[Grovenet] The Iraqi View

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Of course we are Jeff. I've never felt that our foreign policy since WWII
has worked in the long term. We seek short term solutions to long term
problems. It's funny how people are surprised the same old problems keep
coming back, often worse than before. Usually worse than before. 

A "Berkeley Hippie"? I was in San Francisco then. 

Someone made a sobering observation recently: He said the 60's "Hippies" are
now in their 60's. 

Time flies. It flies when we're having fun. It flies when we're ducking
bullets. Regardless, it flies. But is that all we've learned in the past 40+
years? 

Ron D'Eau Claire 



-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Jeff Cooper
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 9:44 AM
To: Forest Grove local interests list
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] The Iraqi View



In case you haven't noticed Ron, we're *still* in Japan and Germany... over
60 years after the end of WWII!  Not to mention South Korea, Serbia, and you
tell me where else we are.  Personally, I chalk it up to U.S. Imperialism,
and not a need to keep an occupied country safe and secure.  

That being said, I am also probably one of the few Berkeley hippies left on
the planet who thinks that we *shouldn't* pull out of Iraq unless/until we
can have reasonable certainty that a massive civil war won't ensue upon our
departure.  Yeah, yeah, I've read the arguments about how we're exacerbating
the problem by remaining in Iraq, but I don't buy the fact that hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis (on top of those already killed) will occur when/if we
leave.  The major difference between Iraq and Japan/Germany is the (mostly)
homogeneous nature of the latter two countries.  Neither Japan nor Germany
will perform ethnic cleansing when/if we leave.  Serbia is another story,
and much more recent history.

No, if we are to truly start demilitarizing, then we should start with Japan
and Germany (seems safe to leave both of those countries, don't you agree?).
South Korea *may* be the next on the list, assuming we could get reasonable
assurances from North Korea that they won't cross the border (and yes,
perhaps the word "reasonable" is an oxymoron when dealing with their
dictator, though recent news indicates that he's actually backing down a
bit).  

However, I really don't see our military-industrial complex backing out of
*anywhere*.  Perhaps when/if the Dems take back the White House we can start
moving in this direction of anti-imperialism, but I'm not going to hold my
breath.  

Regards,

Jeff Cooper
 
       
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