America Invaded and Occupied: What would YOU do?

- Who would be the 'freedom fighters' then? Would you defend your country and home?

- Sometimes I wonder what we would do if the situation were reversed and America was the occupied country?

- What if the invading country invented reasons to attack and occupy us? What if there was no provocation for the attack? What if they simply wanted a 'regime change' in our country?

- How would we feel if the invaders 'shocked and awed' major American cities without regard to loss of innocent life or property?

- What would we do if the occupiers went house to house...looking for guns and 'terrorists', tying up and searching everyone in the house including women and children? What if the occupiers 'accidentally' killed your family?

- What would happen if they bombed residential neighborhoods in an attempt to kill 'suspected terrorists' and killed hundreds of innocent Americans in the process?

- What if we gathered and held protests against the occupation? How would we feel if protesters were fired upon for the act of resisting the occupation?

- How would we react if the occupiers created a 'provisional government' and forced their concept of 'freedom' on our society while promising we would become 'independent' although thousands of their troops would remain to 'protect' us?

- What would you do if our country was invaded and occupied?


(Terrorists can only kill some of us. Bush* can kill all of us.)

the freepers would be the first to lock and load.

...that's human nature and the survival instinct.

- So why do we expect Iraqis to be docile while we ravage their country looking for 'terrorists'?

So why did we topple Saddam? He was doing his job, holding his country together despite our interference since the gulf war.
Now we have a whole country, plus their neighbors to worry about, as far as terrorism is concerned. The blowback is gonna be a bitch.
Hundreds of thousands of potentional terrorests, instead of none. Thanks george.

"Hey! Kin We git jawbs searchin' fer them dam lib-er-alls? Kin we-uns KEEL a few of 'um?"

As for me, may I direct your gaze to my sigline?

attack the UN, ransack the CIA/FBI files to use for blackmail, make sweet love to Judith Miller.

Oh wait, that's if I were Ahmed Chalabi. Neveryoumind.

For Iraqi's to keep to killing US soldiers and other Iraqis?

It's a dumb hypothetical and I'm not sure what point you're trying to convey.

The war was obviously a blunder but I don't get and I don't see any logic in not supporting winning the peace.

Of course how the Bushies spin and whitewash what's going on is moronic. The people just "hating freedom". And not really wanting people to think about why people are really killing our troop's and other Iraqi's. But just because they're being dishonest and misleading about it doesn't mean it's good and justified and what's best for Iraq to blow Iraq up more. It's making a bad situation worse.

If I sound like I know what your point is, let me repeat I don't.

as if whatever he thought would change the situation on the ground.

But if it makes you feel superior, I guess its good to chastize someone, huh?

...the naivete' is stunning. I said nothing about it being 'good' for the violence to continue. But what else do you expect Iraqis to do? Wouldn't YOU do the same if America was invaded and occupied?

- The 'whitewash' isn't simply 'moronic'. It's criminal. Since when has ANY country had the right to invade based on fabrications or withuot provocation?

- Iraqis wouldn't be killing American soldiers if Bush* hadn't ordered an unprovoked, illegal (by every international standard), aggressive war against Iraq. We're not over there killing and torturing terrorists. We've killed a thousand innocent Iraqis to every one 'suspected' terrorist. What kind of justice is this?

- The 'point' is about empathy. That is...we would feel no different if WE were occupied by an overwhelming force that considered ALL OF US the enemy.

There may be some Iraqis fighting Americans in Iraq who have some other agenda, but I would bet that the vast majority are just freaking that a foreign invader is taking over their country.

In this light, the Iraqi suicide bomber who blows up members of this foreign force might be viewed as a hero who gives his life for his country.

War sucks because people die. We shouldn't even be having this conversation. We just need to get outta there.

...by torture, bombing wedding parties or holding hostages? Can Bush* 'win the peace' by occupying a country that doesn't want to be occupied? Bush* has no intention of installing democracy in Iraq. His (their) plan is about using Iraq as a base of operations to strike other countries that may or may not harbor terrorists.

- Some of us just don't seem to 'get' it. There is no 'winning' a war in Iraq. There can be no peace as long as the US is there as occupiers. The Bushies are diverting our treasury to their friends and creating more terrorists. Yet...more than a few Americans still insist that we can 'win the peace' by sending more troops, dropping more bombs or killing more 'insurgents'.

Send the Neocons to Iraq to live!

EDIT}} Maybe a Bush tax cut for the 1% of the "Good Apples" in Iraq would fix all that shei'ite!

...and understand that no country or person on this planet likes the idea of being occupied...even if the occupiers believe that what they're doing is the 'right thing' to do.

- Are we slaughering Iraqis that are doing nothing more than what WE would do in similiar circumstances? Do we have the right to kill innocents in pursuit of 'terrorists'? Bomb their neighborhoods? Is the capture of ONE terrorist worth this type of carnage?

- America was attacked on 9-11...but it's a good bet that NONE of those killed in Iraq had anything to do with it. So why are we there killing their people? Saddam's gone. No WMD. Just a 'search' for terrorists that probably weren't there BEFORE we invaded.

:)

:hi:

I would slaughter the invader and drag their burnt corpses through the streets

Really.

No really, I mean it

- You wouldn't thank the occupiers for killing your family in their search for 'insurgents'?

with gigantic thorns, mistletoe and holly, hemlock and foxglove, sprigs of poison oak, ivy, and sumac, thistles and nettles. i'd weave garlands of thorns and create sachets of pepper, mace, and fungi spores. lay the beloved invaders upon luscious mats of pampas grass.

yes, yes, i know exactly which flowers to welcome them with...

Both of which are wonderful allegories for totalitarianism.

Really, though, I would do what had to be done. No question.

...by the Bush* occupiers refusing to abide by the Geneva Conventions or any standards of 'decency'.

- How many Americans are aware that we're kidnapping men, women and children from their homes in order to get 'suspected terrorists' to talk or turn themselves in? How many understand that the torture and 'terminal interrogations' at the prisons are only the tip of the iceberg?

- These are not the actions of a liberating force. These are the deeds of brutal occupiers. All of this is beneath us and the 'American way'.

This is a scenario that I have asked on other boards heavily populated by the Neo’s.
It’s a post that will go surprisingly silent, I’d gotten only the very low numbered posters (Just the same ones with new faces) who would either compare it to WW2, Don't ask me how they make the connection, Or you get the immediate attack dogs, You know, “You stinking commie terrorist, Appeaser, Pansy, bal, bla , bla”, It’s obvious to me.

They without pause ignore the fact that we are one of the most violent societies in the industrialized world, And that I’m sure could show the terrorist a thing or two about violence to an occupying military or civilian interloper, But then that is something I attach to us, Those on the more liberal side of the coin, Reason being, The Neos would soon discover that in order to commit to an uprising, They would soon put their wealth and possessions at risk. Remember, It was not a huge uprising during our own Revolution but rather a smallish band of dedicated freedom fighters and it was those who valued their wealth and possessions even more who choose the side of the king.

In my mind, Under the same set of circumstances, It is they who would be the collaborators, So long as they got to keep their guns, Their Flag, Etc.
Their idea of patriotism IS rather perverted to start with, They would be satisfied with a little second hand power so long as they could use it to ride rough shod over their historic long time enemies, That would be us, Those who care about social injustices, environmental concerns , minorities and those who are left out of the dream, You know the “Slackers” ....

No, I’m convinced that it is they who would serve along side their “Chinese?” occupiers so long as they could keep their power and oppressive laws over the rest of us in the name of “Law and Order”.

After all, Look at what they have done under OUR Constitution with the so called Patriot Act , They would love it, Would bask in it, And would ultimately blame it all on none other than Bill Clinton and the liberals.

...although I never thought of 'collaborators' in my scenario. There are always 'sellouts' who will join with the enemy in order to protect their wealth or increase profits.

- I suppose that most Americans can't even imagine America being occupied because we're a 'superpower'. But like every other 'superpower' in history...there comes a time when others threatened by that power organize to bring them down...especially if the superpower becomes arrogant and misuses their power.

Unquestioning obedience to Master is what they do now, so it wouldn't be much of a switch.

A few would fight with Free America (statistically certain) but most would cower or collaborate...

...part of Bush's* 'master race'? A goliath that can stride around the world breaking things without consequence?

- It's stunning to find out that so many Americans seem to think it's okay to invade ANY OTHER country on false pretenses and then proceed to kill thousands of innocents in the name of 'liberation'.

- We're building up some pretty bad karma here and we shouldn't be surprised when we are attacked in retribution. We can't continue to be occupiers and killers of innocents. We can't continue to treat our troops like cannon fodder in a war that never had to happen.

that Americans are imbued with is very strong.

We are good, everything we do is good, we have only the best of intentions, we are a good people, we are not bad, we only want to help others.

When things go wrong, it's not our fault, it's their fault. They are ungrateful. They are not ready for democracy or civilization. They are backwards and primitive, their culture is messed up.

This is a worldview that Americans are fed from birth. Some question it and see beyond the koolaid, others never question it, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. It is the latter who would not understand your point, Q, or who would accuse you of being a commie/terraist/whatever.

The Achilles heel of the US is exactly this arrogant self-perception. It will be the downfall of the US, unless people start to wake up and think in the terms you have laid out here.

...the Nuremberg trials and what a Jewish lawyer said about the situation. He was asked how the Nazis could commit such atrocities and seemingly not understand that what they did was wrong. The lawyer replied that they lacked 'empathy'...an inability or refusal to put themselves in their victims place.

- It's not the US that's arrogant. It's our 'leadership'. Patriotism has been redefined as blind faith and following the leader over the cliff. It's never the People who start wars.

yes, they are the most guilty in this whole thing.

But they are appealing to, tapping into, manipulating and relying on the worldview of many Americans, which I described above.

That view is what enables US leaders to do the things they do. This view that the US is only good, has only good intentions, etc. is very strong, has very strong roots. And power interests in this country rely on that to undertake actions in the rest of the world that are in fact the opposite of that self-perception. And they then portray it as part of the goodness of the US. So when there's any criticism, they can spin it as criticism of the goodness of the US...

Does that make sense?

really fully support Empire. Many just aren't paying attention or are confused by the Bushevik Noise Machine or are sucked in the Psychoengineered Talking Points, Half-Truths, and outright Fabrications.

But WE are waking them up, one person at a time (I hope, Q, that for all of your posting here at DU, much of it excellent, that you yourself are taking an active role in throwing off the Bushes, be it working for the Kerry Campaign or just speaking up to people about various Bushevik lies like the "Liberal Media").

I do so hope you are walking the walk and "putting your money where your mouth is".

To do anything less would be a shame unto you (sorry for the Biblical phraseology).

and invaded by a country like America I would join forces with the invaders.

...so that would put you in the 'collaborator' class.

- But then...Saddam isn't in power any longer. So tell us again why we're still there as an occupying force?

There are a LOT of people all over the world who want a regime change in your country !! Some have armies, some don't.

But I don't think we'll invade.

We'll stay home, enjoy the summer and some day in early November we'll turn on our TV's and radios and get the best news of the year.

No need for invasions. Saves a lot of petrol.

Welcome to DU!

...might have also worked better in Iraq.

We should welcome them as "liberators".

I would join them in taking pot shots at occupation forces in an effort to expel the invader.

That's a promise.

Shed a bit of light into the shadow government. Pursue justice free from the "national security" shield abuse that protects horrific criminals.