An Empire Painted in Blood

Post Reply New Topic

I have no idea. I shall have to play the Lottery more often.

This seems to be the common argument among pro-war people ever since the Iraq war got unpopular "But we've got to finish it". No, you don't have to finish it. If you finish the guy you just punched in the face off, other guys will get as mad as he would have gotten if you didn't finish him.

The war with Iraq....political. Saudi Arabia was financially and personnel-wise behind 9/11.

The war with Afghanistan....oil. The plans to invade were SIGNED by G.W. Bush days before 9/11 even happened. The administration was working on how to sell the invasion of Afghanistan to the American people when 9/11 happened (one of the "motives" behind several 9/11 conspiracy theories and why many debate if Usama Bin Laden was really involved with the 9/11 attacks).

The military-industrial complex and multi-national corporations pretty much run the USA. They are the ones making a fortune on the wars and "empire building" while the national financial health is being driven into the ground.

Every empire is built on the blood of those they crush. The USA may have become a world power because of WWII, a war some in the USA wanted for the money that could be made...hence blood is on our hands, but certainly not as bloody as the British Empire which conquered under a colonial regime.

The closest thing the U.S. ever had to empire was the temporary hegemony in the Carribean. As Imperialists go the U.S. is second rate. The Brits and the Romans were much better Imperialists.

ruveyn

I'm not that up on either Roman or British colonial history but my general impression is that both used intelligent accomplished administrators to not only control the local situation but also spread their national culture. The Americans in South America and elsewhere supported vicious dictatorships and all sorts of corruption (much as they are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan) to control a thoroughly suppressed populace.

+1

It's such ashame that their is no evidence for reincarnation - for it'd be a lovely thought for iamnotparakeet to experience first hand what its' like to have your house destroyed in Occupied Territories with no chance of legal redress.

Thank you, I appreciate your support. Press key 11 for more options.

I'd imagine that if I were in that house it wouldn't take long for me to no longer notice.

Gentle? Nah, of course I'm not gentle. I am American. All Americans are evil heartless monsters. So, therefore I'm also an evil heartless monster!! !

May I remind you people that the Constitution of the United States specifically FORBIDS having a standing army?

George Washington warned us about getting involved in other people's wars or politics.

The founding fathers envisaged a land of armed and independent citizens who could band together to protect themselves from foreign invasion or (if need be) against their own government.

Where did we go wrong?

I don't know, but if we didn't have a standing army, navy, and air force during WWII, Europe might as well be named Greater Germany and much of the Pacific named The Protectorates of Imperial Japan.

Um... you're arguing a moot point. The war in Iraq is over. We more or less "won" and our last combat troops left about a week and a half ago. Seriously, do people follow the news anymore?

As far as the idea that we had to "finish it," I think the argument was that we at least owed it to the Iraqi people to ensure they had a somewhat stable government rather than just leaving them in anarchy and chaos. The Iraq war was a horrible mistake, to take the most charitable view of it. Putting Petraeus in charge was probably the only correct decision of the whole conflict; under his command Iraq became (relatively) peaceful and stable, to the point where we could withdraw without leaving a power vacuum in our wake.

We are still engaged in Afghanistan, unfortunately, and I'd like to hear any suggestions for how we could get out of there quickly without leaving them to the wolves. Petraeus has been put in charge there following the McChrystal scandal, and if history is any guide he will do as well as anyone could to stabilize Afghanistan and ensure its security before we leave.

The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

I was surprised to come back and find 27 comments. Wow.

Just to let you all know, this is an experiment in using rhetoric to appeal to the crowd of people who rather "Feel" their speeches, rather than think about them. This is an emotional diatribe for the non-critical thinking to feast off of, while, as expected, many of you, and I for that matter, have come to more rational conclusions.

I love giving speeches and have tons more but I'll only post this one because my experimentation seems to have made people mad. Instead of arguing why can't we just reasonably debate instead of insulting each-other?

Wombat, which US Constitution are you referring to? The one I know certainly has no prohibition on standing armies, except that an individual state can't have their own unless they get permission from Congress. Congress certainly does have authority to maintain a military force, although it is required to renew the funding for it frequently in order to give some minor discouragement to a permanent standing army.

Keet, do you know what a standing army is? It usually refers to a peacetime military force. The US armed forces during WWII do not match that description.

Sheesh, PPR denizens. You lot sorely need to review your civics. This kind of thing is why I distrust democracy.

What you start off with is what you get. Congratulations upon the success of your "experiment"! All hail the Ubermench wannabe!!