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hedgetrimmer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-07-03 11:31 PM
Original message
US foreign policy explained to a child
Q: Daddy, why did we have to attack Iraq?

A: Because they had weapons of mass destruction honey.

Q: But the inspectors didn't find any weapons of mass destruction.

A: That's because the Iraqis were hiding them.

Q: And that's why we invaded Iraq?

A: Yep. Invasions always work better than inspections.

Q: But after we invaded them, we STILL didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, did we?

A: That's because the weapons are so well hidden. Don't worry, we'll find something, probably right before the 2004 election.


Q: Why did Iraq want all those weapons of mass destruction?

A: To use them in a war, silly.

Q: I'm confused. If they had all those weapons that they planned to use in a war, then why didn't they use any of those weapons when we went to war with them?



A: Well, obviously they didn't want anyone to know they had those weapons, so they chose to die by the thousands rather than defend themselves.



Q: That doesn't make sense Daddy. Why would they choose to die if they had all those big weapons to fight us back with?

A: It's a different culture. It's not supposed to make sense.

Q: I don't know about you, but I don't think they had any of those weapons our government said they did.

A: Well, you know, it doesn't matter whether or not they had those weapons. We had another good reason to invade them anyway.



Q: And what was that?

A: Even if Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator, which is another good reason to invade another country.



Q: Why? What does a cruel dictator do that makes it OK to invade his country?

A: Well, for one thing, he tortured his own people.

Q: Kind of like what they do in China?

A: Don't go comparing China to Iraq. China is a good economic competitor, where millions of people work for slave wages in sweatshops to make U.S. corporations richer.



Q: So if a country lets its people be exploited for American corporate gain, it's a good country, even if that country tortures people?



A: Right.

Q: Why were people in Iraq being tortured?

A: For political crimes, mostly, like criticizing the government. People who criticized the government in Iraq were sent to prison and tortured.



Q: Isn't that exactly what happens in China?

A: I told you, China is different.

Q: What's the difference between China and Iraq?

A: Well, for one thing, Iraq was ruled by the Ba'ath party, while China is Communist.

Q: Didn't you once tell me Communists were bad?

A: No, just Cuban Communists are bad.

Q: How are the Cuban Communists bad.

A: Well, for one thing, people who criticize the government in Cuba are sent to prison and tortured.

Q: Like in Iraq?

A: Exactly.

Q: And like in China, too?

A: I told you, China's a good economic competitor. Cuba, on the other hand, is not.

Q: How come Cuba isn't a good economic competitor?

A: Well, you see, back in the early 1960s, our government passed some laws that made it illegal for Americans to trade or do any business with Cuba until they stopped being Communists and started being capitalists like us.



Q: But if we got rid of those laws, opened up trade with Cuba, and started doing business with them, wouldn't that help the Cubans become capitalists?



A: Don't be a smart-ass.

Q: I didn't think I was being one.

A: Well, anyway, they also don't have freedom of religion in Cuba.

Q : Kind of like China and the Falun Gong movement?

A: I told you, stop saying bad things about China. Anyway, Saddam Hussein came to power through a military coup, so he's not really a legitimate leader anyway.



Q: What's a military coup?

A: That's when a military general takes over the government of a country by force, instead of holding free elections like we do in the United States.



Q: Didn't the ruler of Pakistan come to power by a military coup?

A: You mean General Pervez Musharraf? Uh, yeah, he did, but Pakistan is our friend.

Q: Why is Pakistan our friend if their leader is illegitimate?

A: I never said Pervez Musharraf was illegitimate.

Q: Didn't you just say a military general who comes to power by forcibly overthrowing the legitimate government of a nation is an illegitimate leader?



A: Only Saddam Hussein. Pervez Musharraf is our friend, because he helped us invade Afghanistan.

Q: Why did we invade Afghanistan?

A: Because of what they did to us on September 11th.

Q: What did Afghanistan do to us on September 11th?

A: Well, on September 11th, nineteen men, fifteen of them Saudi Arabians hijacked four airplanes and flew three of them into buildings, killing over 3,000 Americans.



Q: So how did Afghanistan figure into all that?

A: Afghanistan was where those bad men trained, under the oppressive rule of the Taliban.

Q: Aren't the Taliban those bad radical Islamics who chopped off people's heads and hands?

A: Yes, that's exactly who they were. Not only did they chop off people's heads and hands, but they oppressed women, too.



Q: Didn't the Bush administration give the Taliban 43 million back in May of 2001?

A: Yes, but that money was a reward because they did such a good job fighting drugs.

Q: Fighting drugs?

A: Yes, the Taliban were very helpful in stopping people from growing opium poppies.

Q: How did they do such a good job?

A: Simple. If people were caught growing opium poppies, the Taliban would have their hands and heads cut off.

Q: So, when the Taliban cut off people's heads and hands for growing flowers, that was OK, but not if they cut people's heads and hands off for other reasons?



A: Yes. It's OK with us if radical Islamic fundamentalists cut off people's hands for growing flowers, but it's cruel if they cut off people's hands for stealing bread.



Q: Don't they also cut off people's hands and heads in Saudi Arabia?

A: That's different. Afghanistan was ruled by a tyrannical patriarchy that oppressed women and forced them to wear burqas whenever they were in public, with death by stoning as the penalty for women who did not comply.



Q: Don't Saudi women have to wear burqas in public, too?

A: No, Saudi women merely wear a traditional Islamic body covering.

Q: What's the difference?

A: The traditional Islamic covering worn by Saudi women is a modest yet fashionable garment that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers. The burqa, on the other hand, is an evil tool of patriarchal oppression that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers.



Q: It sounds like the same thing with a different name.

A: Now, don't go comparing Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are our friends.

Q: But I thought you said 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th were from Saudi Arabia.

A: Yes, but they trained in Afghanistan.

Q: Who trained them?

A: A very bad man named Osama bin Laden.

Q: Was he from Afghanistan?

A: Uh, no, he was from Saudi Arabia too. But he was a bad man, a very bad man.

Q: I seem to recall he was our friend once.

A: Only when we helped him and the mujahadeen repel the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan back in the 1980s.

Q: Who are the Soviets? Was that the Evil Communist Empire Ronald Reagan talked about?

A: There are no more Soviets. The Soviet Union broke up in 1990 or thereabouts, and now they have elections and capitalism like us. We call them Russians now.



Q: So the Soviets - I mean, the Russians - are now our friends?

A: Well, not really. You see, they were our friends for many years after they stopped being Soviets, but then they decided not to support our invasion of Iraq, so we're mad at them now. We're also mad at the French and the Germans because they didn't help us invade Iraq either.



Q: So the French and Germans are evil, too?

A: Not exactly evil, but just bad enough that we had to rename French fries and French toast to Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast.



Q: Do we always rename foods whenever another country doesn't do what we want them to do?

A: No, we just do that to our friends. Our enemies, we invade.

Q: But wasn't Iraq one of our friends back in the1980s?

A: Well, yeah. For a while.

Q: Was Saddam Hussein ruler of Iraq back then?

A: Yes, but at the time he was fighting against Iran, which made him our friend, temporarily.

Q: Why did that make him our friend?

Q: Isn't that when he gassed the Kurds?

A: Yeah, but since he was fighting against Iran at the time, we looked the other way, to show him we were his friend.

Q: So anyone who fights against one of our enemies automatically becomes our friend?

A: Most of the time, yes.

Q: And anyone who fights against one of our friends is automatically an enemy?

A: Sometimes that's true, too. However, if American corporations can profit by selling weapons to both sides at the same time, all the better.



Q: Why?

A: Because war is good for the economy, which means war is good for America. Also, since God is on America's side, anyone who opposes war is a godless un-American Communist. Do you understand now why we attacked Iraq?



Q: I think so. We attacked them because God wanted us to, right?

A: Yes.

Q: But how did we know God wanted us to attack Iraq?

A: Well, you see, God personally speaks to George W. Bush and tells him what to do.

Q: So basically, what you're saying is that we attacked Iraq because George W. Bush hears voices in his head?

A. Yes! You finally understand how the world works. Now close your eyes, make yourself comfortable, and go to sleep. Good night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

this was an email forwarded to me by my brother.
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dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-07-03 11:50 PM
Response to Original message
1. Sounds about right...
sad, but true :(
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Al_The_German Donating Member (1 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-08-03 12:29 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. What Americans Have Forgotten
American Foreign Policy is, yes, I will admit it......circular. That is all it is. Our leaders decided to go into Iraq for the oil. At this point it is uselss to deny it. In fact, quite harmful. There is no point in denying it. We have it, it was the first thing we rushed to seize in invading, and the first thing we have back up and running.

Now, enough of that nonsense of what the leaders in this country decide. American Foreign Policy is not something decided by our leaders. At least not our President. We have not had a president in 50 years who is possessed of even the tiniest of testicles. Real policy is made every day by the real power in Washington. Those with money. They exerted their influence on Bush. We saw it time and time again. And thanks to them, we have our hands in the cookie jar for the rest of the world to see. Now that we have that out of the way, let's take a look at the real world.

The real world is not Bush, nor is it some CEO of a Fortune 500 Company saying one thing and doing another. It is our soldiers over there, in whatever foreign land, who see one simple truth every day they are deployed. Those people need us there. They might not want democratic principles, or the latest technology, but the American soldier to them represents freedom, just as the Ba'ath party soldier represented tyranny. They no longer fear for their lives when they speak out in protest, because we are there. I know this. I have already lost three friends who were deployed over there, none of them older then 26. They all thought we should be there. They died for that thought. The instant people turn their backs on the opinions of those soldiers who die, is the instant they forget that it is the soldier who pays, in blood, the price for their freedom of speech, their right to assemble, their right to religious freedom. Therefore, I say the soldier has the strongest opinion of all. Yes, we went over there because Bush wants his oil. I say, since we are over there, we make something of it.

This is hardball boys and girls, plain and simple. I have no idea how most of you grew up, but in my neighborhood, when people started beating up your friends, you beat up two of theirs. Like Sean Connery in The Untouchables. "He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue." It is nice and civilized to think that we can get along in this world without having to hurt others and always being nice, but that is Europe's job now. We have to be the rock. We have to get our hands dirty. When 9/11 happened, it showed we could no longer stand around. We need to take a lesson from the Mossad here. Before Shock and Awe, we should have captured the whole Hussein family, men, women, and children, and shot them all on live television with bullets dipped in pig's blood. That is hardball. That area of the world does not have human rights violations. And if we let them develop those ideas at the same pace we did, it will take hundreds of years.

Now, I am not saying we need to go rampaging through the Middle East to make our message clear. We don't. We need to make good and damned sure we have the guilty, and not just those we think are guilty, before we go shooting them. The only principle these people respect more than their fanatical belief structure of Allah, and 72 virgins in the afterlife is "Might makes right." It is how the Muslim world has always been, from Saladin to the Ottoman Empire, and it has not changed. After Saddam, we need to get half the Saudi Royal Family, and then from there, turn our heads to the real threat in 10 years. China.

If anyone is up for conversation or just useful talk hit me up online or something.

AIM: WeaponX780
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PittPoliSci Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-08-03 12:45 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. welcome to DU!
:toast:

welcome! :kick:
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leftist_rebel1569 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-08-03 12:53 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. welcome to DU!
:hi:

nicely posted, BTW.
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Wonk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-08-03 12:55 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. Welcome to DU. re: 9/11 "happened", it's a bit deeper than that.
Let me introduce you to the LIHOP theory.
http://www.google.com/search?q=9/11+LIHOP
http://www.google.com/search?q=PNAC+LIHOP
Happy reading. Hold on to your hat.

I agree with you about the Oil thing being their (BFEE) ultimate motive.

O peration
I raqi
L iberation
W e
A re
R ighteous
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NIGHT TRIPPER Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-08-03 02:33 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. yer outa yer mind
"after Saddam, we need to get half the Saudi Royal Family, and then from there, turn our heads to the real threat in 10 years. China."
We do not need to go after anyone
That is the republikkin viewpoint.
These facists want to take over the world and state it clearly.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

People DIE when Bushco lies
this is not a video game.
Bring our troops home now-

If you're into "takeovers"
feel free to join,

but us troops are dying because they believed these lies.
It's all about GREED--
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