Perspective on Iran

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by 724Skinsfan

Who says building Iraq into a "proper nation" was high on our list after we eliminated them as a threat to their Middle Eastern neighbors and to a lesser extent Europe? They are no longer a threat to anyone, nor will they have the capability to be a threat to anyone, except themselves, for a very long time. The basic intent of the mission was accomplished. Iraq/Saddam will not be bothering anyone for quite some time.

Make no mistake. Despite what the administartion wanted everyone to believe the goal of the Iraq war was to remove Sadaam not because he was any type of real threat but more because we could then build a democracy from which peace could bloom. We have just done an exceptionally bad job at it. Creating stability in Iraq was supposed to allow it to spread through the middle east.

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

Make no mistake. Despite what the administartion wanted everyone to believe the goal of the Iraq war was to remove Sadaam not because he was any type of real threat but more because we could then build a democracy from which peace could bloom. We have just done an exceptionally bad job at it. Creating stability in Iraq was supposed to allow it to spread through the middle east.

This is true. Wolfowitz first articulated these ideas as early as 1979. The objectives were virtuous, but there understanding of the Arab mindset was horribly naive. But then who in the west could have anticipated such horrible violence. Their capacity for self destruction passes all understanding. I suppose the behavior of the Palestinians should have been a cautionary tale. All Arafat had to do was adopt a few of the tactics employed by Ghandi and King and he would have been the founding father of a sovereign nation. Instead he chose violence and what will be a 100 year fight. Destroying the Jews is that important to them. They don't think like we do at all. They think like our medievel ancestors. For the Arabs its basically still the 14th century.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

This is true. Wolfowitz first articulated these ideas as early as 1979. The objectives were virtuous, but there understanding of the Arab mindset was horribly naive. But then who in the west could have anticipated such horrible violence. Their capacity for self destruction passes all understanding. I suppose the behavior of the Palestinians should have been a cautionary tale. All Arafat had to do was adopt a few of the tactics employed by Ghandi and King and he would have been the founding father of a sovereign nation. Instead he chose violence and what will be a 100 year fight. Destroying the Jews is that important to them. They don't think like we do at all. They think like our medievel ancestors. For the Arabs its basically still the 14th century.

well, not really. they've adopted hilter's tactics for teaching hatred (with basically the same anti-semitic posters as 1930s germany) and then they've mixed it with religious conviction. taking the arab world as backwards is a mistake - they've still got guns and satellite TV, but the mindset and values are very different and they have a lot of racial tensions and history that we simply don't have. (obviously i'm not discounting the one serious divide we've had here, but its not like german-americans vs irish-americans vs etc... those types of spats here were early on and very short lived).