No. immigration and vacation arent the same thing.

wow, seriously, wow

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html


Personally I think this is the real reason were still fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan..

What you have to understand is that Lead Bouncer is operating with a mere fraction of the brain power as the rest of us. Once you realize that, it is far easier to understand him.

You are racist [censored], Lead Bouncer. I hope you say the wrong thing to my brown girlfriend one day when I'm around.

OK, so back to the topic....

Lead Bouncer:

Obviously, you are passionate about the threat of terrorism. Do you think fighting these wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will end terrorism?

Aperfectly relevant question IMO FF.

The answer to which should be a resounding "hell no". Both wars do nothing other than exaserbate the terrorism problem on top of throwing a cool trillion down the $hitter.

No. If/when we leave, the enemy that was shooting at US soldiers will go back to terrorizing their neighbors. The money being sent (from Cells in the US) to support the enemy in Afganistan and Iraq, will stay here, to fund projects here.

The money funding the Taliban in Afghanistan is coming from the US taxpayer via private contractors paying them not to attack vehicles on supply routes. It's also coming largely from countries who are supposedly our allies like Saudi Arabia. Add to that the billions in illegal opium trade which was nearly eradicated before the US entered the scene.


The old canard of "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here" is losing it's muster.

Al CIA-duh is largely comprised of dirt poor illiterate goat farmers sick and tired of seeing their homeland occupied by a foreign army. The enemy's recruitment hook depends on the US bombing civilian wedding parties with un-manned drone strikes in cross border regions. That and the lop-sided arrangement us Americans keep with the Israelis. Take away those two very important recruitment tools and these radical jihadi organizations will be hard pressed to find new blood.

These arrangements of paying tribal warlords to ally with us in order to keep the majority of our troops out of harm's way are the same types of arrangements that lead to the creation of groups like Al Qaeda, Jundallah, and the Mujahudeen. Should be proof enough to most that playing with a hornet's nest is no way to conduct foreign policy. We'd be better served by minding our own business and letting countries sort out their own domestic issues.

BTW - I've heard the oil card frequently played and in my opinion I don't think it plays into the equation. The US makes up what percentage of the crude oil purchase market? If we stop buying (like we ever would) what in the hell are they going to do with all that oil? Drink it?

That's far too logical and rational an explanation Stink.

Lead Eater just wants to hear that all ragheads need to die.

Who the hell got ahold of SW's login info and made such a well thought out post like that?

Ah c'mon fellas,.......... I've always sided with most present day leftoids on foreign policy.

In fact most of you could be described as foreign policy conservatives. Seeing as you (and I) believe in a conservative use of military force,........ as opposed to a liberal use of force. It was actually a traditional conservative position until the Straussian neocons got a hold of the party.

I think you are right on the mark except for the oil. It's not being secured for America, It's being secured for the multinational corporations. They will sell it on the world market and I don't think they are too worried about the demand drying up anytime soon.

Got that right about the oil card. It's a global enterprise.

OK, with all the intelligent, right thinking minds in this thread, LB excluded, why the hell is the US bound up in this new age Vietnam? Gonna' have to dig out my hippie love beads and some old draft cards to burn. Up the revolution!

I think the only lesson learned from Vietnam was by the military industrial /oil complex and that is to keep the war out of the media as much as possible, especially pictures.

+1

It really destroys the morale on the home front when parents get to see their own children getting blown to bits and villages full of poor peasants getting bathed in burning phosphorous.

Its better for 'defense spending' when they see clean, white, smiling troops handing out Hershey bars to hungry brown kids waving little American Flags. None of those icky caskets coming off the C-17 a hundred at a time.

That way they don't feel bad for telling their teenage sons that going off to get mutilated & killed in some smelly, assbackward schithole for the personal profit of contractors & lobbyists is their patriotic duty.

Go fight evildoers, Johnny. Your kevlar helmet and your M4 is all you need because Jesus is on your side.

I'll conceed that you make a good point about securing it for the multinationals. Although I would chalk that up in the spoils of war category as opposed to the all out reason for us being there in the first place.

I'm with Sg,............ what the hell are we still doing in these chitholes nearly a decade later? Viva la revolucion!

If you listened carefully during the campaign in 2008 he's doing exactly what he said he was going to do. Draw down in Iraq so it can become the next South Korea,...... and escalate in Afghanistan.

Should come as no suprise to anyone.

As far as fulfilling his campaign promise to leave Iraq I think the proof is there,..... he lied,...... nearly all politicians lie. Leaving a "residual" force of 50k troops isn't leaving at all. It's an occupation force and that's exactly how the people of Iraq will see it.

Iraq is a country of roughly 32,000,000. Comparitively, how would we view it or what would we do if the Chinese stationed half a million troops in the lower 48?