How many Syrians does it take to lunch a hand-grenade?
According to the photograph of the sling-shot: 9
The trouble with helping anyone in the Middle East is you have to ask yourself if the person you are helping is any better than their adversary.
Personally, I would think hard and long before lifting a finger to help any of them. I lean toward the philosophy of letting them sort it out among themselves.
Is the situation in Iraq any better today than it was under Saddam Hussein? No.
Is the situation in Afghanistan any better today than it was before we went in? Only while we are there to enforce “freedom”. I venture to say it is going to revert to what it was as soon as we leave. We could have saved a lot of American lives and billions of dollar had we simply walked away a few years ago and return every few years thereafter to knock out the government de jour down again.
Cool pics.
Al
By 803056
Date 03-26-2013 17:49
Edited 03-26-2013 17:57
I make a poor politician, so on the subject of the Middle East it is enough to say I wouldn't give one drop of my blood for any of them. It is a matter of philosophy. Their philosophy is so different than mine; I cannot fathom how they think.
I went to college with several people from the Middle East, they simply baffled me. So, I say leave the Middle East to themselves, they like it that way, I like it that way. We had no problem with them before we discovered oil and decided we wanted it. They did just fine without the Europeans and the Americans. They have been fighting for the last three thousand years and I don't see that there is a ground swell of public support to force a fundamental change in philosophy once we leave. From my vantage point it still looks like one “tribe” against another. They will continue to stone their women, deny their women the right to be schooled, kill their daughters that have been raped to save the family’s honor, and lop off the heads of infidels with little regard to what faction is in office. No, their way of thinking is too foreign to me to willingly offer my son’s life, my nephew’s life, or even someone else’s son’s life to impose change on a society that isn’t ready to change.
I don't claim to be right; I just do not see the advantage of turning out one despot that will be replaced by one that is worse. Will our interdiction reduce the amount of bloodshed or will it make it worse? Will our interdiction change their philosophy? Would we be helping them so we can advance our self-interest or would we help them for purely humanitarian reasons? Somehow I am sure the politicians look at the situation and calculate “What’s in it for me?”
Sorry, I haven’t lost any sleep over the events over there. Do I agree with the policies and philosophies of the current governments in the Middle East? No. Does that mean I have an obligation to send money, weapons, or people to help every rebel faction throwing stones or hand grenades that may ultimately be worse than the one that is currently in power? Before we start handing out weapons, money, and blood, we better understand how the rebels think, what they plan to do, and whether their countries will be better off if the old government is deposed and replaced.
I remember we supported the Taliban when they ousted the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. Hell, we supported Bin Laden with money and arms. Look how good that turned out. How many people have been killed by us and the Taliban in our efforts to protect the people from the Taliban? As Americans, we don’t have a stellar history of backing the “best” government. We usually support the “government” that offers us the most favorable business deal with little regard for the “people” being governed. Consider for a moment the immense pressure we have put on the Chinese government to make life more favorable for the peasants of that country. I think it is safe to say the pressure applied by our government, starting with "Tricky Dickie Nixon," has been minimal at best as long as our corporations have a steady supply of inexpensive goods.
Sorry, I don’t have the answers the world’s problems.
Best regards - Al