On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 07:40:40 -0400, Dave Hall wrote:


You make a good point here. We probably should re-evauate our tactics.
Tanks and bombs probably aren't the answer. But some form of force is.
Before we can do that though, we have to loosen up on the idea that covert
operations are "sneaky" or "underhanded".

Not underhanded, just incredibly stupid. How do you think Saddam came to
power in the first place?

http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/f...s98/saddam.htm

Once Iraq becomes stable and the people taste what it's like to be self
governing, I can't see why they would prefer to be oppressed by a
fanatical fundamentalist religious fanatic. The terrorists are running
scared. They know as well as we do, that once their people taste freedom,
there will be no turning back, and their power base will evaporate.

And when Iran was once a democracy? What happened?

http://www.angelfire.com/home/iran/1953coup.html


We support a cadre of ruthless dictators as long as they share our
interests.

Like who?

Too numerous to name here, so a link:

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US...dictators.html


At the same time we talk about democracy and free
elections. The hypocracy is so shameful as to render our proclamations of
freedom utter nonsense.

We would prefer that all dictatorships go away and be replaced by
democratic governments. Unfortunately we don't have the right to force
this on people unless (as in the case in Iraq) that government poses a
potential threat to world stability and our safety. If the oppressive
dictatorship is relatively benign (They aren't researching WMD, killing
thousands of it's own citizens, or invading a neighboring country)

When did our foreign policy change?

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Bl...Hope_page.html