Will you be finding time to answer mine as well?
I will. Which one did you mean beside the "came to this world yesterday"-Remark?
Quite frankly, to me the "pointing finger"-Fallacy is the worst thing in Human History. It is antiquated and never was or will be a solution.
Well, at least you're honest.
Even if some People hate it - your assumption true.
Which US military "piss off" operation against the Palestinians are we referring to?
The
first war that was a result of- and ended in the State of Israel.
1) Who are you accusing of doing this? The United States? Israel?
2) What if the neighbors were the ones that actually banished the Grandma for an unjust reason? Wouldn't that be just retribution?
I'm accusing aggressive politics in the Region down there. You may take your pick who started it: Britain, US, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Iraq...
If the "Neighbors" took the house some thousand years ago, I would say: In Heavens sake, get over it. But unfortunately, this is too late. The House is taken already.
Well, as I stated it isn't as simple as you make it out to be. More importantly, what does this have to do with Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran? Are you accusing the US of banishing people for past grievances?
No, I'm accusing the US of playing "Good Cop - Bad Cop". You know: old LAPD-Style, "protecting the rich and kicking the blacks".
No, Britain and France have a long history of imperialism in the Middle East. I am not aware of any US colonies in the Middle East. Check out
this map for an example of this. Specifically Britain got Iraq and Palestine/Jordan, France got Syria and Ibn Saud got most of the Arabian Peninsula.
I know. But imperialism isn't a territorial issue. Imperialism can also be archived by political, military, economical influence. And this is exactly what America is doing since decades. (By the way: Without archiving any positive Image about their policies for any kind of reconciliation from non US/Israel Point of View.)
Which country did the United States oppress? I do hope you realize that in order for the US to be characterized as being oppressive you would have to demonstrate that the US took away civil liberties from the places it invaded that existed in those places prior to the invasions.
Basically you're right. Oppression is about Freedoms. This, of course, includes a countries Freedom to find their own way into their own future. Iraq was a good example of that. I wonder what would have happened if there where no sanctions against them, which, by the way, was responsible for millions of deaths in Iraq, and there would have been friendly and exemplary Diplomatics instead. You know: the kind of "We accept your believes and wishes for your own future instead
this.
As for being free, I agree. All people should be free and self determination is a part of that.
And it includes accepting that countries have to reform themselves to get to this point, doesn't it?
I agree. I have a long list of countries whose governments I feel are oppressive and wish the United States, or anyone, would do away with.
Well, I agree - but until the US Government manages to clean up their own backyard, I guess they don't qualify for this Job. Recent events show what I mean by that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_United_States_foreign_policy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-americanism
(Please Note that I don't agree with all points of the posted links above. However: A critical mind should be aware of these points.)
The media does make a big deal out of such things. That was about an ABC (hint it's part of the media) report on the matter.
You're kidding here. What's the bigger scandal in the US - Paris Hilton, Gonzales, Libby -or- deadly Foreign Politics affecting World-Peace? See what I mean?
If in fact unjust aggression happens, then I don't support it. I would never support the deliberate killing of civilians, nor did I support what happened in Abu Gharib. Characterizing Al Qaeda as a resistance movement is grossly wrong. Al Qaeda is on a mission of religious terror. The only thing it resists is the attempts of reasonable people to exterminate it and let people live in peace.
I'm sorry but Al Qaida is indeed a "resistance organization" and it was build/gains sympathy just because of that. Or to explain it in another way: Without interference in the Middle East from US-Side, Al Qaida couldn't survive or exist. (You should watch the documentary in the OP)
I don't support the oppression of anyone. I want everyone on Earth to enjoy the freedoms I have. That was the reason I supported the war. The WMD's were
never a part of my equation. In fact I thought it was rather shameful the the US was only going to go free people when it was itself threatened by a perceived threat. I'd hate to disillusion you but my opinion on Iraq and Afghanistan was not the result of the media. I first wanted an invasion of Iraq back in 1997 after I had read human rights reports by the UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch about the Al-Anfal Campaign. Reports like
this one.
There is no reason to complain about helping others to gain freedom. The Problem I have is that places like Iraq isn't about Freedoms. And I think the modern, free, western world should be an Ideal for other countries. But unfortunately the Western World isn't perfect, either. So who is able to determinate who's right and who's not?
At least 180,000 civilians were massacred by Iraqi troops in that campaign. Know how many Kurds and Shiite's were killed in the 1991 insurrection? 120,000 - 330,000. Then there are the 500,000-2,000,000 that Saddam let starve while he used relief money to build palace after palace?
Yes, and there where 400.000 to 1,000,000 Plus children killed as a result of
sanctions against Iraq. Seriously, Embargo's, violence and military interventions doesn't look like the solution for these problems. A fair diplomatics does.
This is a government that directly killed 300,000-510,000 of its own citizens while willfully letting another 500,000-2,000,000 starve to death. These aren't just numbers, these were real people that suffered and died.
Millions died because the Government wasn't able to find the solution for these Problems as a result of interventions. Iraq is a rich country - but only if they are able to keep their Export intact. To cut them off their imports and exports automatically leads to starvation, do you know what I mean?
Since I'm not calling for the oppression of anyone this question is irrelevant.
For me it is. Because you didn't mention the countries that pose a humanitarian threat like the
Genocides in Africa, for example. Guess what? This isn't big "Freedom-News" in the US but instead we
still hear that Iraq was responsible for 9/11 - who cares about Genocides while facing such a (
propagated) threat?
Do you see the double moral standards?
