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2011-11-09 Iraq

US Forces withdrawal from Iraq continues

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Posted by Steve White 2011-11-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 You should never give up the land you conquer.

The American pattern for the last hundred years is to 'liberate', not conquer. The Philippines were already scheduled for independence when the Japanese invaded and occupied the islands in '41-2. After retaking them in '45, they gained their independence in '46. Puerto Rico has had numerous votes for independence, statehood or retention of commonwealth. The only land 'retained' in Europe or the Pacific was to bury our dead. It's best phrased by the character Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in Gettysburg - This is a different kind of army. If you look at history you'll see men fight for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, or because a king makes them, or just because they like killing. But we're here for something new. This has not happened much, in the history of the world: We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, all of it, from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow, no man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here is the place to build a home. But it's not the land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end... we're fighting for each other.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-11-09 06:51|| 2011-11-09 06:51|| Front Page Top

#2 Feeding the trolls, P2k?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2011-11-09 06:55|| 2011-11-09 06:55|| Front Page Top

#3 Procopius2k, thank you for that history lesson. A good addition to Rantburg University.

Posted by Dale 2011-11-09 07:54|| 2011-11-09 07:54|| Front Page Top

#4 Yesterday Israel4Jews was banned. His comments will be deleted without warning until further notice.

Posted by trailing wife 2011-11-09 08:18|| 2011-11-09 08:18|| Front Page Top

#5 Feeding the trolls, P2k?

No, reminding us what makes us who we are. Preserving our values and identity isn't automatic when we spend a decade+ cheek and jowl with those who do not share them - a struggle you and your country also know.

Posted by lotp 2011-11-09 09:58|| 2011-11-09 09:58|| Front Page Top

#6 Mexican American war of 1848?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2011-11-09 11:10|| 2011-11-09 11:10|| Front Page Top

#7 Mexican American war of 1848?

Yeah. The American Indians would raise the same issue. But, really, there were so few of them and so many of us that it was inevitable. Sorry. Would you really prefer that California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas were still a part of Mexico today? Of course, with people like Obama running things, they're likely to be reconquered anyway. Sometimes it feels like California already has been.

I think P2K is right though. After WWI and WWII we could have colonized France, Italy and Germany. We could have claimed the Philippines, Japan and countless Pacific Islands for our empire. We could have colonized all of North Africa. But we didn't.

I think the problem we face now is after we liberate the people of Iraq or Afghanistan we think we have to help them build stable, democratic nations and it may not be realistic because these people are simply not capable of such a thing. Iraq, maybe. Afghanistan, I don't think so, ever. We can't afford it either. So the mess we leave behind is likely to be just as bad as it was before we went in there.

I think if we end up going to war against countries like Iran or Pakistan the goal should be to destroy them. Period.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-11-09 12:30|| 2011-11-09 12:30|| Front Page Top

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