Super Tuesday

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

I didn't suggest otherwise, though I'd say it's been way more than 10 years of questionable foreign policy.

Fair enough - though I know you and I disagree on this area.

[scaeagles]

All actions have have effects. We could speculate all day on what the reuslt would have been should President A have done action 1 or President B had done action 2, but I have no doubt horrible things would be the result, because there will always be madmen who wish to do harm and have it justified, excused, or explained as a reaction to a policy.

[innerSpaceman]

Frankly, I don't see how our refusal to help would engender hatred on anything like the scale of our consistent insistance on harm.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

I'm liberal, this you know. But it doesn't mean I support things blindly or don't have problems with the system at large. Surely, all kinds of people with all kinds of philosophies are responsible for the many years of questionable foreign policy. And while I find the particular actions of this administration more suspect than, say, the Clinton administration, everyone in positions of leadership have been responsible for this massive-scale failure over the last many years.

[BDBopper]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

I'm liberal, this you know. But it doesn't mean I support things blindly or don't have problems with the system at large. Surely, all kinds of people with all kinds of philosophies are responsible for the many years of questionable foreign policy. And while I find the particular actions of this administration more suspect than, say, the Clinton administration, everyone in positions of leadership have been responsible for this massive-scale failure over the last many years.

Agreed. There are many leaders at fault for the current situation (and some of them are not American). What about the British and French leaders who turned their backs on the Arabs at the end of World War I and sliced up the Middle East for their own territories instead of granting them independence as they originally promised?

Woah....did I just take this topic into a different area. Sorry folks.

[innerSpaceman]

Yeah, and what about those Barbarians who invaded Mongol China?


Um, only a suggestion, but how's about we keep the morals and judgments of today limited to history of, say the last 50 years? Otherwise, we really have no clue how to look upon the actions of people who lived in vastly different times.


Not forgiving either the colonial imperialists or the Mongol Hoards ... but c'mon.

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Yeah, and what about those Barbarians who invaded Mongol China?


Um, only a suggestion, but how's about we keep the morals and judgments of today limited to history of, say the last 50 years? Otherwise, we really have no clue how to look upon the actions of people who lived in vastly different times.


Not forgiving either the colonial imperialists or the Mongol Hoards ... but c'mon.

Here's the problem: we're fighting a guerrilla war with people who are still upset about the crusades.

[blueerica]

To be fair, I've heard of many of these Arab sects holding grudges that go on for millennium... 50 years is probably nothing to them.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Much of today's issues in the region are firmly rooted in the same issues that lead to WWI and never got resolved.

[Alex]

And the other side (so far as the combatants are concerned) still wanted their homeland back after 2000 years or so.

But the point remains solid I think. While you can probably always find someone earlier with which to share the blame, the primarily relevant thing is who it is currently within our power to hold responsible. Not that anybody should be wrongly held responsible, just that having shared responsibility doesn't absolve you of any.

And recognizing that you played a role in creating the situation that allowed a horrible act is also not the same as saying you are to blame for it happening and that others are absolved.