Afghanistan and Iraq: a retrospective (for JTT)

Calling the Taliban "megalomaniacal sociopaths" is really a stretch, Merry. They have not been responsible for the 10 million innocents dead at the hands of the US since WWII.

If you had an honest bone in your body, it would be easy for you to admit that the US harbors thousands of megalomaniacal sociopaths.

Given your support for these folks, you might well fit in yourself.

Yup, you'd be the go to guy to determine what's "honest".

Here's a guy who can't and won't face up to the facts that clearly show HIS country is the major terrorist group in the world.

Here's a guy who can't and won't face up to the facts that clearly show HIS country has spent its entire existence seriously brutalizing innocents around the world.

Here's a guy who can't and won't address the woefully dishonest claims of the Oralloys but who sticks his sizeable nose into the most inane discussions to posture honesty. [Noted that you are hardly alone in that]

Robert equivocated his way through that whole thread. Uppermost in his mind was/is maintaining his cash cow. He illustrated his woeful ignorance of the criminal history of the US.

Sherwood Ross: Historian: Americans' Ignorance Of Their Own History Cripples U.S. Foreign Policy
May 19, 2011 — Steven
By Sherwood Ross
Associates Media Consultants

Americans are so woefully ignorant of their own history that they cannot apply the lessons of the past to guide their foreign policy, the Dean of America’s only college of history says.

“When one considers our profound lack of knowledge of our own past, combined with our unparalleled military might as the world’s only superpower, it is easier to understand why countries as different as Mexico and Canada, Pakistan and New Zealand, look at us with wary eyes,” says historian Michael Chesson, dean of the American College of History and Legal Studies in Salem, N.H.

“We are the thousand pound gorilla,” Chesson continues. “Unfortunately, we can lash out as if we were both drunk and blind when provoked, whether by pesky foreign powers, or terrorists.”

Chesson cites the best-seller “Imperial Hubris”(Potomac Books) by Michael Scheuer about the early fighting in Afghanistan to support his argument that the U.S. needs a more informed citizenry.

“Americans will have to read more books, journals, newspapers, and online commentary from a variety olf sources, written from different points of view,” Chesson says. “Then we have to think about what it all means, and make decisions based on that information.”

He explains, “It is vital that we do a far better job of informing ourselves about the world than has been the case for much of our history,” because “Two branches of our national government are headed entirely by elected leaders. Over time what are the odds that their qualities and strengths will be better than the general level of awareness among the broad electorate?”

Chesson states further, “We must supplement our formidable hard power with the soft power available to us, but only if we husband it, use it wisely, and know how to produce more of it,” as former Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Nye wrote in his book, “The Paradox of American Power: Why The World’s Only Superpower Can’t Go It Alone”(Oxford University Press). Currently, Nye is dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

“For America to fare better in a perilous world Nye says will require some self-restraint from Congress. That seems a dubious proposition,” Chesson observes. “It is, at best, one measure of how hard it is for a democratic republic to conduct foreign policy. A more constructive approach to our involvement in world affairs would also require some consistency from one presidential administration to the next, even when there is a transfer of power from one party to another.”

http://www.americanpendulum.com/2011/05/19/historian-americans-ignorance-of-their-own-history-cripples-u-s-foreign-policy/

Obama has decided to start another war... he's invading Africa for Christmas.

Noted that the US is a voracious predator.

If this was coming from someone with at least an ounce of common sense, it would be believable, H20guy.

You, it has to be taken with a bag full of salt.

JTT, your ignorance knows no bounds.

You are dumber than a sack of hammers.

You don't know that the US is a voracious predator!?? And you dare to speak of ignorance.

I ave never denied that, JTT. What's it got to do with the Taliban? You keep doing these non-sequitors.

Your title, Merry, Afghanistan and Iraq: a retrospective .

One would think that you'd make some attempt at dealing with the issues in an honest and truthful fashion but you put that notion to rest one or two posts ago. What you wrote there was actually an excellent summation of all your posts here at A2K.

That was another illegal invasion of a sovereign nation. That is the ultimate war crime. The Afghans did nothing against the US. If "retribution" was in order, the Afghans should have atttacked the US for the misery and death that the US has brought upon that land with its completely devoid of any semblance of humanity political machinations.

This was another situation where the US made big claims about "helping the people of Afghanistan". Haven't you ever asked yourself why the US's help means millions die?

It is so bloody obvious. Why does this US national delusion go on?

Bump