After two wars to liberate the Iraqis from Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and we still have Iraqi protestors by the thousands attacking our embassy? I don’t get it. There is something very wrong with our foreign policy. Too much of our tax dollars are being wasted on exporting liberal democracy which doesn’t even work in America. It’s an ideology that destabilizes society. And now, Congress has passed a human rights bill in support of the riots in Hong Kong. The intent is to liberate the 1.4 billion people in China from the dictatorship of democratic socialism. Beijing believes that the selfish interest of the individual must be subordinate to the welfare of the collective. Apparently, we don’t.
“Give me liberty or give me death,” said Patrick Henry. Sounds good to you?
Part of it is the dotard’s diplomacy or lack thereof. IMHO, his behaviour of “it’s not my fault, it’s yours” attitude doesn’t help things nor does his greed. He’s a toddler in a lot of meetings and destroys everything he touches.
Could it be that we aren’t exporting liberal democracy, but instead, corruption and suppression of rights? Apparently they are looking to the model of Flint MI not San Francisco. I knew we were in trouble when I first saw our generals setting up shop in Saddam’s palace. We acted like conquerors, and they responded to us as such.
Hi Mriana, Trump is no diplomat. He is impatient, has no time for niceties, and wants to get to third base with no foreplay. Admittedly, this is disconcerting for folks who are not in a hurry. Getting thing done is his schtick. He is a New Yorker, the sharpest, slickest American in the homeland. I don’t mind giving him that. I live in flyover country where the pace of life is at the growth speed of beanstalks. We folks here need someone smart in Washington to watch our backs.
You didn’t say why the Iraqis are not on our side now. They were celebrating their liberation and welcoming our troops when they rolled into Bahgdad back in 2003. We spent a ton of money doing that.
Lausten: “Could it be that we aren’t exporting liberal democracy, but instead, corruption and suppression of rights?”
Hate to agree with you because it doesn’t speak well of our government but you are probably right. There are folks who told me the same thing went on from as far back as Vietnam. I have always wondered why the US has always been backing the bad guys: Chiang Kai Shek (China), Ngo Dihn Diem (Vietnam), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Iran)… the list goes on. And Saddam was a CIA asset. I am beginning to wonder if the Ayathollah is right about us being the Great Satan.
Sree, your gleeful idolization of the rotten refuse of a character that is our current POTUS, is beyond disgusting. Your affection for him is like if Princess Leah had established a fetish for Jabba the Hutt after her Stockholm syndrome kicked in from being abducted by him.
As far as the current embassy crisis, in Iraq there are multiple competing factions, there. One backed by Iran is probably behind the group that is doing the bulk, if not all, of the attacks on the embassy.
Iran and Russia are steadily (while T rump has been POTUS) and successfully projecting more and more influence in the Middle East, while our influence is declining.
So what should we do? Move all of our embassies and troops out of the Middle East and leave it to whoever has the biggest cojones to divvy up? IDK.
Yes Tim, I feel we should get out not only from the Middle East but from all over the world. “Great nations do not fight endless wars” is a wonderful foreign policy and Trump must implement it. Bring back all 200,000 troops. Return Guantanamo to Cuba. Give Guam back to the indigenous Chamarro people. Shut down our black site in Diego Garcia and God knows where else.
I don’t idolize Trump. I just don’t share your hatred for him. Trump is not perfect. No American is. Sitting in moral judgment of others is not the American way. We want to promote secularism and do away with stuffy close-minded morals. We are supposed to be inclusive and we celebrate diversity.
Get real. Secularism is not about getting rid of morals. Expecting political leaders to have some semblance of moral integrity is not “stuffy and close minded”.
Inclusion and diversity are not about accepting perpetual lies and corruption by our political leaders.
Trump is not a political leader. He has no background in politics and new to the political establishment in Washington. This is why he is having such a hard time fitting in. And he refuses to “fit in”. Lausten raised the question that we could have been exporting corruption instead of liberal democracy to foreign countries. This makes me wonder if the moral integrity of the political establishment meets your approval. Help me understand why you share the sentiments of the political establishment going all out to do Trump in.
Dear Satan help us. (I call out to a nonexistent supernatural being in this time of F-truth-in-the-A, that is ushered in by the Trumpublicans.) The POTUS is not a political leader??? Gag me with unreality.
Half of the political establishment wants T rump to stay. They are willing to crap on their oaths, willing to obstruct any investigation of T rump, willing to allow him to gain more and more executive power, while he gilds the other branches of govt, willing to allow him to achieve his ambition of being the supreme autocrat (dictator) of the U.S.
How do you NOT understand wanting to stop T rump? You don’t need to answer. I know the answer. You believe ridiculous things. Were you a student at T rump University? Perhaps you donated so much to his scam charity that you cognitive dissonance has kicked in and you can only live with yourself by pretending that T rump is a great President.
Hey Tim, I don’t adore Trump. I don’t even like the idea of representative government in any form. This is caveman stuff. Why would I need an ass, even if he was George Washington, to speak for me much less do the thinking for me? Our national government was formed more than 200 years ago for a nation of 2.5 million (estimated). Has anyone thought of modernizing the control system for running the country that now has some 350 million people? We are now moving into a 5G world with the internet of things. So, why are we still having a bunch of apes in Washington DC running the country in the same fashion as in the days of yore? Never mind riding a horse to work on a 4 lane expressway. Have you tried driving a Model T Ford with no power steering or tried stomping on the brake pedals with all your might to stop it? And yet we would go on listening to shysters and giving them the power of attorney to ride our nation into the ground. No, I don’t think Trump is the answer but he is as good as it gets if we don’t innovate our government management system.
OH! Jabba the T rump! I know you are a bad boy, I don’t adore you! Really I don’t. But you are as good as it gets. You are what we need to replace the status quo, Good Force v. the Darkside…. So kiss me!
I got sidetracked by Tim’s hatred for Donald Trump. I don’t know how we got sucked into Iraq. Whatever the explanation, I did not have a say in the matter. “We the people” has something to do with me but I have nothing to do with $6,300 attributed to my share of the $1.9 trillion spent on our collective hostility vent on the Iraqi people. And now, I am the target of hatred and ridicule throughout the world.
Really, am I expressing hatred for the T rump by saying nasty things about him? T rump does that every day toward someone. He must hate them. Or is it just a ploy to get people to hear nasty things about his opponents over and over?
I just want people to realize that T rump needs to go away, for the good of America and the future. I can see how that looks like hatred. If it is so, so be it. Hatred is just an emotion. It does not interfere with my rationality.
At least the nasty things I say about T rump are generally based on truth. The nasty things he says about others are often just some made up criticism that he pulls out of his butt.
After two wars to liberate the Iraqis from Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and we still have Iraqi protestors by the thousands attacking our embassy? I don’t get it. There is something very wrong with our foreign policy. Too much of our tax dollars are being wasted on exporting liberal democracy which doesn’t even work in America. It’s an ideology that destabilizes society. And now, Congress has passed a human rights bill in support of the riots in Hong Kong. The intent is to liberate the 1.4 billion people in China from the dictatorship of democratic socialism. Beijing believes that the selfish interest of the individual must be subordinate to the welfare of the collective. Apparently, we don’t.
Great point about trying to install liberal democracy in the Middle East. That was completely ridiculous. I’m an Iraq veteran and saw that bullshit up close.
We did destabilize the hell out of Iraq, though. Also not all Iraqis suffered under Hussein, not even most. Yes, he was a brutal dictator but he did provide stability and a middle class for 30+ years. We installed an inept puppet state that failed to do anything for almost everyone in Iraq up to this day.
Iraq vet? Thanks for your service, Oneguy. My heart goes out to folks like you who are put in harm’s way by politicians for one inane reason or another. National defense is a bs reason for foreign wars. We have enough nukes to destroy any country from our front porch.
The Middle East is populated by savages and that is why they have an oppressive religion and brutal dictators to keep them under control. Trump must close our embassy and pull out of Iraq. We don’t have an end game there. If Trump comes on as a tough guy, he had better be brutal like Saddam. Nancy Pelosi is praying for that to happen. One dead Iraqi protestor shot by our boys will be the end of the Trump presidency.
I repeat, it was an Iranian faction that nearly took out our $750 million, extravagantly fortified embassy in Iraq. Hence, Soleimani, was assassinated. I suppose that assassination of top military and political figures is now one of our tools of international relations.
Soleimani was a popular figure to the Shiites in Iraq, because at one point, his forces and efforts were all that stood between Baghdad and ISIS (who had already taken over the northern territory of Iraq.)
Being assassinated could not happen to a worse guy. But now he is a martyr.
We seem to be inexorably being drawn into an undeclared war. And it all stems from T rump’s renig on the multi-national Iran Agreement, which T rump replaced with a policy of Maximum Pressure, that he believes will inevitably bring Iran to the point that they will agree to be completely submissive to the USA.
Sree, you think T rump will just abandon the $750 Million embassy in Iraq? The Iraqis might try to kick us out, esp., if we assassinated Soleimani on their territory without consulting with them. But Idk if T rump would respect their sovereignty even if they ordered us to get out.
Yeah, Oneguy, thanks for your service as a “warfighter”. (I say facetiously, as I understand you are not interested in accolades for being a combat veteran.)
Oneguy said he is an Iraq vet. He did not say he is a combat veteran. My grandfather was a well-decorated combat veteran in WW2 and commandant of Japanese prison camp in Philippines. He went on to serve in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Didn’t do too well. I remember seeing him in the basement, in the dark. Mom said he always stayed down there after returning from the field. Retired a full colonel and invited often on CNN to talk on stuff. If he were alive today, he would be commenting on the strike in Bahgdad. His only presence in my life now is a couple of rifles mounted above the fireplace and his flag I keep flying on the front porch of his house I inherited. I am torn between my pride for the US military legacy my grandfather left me and my affinity for the transcendental reality inspired by America’s natural beauty. It is easy for you, Tim. An activist just wants to tear things down.
Srees say the darndest things. Like accusing me of being “an activist that just wants to tear things down.” My dad was in WWII in the Pacific. He spent most of my childhood institutionalized. I honor our veterans and wish the best for them.
If I recall correctly Oneguy was in Desert Storm or maybe the subsequent Iraq invasion. That was combat. I do recall Oneguy saying something to the effect that veterans think that the public’s putting veterans on a pedestal these days is a bit much.
I’ll tell you what I want to tear down. Deceit, and wasting our soldiers’ blood and our nation’s treasure.
