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The more things change, the more they stay the same


© Ted Rall

We’ve done a spectacularly bad job of “helping” countries like Iraq and Afghanistan transition to democracy. I for one am glad that we are staying fairly hands off with countries like Egypt and Libya.

But it is ironic that the same conservatives who used to denounce “nation building” are now attacking Obama for not doing more of it.

UPDATE: Even something as innocuous as a “no-fly zone” has sucked us into war in the past. Will we ever learn? For some people, sadly no.

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10 Comments

  1. Name wrote:

    I’m glad we are kind of keeping our hands dry here. I understand that people around the world may view America as the peacemakers, but we’ve got to stop playing Superman to every single country that needs help. It sucks to say that, I don’t like seeing civilian casualties, or a civil war in another country. However, civil war can be a good thing no? I mean, it worked for us.

    Speaking of which, wasn’t there a Superman comic or episode that dealt with just that? Superman had to fly all over the place, helping here and helping there and the end result was he was all tired and beat and he ended up like losing his job or something? Maybe I just made that up… I don’t know.

    As far as Palin is concerned, where doesn’t she have her nose stuck in? She’s even got her own damn tv show (which to me is basically “Look at me! Look at where I live! Aren’t I lucky? You should like/relate to all this crap, so like me too!”) I’d rather watch Jersey Shore… no, no I can’t actually say that without vomiting a little bit in my mouth.

    Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 6:19 am | Permalink
  2. PatriotSGT wrote:

    I say no. Those arguing for a no fly zone don’t actually know what they are asking for and what it takes. I guess they think we just fly a few jets overhead and call it a day. To do it correctly and reduce the risk for our pilots and multimillion dollar planes as well we need to first destroy all the surface to air missiles and defense systems along with the libyan airforce while its on the ground. We can never get all the systems because of mobile sites, and the threat remains moderate to high. Do we really want to attack another country? Is congress really prepared to declare war and begin a third conflict? We know where that leads and when we’re done we will have to stay for another 10 years to rebuild the natin and nurture the fragile government that we talked them into. Really, thats what advocates for action are asking, all kidding aside.

    What we can do instead is drop food, medical supplies, battery’s and radio’s and anything else all of their humanity needs. I’d even stay away from supplying weapons because we’ll just start another problem for later down the road. There are enough arms dealers in the world to take care of that.

    Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 6:24 am | Permalink
  3. Dan wrote:

    Even out the odds a bit, send them stingers, tow missles and AK-47s (they can capture ammo for the AKs from gov troops).
    It’s all about money- the newworld order- and the revolt is starting here too.

    Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 7:50 am | Permalink
  4. starluna wrote:

    Dan – let’s just hope that whatever revolt happens here does not require AK-47s to “even out the odds.”

    Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 8:57 am | Permalink
  5. Patricia wrote:

    PSGT: You have made the best suggestion. It worked in WWII and right after. Too bad it’s more important to sell weapons than medical/food supplies. 🙁

    Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 1:16 pm | Permalink
  6. Iron Knee wrote:

    Wow, I’m pleasantly surprised that we are all (except maybe for Dan) pretty much in agreement on this one.

    Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 5:10 pm | Permalink
  7. PatriotSGT wrote:

    Thanks Patricia. After 3 deployments and facing another when I’ve finished recovering medically from the last one I can tell you, emphatically, that this Soldier has had enough. Let some other nation fight this one, let us just finish the ones we’re in and come home. 🙂

    Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 5:50 pm | Permalink
  8. PatriotSGT: I’m not so sure about the “finish” part of your sentence. If we have to wait to finish like we’re waiting in Korea, then let’s not finish.

    I want you guys home, safe, having fulfilled a mission that is finite and beneficial to the people there. I mainly just want you guys home.

    Friday, March 11, 2011 at 10:28 am | Permalink
  9. PatriotSGT wrote:

    Amen to that Thought Dancer. We’re finished when a US President says we’re done.

    Friday, March 11, 2011 at 11:02 am | Permalink
  10. PatriotSGT: I really had some hopes that I voted for a President who would do exactly that. I realized it would be staged slowly, but I really hoped we would be seeing the endgame.

    Friday, March 11, 2011 at 6:06 pm | Permalink