Here's another aspect of this war with Iraq that will create havoc for innocent Iraqis and our troops. Having this information before hand, who's fault will it be if this scenario comes to pass?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/international/middleeast/16IRAQ.html?th
c.i.
Tartarin wrote
"The US is not subserviant to the UN---it is an equal member."
That is exactly what third rate powers such as France and Germany want. Just think of it---to be able to draw on our military excellence but to have them put under command of some incompetent French General who would have our troops slaughered by using WWII tactics-----to have the UN be able to draw checks on the US treasury. The ultimate insult would be for us to cast our one vote against the will of an international community whose only self interest at this moment is cut our legs off.
And you think we would not become subserviant to the UN? Typical "pie in the sky" lunacy.
perception
So the democratic system in the US has changed?
Large and 'powerful', republican governed states have got more power in the Senate than the small ones or those with Democratic governors?
"The end of history" suggests a trendy world in which we are free of our past. Yeah, right!! The end of the world, yes, I can believe that. But the end of history suggests that we will somehow escape our humanity and its flaws. I think that's not only highly unlikely but fairly undesirable (Fukuyama and that lovely Rand Corporation to the contrary not withstanding).
As I read and reread posts herein, I think the division may be between not so much hawks and doves as between the impatient and the patient. We have utilitarian beliefs which lead us to want to solve any problem our way and quickly. When that habit of mind is extended into international affairs -- into a world in which other people and other cultures and other beliefs to which we owe respect -- there's bound to be trouble.
We are no longer a young country which, like an huge, untrained but charming looking golden retriever, might be forgiven once or twice for jumping up and knocking over a few children. We have become a monster with a Bush head, a Rumsfeld-Cheney torso, and legs and arms made by Lockheed and GE and megatons of other "defense" suppliers who are benefitting already from the situation this administration has put the country in (see WSJ and other financial papers this past week). We are not a pretty sight.
BTW: Did you study at the Ecole spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, because you seem to know the curriculum there?
Walter
Did any of the French Military academy study at the college of the First Gulf war where the world was taught how to utilize air power in conjunction with the swift and awesome maneuver tactics the Abrams tank allows with it's 3 mile night firepower accuracy.
I think the French were then too busy drawing up lucrative oil contracts and contracts to sell French aircraft(Mirage fighters and missiles) and other military equipment we destroyed or that was sent to Iran in panic.
Your analagy of the UN with our democratic system is not worthy of mention---if you look at the upcoming chairmanship of the UN disarmament committee(Iraq) and Un chairmanship of the Human rights committee(Libya) you will see that the organizational structure is a joke.
Glad, you could laugh about a joke from a native of a third rate country.
Yes, even we primitives can be a good source for a laughter - perhaps, the only right we have to still exist.
Don't worry, Walter -- I purchased nothing but German made light bulbs, drive a German made car and I don't believe they're made by a third-rate country. Rumsfeld comments about "Old Europe" were in keeping with his myopic and selfish view of the world.
Walter
Don't take it so hard---you may yet find another Hitler in Argentina or Brazil.
LW, You missed "maturity" from your list. c.i.
perception
With your last response you are attacking me personally.
I can't imagine, why you are starting now deep personal insults, besides ...
BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think what we think. That which distinguishes the man who is content to be something from the man who wishes to do something. A man of great wealth, or one who has been pitchforked into high station, has commonly such a headful of brain that his neighbors cannot keep their hats on. In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.
Walter
If I wanted to insult you personally I would be much more direct. I remind you that your sarcasm of my comment about a French General put you in the line of fire----If you want to participate in an emotional discussion and venture out with unlimited sarcasm you shouldn't be so thin skinned.
perception wrote:Walter
Don't take it so hard---you may yet find another Hitler in Argentina or Brazil.
Due to the fact that as an aborigin of a third rated country my knowledge in linguistic, specially in that of a foreign tongue, is undeveloped, I certainly may have misunderstood you.
LOL. Bringing in Latin America was a great diversionary maneuver, Perception!
Otherwise our friend here might remember that the wonderful Abrams tank guns you mentioned are actually manufactured by Rheinmetall of Germany <G>
HofT
That's as unfair as I would tell everybody, perception is driving a German owned Chrysler!
Walter
Chrysler is the best joke we ever played on you Germans. Regarding automotive manufacture though, your mercedes director of product development was/is a genius. The decision to build a plant here in the US to build Mercedes SUVs to sell to the self indulgent population of the US was a masterstroke of opportunism, especially since it was made about 20 years ago.
As said above: glad, you like our jokes!
Perception, I couldn't agree with you more!
"..........the swift and awesome maneuver tactics the Abrams tank allows with it's 3 mile night firepower accuracy."
In addition to the 120mm Rheinmetall smoothbore guns, though, we bamboozled those innocent foreigners into manufacturing transmissions for the M1-A. The old made-in-Detroit-by-Chrysler transmissions had a mean time between failures driving on sand of 7.5 miles.
Thank you, Walter! <G>
Walter
I'm just trying to put a "band-aid" on German/American relations.
