Iran. A former co-worker and I were discussing this years ago. He was from Iran. He left in 1978. The struggle there was between the Mullahs and the secular faction. In 1953 we supported the Shah, the British supported Khomeini. The Shah was a good friend of the US, but was repressive of the religious faction. He said that Khomeini had made in Great Britain stamped all over him. Well I did find it interesting that during the hostage crisis in 1979, Khomeini's faction wouldn't talk to the US, but would talk to British and Canadian negotiators.
We're angry about 9-11, but at the same time we do need to look at our policies abroad. I'm not saying we brought it on ourselves. No government policy justifies the slaughter of innocent civilians.
We depend a lot on foreign oil. I suspect that Saddam Hussein is still in power because we're getting a sweetheart deal on oil from Iraq because of the terms of surrender, whereas we might not from the Shias and Kurds we should have supported when Hussein brutally put down their insurgence after the Gulf War. Of course we didn't want to see another Islamic Republic in the Persian Gulf. But once Hussein is overthrown, we'll of course pay for that error. People have long memories about events.
It's very difficult being a powerful nation. Civ 3 did set it up so that when you are the most powerful nation in the world, everyone is annoyed with you for no apparent reason. But when you're not, everyone tends to be polite. A parallel in the real world is that it isn't cultural envy, it's power envy.
how ya goin?
