Heh.
Why was the US in both Afghanistan and Iraq? Responding to terrorist attacks by Iraqis on US soil?
trpmb6 wrote:Just admit, this can be a great moment in history we're all observing.
AN IRANIAN MOMENT IN HISTORY
April 2016
At the regional and international level, the rise of Islamic State (ISIS) has shown the brutal face
of Sunni radical extremism to the world. The threat from ISIS has interestingly thrown Iran, US
and Israel on the same side of the fence. The unabated rise of ISIS is probably one of the major
threats which Iran faces today. On the domestic front, the 2009 demonstrations and growing
economic strain have demanded immediate correctional steps. The election of President Rouhani
was a manifestation of people’s desire to see a quick end to Iran’s international isolation.
Iran's Nuclear Deal: A great achievement, but hard work ahead
07/16/15
The announcement of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers is a rare moment in history that gives us hope and provides a basis for optimism. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has declared at a joint press conference with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, there has been a win-win agreement that will benefit everyone. In short, they have made history. Ms. Mogherini said: “It is a decision that can open the way to a new chapter in international relations. I think this is a sign of hope for the entire world.” The Iranian foreign minister echoed those sentiments and described the deal as “a historic moment”.
Within the theory, any such truculence could be inflated into "The Bush Doctrine", or "The New American Unilateralism". The theory was this: the collapse of the Soviet Union had opened the door to the inevitability of American pre-eminence, a mantle of beneficent power that all nations except rogue nations – whatever they might say on the subject – were yearning for America to assume.
A few weeks later in the Post, the columnist Michael Kelly was sketching an even rosier outcome, based on his eccentric reading of the generation coming of age in the Middle East as a population poised by history to see the US not as its enemy but as its "natural liberator". "It is right to think that we are living in a hinge moment in history," he wrote, and then argued against those who believe that the moment is not necessarily America's to control. "But it is wrong to think that the large forces of this moment act on the hinge to shut the door against American interests." The contrary might be true, he wrote, if only the United States took the next step, which was "to destroy the regime of Saddam Hussein and liberate the people of Iraq." This would be, he said, when history really began to turn on its hinge.
Thirteen years after the invasion, Iraq is a destroyed and divided country. Isis controls major regions, sectarian division continues to tear the country apart, religious minorities have been persecuted and killed, and women have seen deterioration in all of their rights and freedoms. The recent bombing of the most famed multi-sectarian neighbourhood in Baghdad that killed 250 civilians is symbolic of the state of Iraq today.
The Chilcot report is an admirable effort to reflect on history and learn its lessons. I wish and pray that other allied forces, particularly the US, follow in the UK’s footsteps. This is a crucial moment in history as Iraq and surrounding countries face further instability and insecurity. The world must listen to the Chilcot report’s lessons before any further military intervention in the region.
Yeah, Trump could bring about a moment in history. Oh, a "great" moment in history? Well, I'm sure he'd call it great. He loves that word.
Bullying, using bullying?trpmb6 wrote:What I'm saying is that he has been successful at achieving what he wants to do, using the methods he has.
Oh, you noticed that.trpmb6 wrote:I do find it kind of.. i don't know, bombastic of us, as a nation that we continue to tell other nations they can't have nuke's, while we have them. If you look at it from Iran and NK's perspective it's kind of not fair really.
I think we in "the west" have been reading and watching Disney versions of too many fairy tales in which being the big, strong guy and winning the fight means you were the good guy all along. That whole Manifest Destiny thing gives me the creeps.
To truly appreciate the weight of this victory, it is worth illustrating a key concept in the history of the US’s dealings with its indigenous peoples. For hundreds of years now, it has repeatedly and almost without exception sacrificed their rights in the name of progress. This is underpinned by an especially pernicious ideology: “manifest destiny”.
While the origins of the phrase are disputed, the idea behind manifest destiny is relatively simple: white Americans have the God-given right and duty to spread their values and way of life across the continent and beyond. As historian Reginald Horsman noted, this phrase was merely the articulation of an ideology that had long driven the actions of European colonisers.
In the first year of his presidency, Andrew Jackson embedded this ideology into US government policy in the form of the Indian Removal Act (1830), officially endorsing the view that indigenous peoples and civilisation were incompatible.
With few exceptions, throughout the 19th and much of the 20th century the US government treated indigenous peoples as obstacles to progress. This agenda was advanced by assorted policies, from the Dawes Act (1887), which almost halved indigenous landholdings, to the introduction of boarding schools that punished indigenous children for speaking their language, to the termination policies of the 1950s and 1960s, which sought to destroy tribal sovereignty and assimilate indigenous people into “mainstream” US culture.
Yep. Creepy. Almost makes someone who saw all the fuss about Iraq being behind 9/11 back in 2002 wonder why we're suddenly hearing all this fuss about iran being behind 9/11. Heck, if I knew about Agent Orange and My Lai and Fallujah I might even go so far as to say I don't trust the US government and I think using "free" to mean "under US control" is downright dishonest, so it's a good job I never found out about any of them, isn't it? Probably also a good job I didn't find out about Agent Orange while eating, or US foreign policy might owe me a new keyboard and carpet, and I doubt they'd pay. Even the US Navy people exposed to the stuff are still trying to get compensation for it, so I'd be a long way back in the queue.
