That is the opposite of what I was saying. What I was saying or implying is that the only person that did not know what Hitler/Tojo were trying to accomplish was Neville Chamberlain.Quote:
Originally Posted by FNG
When Bush said he was against nation building there was a threat out there a big threat. But he was not sitting on the sidelines of WWII saying he would not send troops or nation build.
FNG, what is this "First Gulf War" shit. There was no peace treaty. There was a cease-fire. The cease-fire was in place to insure Saddam disarmed completely and totally. He did not. He was not able to prove he had(or for some reason would not). We went through 16 resolutions via the UN trying to get him to do so. Made Regime change our national policy in 1998. Then we get smacked in the nose. 3000 people die. We take out Al Qaeda(loosely translated "The Base").
At this point is blatantly obvious that the status quo in the Middle East will not abide. By law Iraq has violated UN resolution upon resolution. We are guaranteed winning militarily there. Thus providing the best avenue through which to build a democracy. We as you said beat the Iraqi regulars quickly. The post war peace keeping/nation building has been a roller coaster. There has been amazing progress made, but quite a few mistakes made along the way. Some of the mistakes avoidable, some not. but this expectation of perfection is ridiculous.
There is no hand book on how to do this at all. Each situation is different from ones in the past and on top of that is changing from day to day. I am disappointed at some of the mistakes that have been made. But "more boots on the ground" is not the simple answer to any of them. It could have helped, but the evidence that it would have is far from empirical. Sealing off the borders? How? erect a fence? Additionally, these terrorists aren't sneaking across a border to bomb a discoteque. they have made quite a few headlines for killing troops and innocents alike. However, they are dying in much greater numbers than they can fill. Zarqawi said just two weekends ago that he cannot continue fighting based upon his own "re-enlistment" numbers. he is losing.
Freedom will take hold, just like it is in Afghanistan. Neither place is perfect. There are still extremists in both places. Hell, almost 220 years down the line one of our very own extremists blew up the Alfred P. Murrah building. You cannot ever get rid of them. some times they don't act alone. sometimes they have their own political parties. KKK ring a bell?
I do think Bush will win a Tuesday from today. If John Kerry does, I don't see the world changing at all. He'll find out the same things Bush has, or that he should have known in the first place if he'd ever bothered to attend his Senate Inteligence Committee meetings. But as history suggests, no matter how badly a President fucks something up. Whether you're Jimmy Carter letting hostages be kidnapped or kissing Brezhnev on his way in to Afghanistan. Or you're Tricky Dick Nixon, trying to fix gas prices or trying to employ a B.S. "Peace with Honor" strategy. We somehow find a way to plow through whatever gets in our way.
This next weeks gonna be fun, regardless. I can't wait to see what will hit the fan.
