Hawktawk wrote:I think you underestimate the good things that have come out of our engagement with the world. The good book says "Of whom much has been given will much be required". We have been blessed with more good things than any nation in the history of the world.We have in america the most rich natural resources, the most secure perch in terms of a land invasion, the richest country in the world in many ways.
I can agree there have been many misguided adventures starting with my earliest memories of Vietnam but imagine had the US stayed out of the world wars? The help rebuilding Europe and Japan have given us stable trading partners and reliable allies (until Trump). And WTF were we supposed to do when Bin Laden ordered hijacking of planes killing 3000 americans? say oh well??? 95% of americans approved of the war on terror and its never going to be over nor can it be. There was a near unanimous vote in the congress for Iraq, a universal belief from virtually every intelligence service on the planet that Hussein had WMD.
Is it bad he's gone ? We've paid an awful price but the country is better off IMO. And as we learned when Obama did what you suggested, yanked the troops prematurely along comes ISIS. As Mattis, far more wise than the orange baboon said recently. "we can want to withdraw, we can withdraw but the enemy gets the vote"
Were we supposed to sit back and watch ISIS murder 100+ at the bataclan, commit atrocities all over the world and capture oil fields, huge swaths of the middle east? Military commanders in this country devised a plan of a super light footprint of 2500 special forces in Syria for the final battle with ISIS. We lost SIX TROOPS. The Kurds we convinced to join us lost 12000. And in one day Trump dismantled it, Isis fighters on the loose, Russian and Turkish troops occupying our bases we deserted and ran from.Hundreds of thousands of refugees. A total humiliating defeat, an unforced error.
Here's the deal, we have 5% of the world's population but we consume 30% of its resources. We have to be benevolent, we have to be engaged in global policy and if needed global policing. We are the only nation capable. It's why I've been so freaked out about Trump being installed by Putin and basically doing his bidding at every turn, weakening nato etc. Our men and women certainly don't want endless deployments but they volunteered, raised their hand and took an oath and from the reporting I've seen they are P!$$ed about what has happened in Syria from the generals to the boots on the ground. 5 years down the toilet in one phone call.
And the troops aren't coming home either. They are being positioned in Iraq and another 2000 are going to saudi arabia to protect their oil from Iran....Our foreign policy has never been more F' d up in my lifetime.
We cannot stay at war forever. Have you read on the first world war? We did not need to be involved. All the dumbass Europeans did was fight each other, then divide the spoils. You read all their colonial BS? The World Wars are why we're involved in the Middle East to begin with. Take some time to read on the progression from World War 1. We're still dealing with the aftermath of that idiotic war that kept on going. Post world war 1 brought us the current state of the Middle East, the promise Israel remade, the oil problems, the rise of Russia as a world power, the colonialism and rise of socialism due to the poor treatment of other nations by colonial powers, and the like. The list is long and ongoing.
We are no more resource rich than other nations. This idea we have this gross amount of resources more than other places is ridiculous. These other countries had plenty of resources, especially places like Canada, Russia, and Central and South America. What we had that has stood out from the rest of the world is a highly motivated and free population unfettered by all the trash class system that plagued other nations and drove the rise of socialism and communism because the noble and merchant class screwed the peasants when freedom and capitalism finally established themselves in those lands.
Stop believing the hype. It's a lie that is not supported by history that gets sold to us. Other nations have had immense resources. They squander them because they have old world government systems and deep corruption, nepotism, and scumbaggery that remains institutionalized in their systems due to their cultural mores. What we have is not superior resources, but a superior culture that was at one point driven by productivity, self-improvement, exceptionalism, and the like that made the use of resources extraordinary and attracted the world's talent to a land where their extraordinariness would be rewarded.Now these clowns in groups like The Squad want to make all that seem like luck or some easily duplicated feat by the common people. That's horsecrap.
We were taught to reach for the stars. And that type of society breeds extraordinary feats.
I see this new idea that other cultures are just different is horsecrap. Cultures in the Middle East are poisonous. The monarchies and therocracies that populate their land. Their power politics where killing the other guy is the best way to hold power. The tribal politics. The religious battling. You ever read on that area of the world? They murdered the grandson of Mohammed and Mohammd's adopted son and one of his first disciples Ali. Violence has been the way of things in that area of the world, not peace like so many try to claim. If they want real change, they're going to have to make it happen, not us.
I could go on for ages discussing this. But stop buying into the hype. We do not have the most resources or blessings or what not. We had an extraordinary culture that used to value liberty and the pursuit of greatness that we call happiness. We have been poisoning ourselves by involving ourselves in these constant wars. The only wars we've fought that were truly worth fighting for a good cause was The Civil War and World War 2 only because the moral vileness we were fighting against in slavery and Hitler's vision of Germany. All these other wars have been nothing but a constant stream of mistakes by men drunk on power and willing to lie to the American people to keep us constantly at war or to take land and resources.
It's not a matter of disengaging from the world which I am not encouraging. It is a matter of not engaging in a way where were backing one scumbag over another, then marketing lies to our people that this scumbag is better than that scumbag. Really our money and military help is being used to oppress one group over another with only token measures taken towards truly improving the lives of the people in a given nation. We must always ask ourselves are we truly supporting freedom and the betterment of another people or are we helping a tyrant hold power to help a handful of companies and wealthy men more wealthy?
The Bible also talks of free will. And letting men sin and learn from their sins. Not for us to be some kind of force of punishment or chooser of the fates of other men by use of superior military might. The greatest men and women of the Bible were not those that made war on others wishing to control their fates or make money, but to be the greatest example of how to live well so that others by that example will seek betterment. That is not our policy at the moment. Our history clearly shows we are engaged in choosing one evil man over another to prop up tyrants for money and power to divide up the world. That is closer to the work of Satan if you wish to translate it by Biblical standards, not God. For America is not God and should not act as such looking to control other nations from afar with military power and money.
And one last note, we are not the only nation capable of policing the world. We are the only nation that is involved in doing so. Europe, Russia, China, and many other nations have plenty of power to police. They did it for years prior to us doing it...until they couldn't afford to do so. The same direction we're headed. Other people do not want us there to help, they are using us and us them. That is no way to truly improve the world. You list any war and I'll discuss it more in depth with you and show you what I'm talking about.
I used to believe like you. I finally woke up after reading on World War 1. I highly recommend deep reading on that war. We are where we are now because of that war. That war was a major driver of modern American foreign policy and the current map of the world.
doesn't really matter if you are a Republican or Democrat there is an agenda running both party's that is controlled by the Military industrial complex... The media is controlled by this agenda... You can't believe anything that the Media says hardly anymore. everything they say has to be researched...who has time to do that? there is no election integrity anymore... our rights are being slowly taken away...