[Rhodes22-list] Reply to the ranters

john Belanger jhnblngr at yahoo.com
Sat May 20 22:16:02 EDT 2006


to some degree these are apples and oranges. the democracy you want to see isn't possible without great effort and cooperation. in iraq and afghanistan you are taking power from those who had it and transfering it to those who never had it. being the protector in this case is impossible because we can't take sides and no side wants to be on our side. two sects of islam are united only in their distaste for christians. i'm just simply embarrassed by the whole mess. no country in the world could have done the job we've done to ourselves. on the other hand we poured money into germany and japan (and all of europe for that matter) because we didn't want to lose them to communism. i wonder sometimes if we really understand the middle east at all. perhaps general scwartzkoff said it best ( he was raised in the middle  east) " you have to understand that in the middle east there is no one answer". as long as we keep looking for one answer there will be no solution. remember that
 this country took in its immigrants over a period of time and they fought several wars against foriegn wouldbe aggressors and a civil war to unify the people against foes to its existence, internal and external. we are all hopefull that new and improved versions of these ancient cultures can be forged from the remains of the old. but  i'm saying, somewhat tongue in cheek here, you're trying to unify the peoples most directly affected by what occurred as a result of building that other tower. the tower of babble. anyone?

"Arthur H. Czerwonky" <czerwonky at earthlink.net> wrote:  Ed,

Good points. If we had not stayed in Germany, what are the odds that the Iron Curtain would have come down?
What are the odds that we could have maintained stability on the Korean Peninsula had we not kept our presence in Japan. 

What many wonder is whether this transplant of democracy will have to persist on an enormously high maintenance basis. Like Saddam said in testimony - "hot blooded people". Our precious democracy is respected by enough Americans who will do anything to preserve it, what will it take for the Iraqis to get as passionate?

Art




-----Original Message-----
>From: ed kroposki 
>Sent: May 20, 2006 5:33 PM
>To: The Rhodes 22 mail list 
>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Reply to Dave Lewis and his fellow travelers
>
>Dave,
> Your illustrations were good. Then you said, "We did not hang
>around for "nation building", the message was, "you do it again, we'll do it
>again". Seems like a good approach to me with regards to Afghanistan and
>Iraq.
> However, it did not say that you picked and choose only one style of
>actions. You did not say how long the U. S. Army stayed in Germany and
>Japan after WW2. 
> If you would please answer the question how long the U. S stayed in
>Germany after World War 2.
> I have a different opinion than you. I do not believe that we
>should walk away and leave the general populace to thugs, goons and jerks.
>Stan gave us an illustration of the type of jerks over there. However, I
>would not presume that all the people there are the same type jerks. If you
>look at alternative sources of information even you might find good people
>that need support to succeed. 
> You call it nation building. Many ask why the United States should
>do the 'nation building'? The answer to me is simple. It is the right
>thing to do. To walk away and leave the goons to rape, pillage and plunder
>is wrong. I guess I have a different sense of right and wrong than you do.
> Can you please answer the question how long we stayed in Japan and
>Germany? What were the results?
>
>Ed K
>Greenville, SC, USA 
>
>
>
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