Love the blog, been reading for a while now. This last post got my blood boiling when I saw the comments.

I’m an American living at home who’s never had the luxury of going abroad. I, however, am shocked by the blatant imperialistic and very ignorant/naive attitude of some of the posters here. Alan and Chip in particular worry me. To me, they are representative of the close-minded Bible-belt hicks who are responsible for people putting Bush into office in the first place. (no offense to religious people, but your God has no place in local or national or global politics/policies).

In this age of globalization and instant communication/information we have no choice but to vote with half a mind on the world at large. Even in a country as large as America, to say that you’re not affected by the world abroad is sheer idiocy. Who in America can say they haven’t heard of the recent scandals involving goods manufactured in China? Or the drastically fluctuating gas prices do to the Wars on Terror (give me a break, stop your whining, we have some of the lowest prices in the world). If you have the attitude that “the rest of the world doesn’t matter” you can go ahead and start manufacturing your own tools and growing your own produce and figuring out your own computer programming, weave your own clothing. There isn’t one damned thing about our country that can be said to be totally “American.” Remember, we are a nation of immigrants. (I love how people who are 3rd or 4th generation conveniently ‘forget’ that at one point we all came from somewhere else). To say that you can ignore world affairs when considering who to vote into office is akin to saying you can ignore red lights during rush hour. It’s national suicide if we continue on our current track and if you can’t recognize that, you need some serious time alone in the middle of Baghdad or Palestine or North Korea or some place else where we’ve meddled and fucked up.

I can’t believe you are sitting there telling us on one hand you oppose the war on terror, and then on the other saying that you wholeheartedly support what is basically American Imperialism (’sole super-power’ anyone?) The hypocrisy evident is appalling, and no little surprising, given that you HAVE apparently lived abroad and have first experience of the Anti-Americanism readily evident in other countries.

Referencing World Wars and even the Cold Wars means nothing when talking about the current state of affairs and modern world politics. Those periods are gone, and have little or no bearing on the events of NOW. Our global society is constantly changing, and the politically stagnant views of our past aren’t going to cut it anymore.

I agree that we need to go about protecting ourselves (when its called for!) and helping nations in need (as others have said, why are we ignoring Sudan?). But theres a big difference between that and what we’re currently doing.

Now I’m not saying any other country is better, or the UN is this or that or some crap. I’m simply saying, we can’t have the attitude that you’re proscribing. We need to reform our ideals and set about making better relationships. We can’t simply do whatever the hell we want, and then say “oh it’s OK, at least we’re doing better than the rest of them.” Sorry but thats just a cop out and a sorry one at that. If you think we really should be the world leader, we need to grow up and (to quote a bad movie) learn that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Sure, we have the power, and the will to use; but we need to learn to use it with proper judgment (which, we currently don’t have, or are not exercising).

You can go on all you want about ‘those pussies in the UN, France, etc’ and cite all kinds of sources that ‘we’re not doing as bad as people say.’ But by ignoring the truth and the hateful attitudes evident all around us, you’re only further propagating said troubles for us in the future. I think, as a nation, we need to grow up, get our heads out of our asses, and start acting as responsible as we are trying to hold other countries to be.

The first step in this maturation would be to finally oust Bush and his posy (the true warmongers) and to get some real leadership voted in to office.

I think someone like Mike Gravel’s got some interesting ideas. At the very least he speaks the truth, unlike our current batch of politicians and most of the other presidential candidates.

Sorry for the long comment, but some of your blog’s readers are decidedly small minded and infuriating in their lack of sound judgment. When are people going to wake up that we’re not the only ones whom our decisions affect?

(Note: By ‘us’ I mean America/Americans, by ‘them’ I’m talking about other nations/the world, unless otherwise stated.)

Until Americans seriously question the motives of their government’s actions around the world, and take back their democracy, Anti-Americanism will only increase.

Henry Kissinger once remarked along the lines that if the American Public felt afraid enough, the US citizens would accept occupation armies on the streets of Los Angeles.

The rest of the world is AFRAID of the US. Maybe if America doesn’t reverse course, Kissinger’s words will come to pass…but not as he meant.

I absolutely agree with the folks above who argued that many Americans do not consider foreign politics when voting. I think it’s easy for those of us who live abroad/look outward (and the many others from around the world who do the same) to forget how large the U.S. is. Many, many Americans live their lives entirely within its borders without ever feeling a crimp in their opportunities for life, travel, work. My sister-in-law just declared a couple weeks ago that her young daughter “didn’t need to learn a foreign language” because she wasn’t ever going to leave the country. It’s much easier to have that attitude in a place like the US than it is in, say, Taiwan or Belgium. I’m not excusing it–it’s arrogant and ignorant–but many Americans do feel that way.

The presence (or lack thereof) of weapons in Iraq had very little to do with the decision to invade Iraq. Consider the 90s era memo prepared by the Progress for a New American Century in which several future Bush Administration officials lobbied the Clinton Administration to remove Saddam Hussein by force. Or the fact that several members of Bush’s team called for Saddam’s removal in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and that Donald Rumsfeld ordered the Pentagon to seek evidence linking the attacks to Saddam Hussein. Only the protests by saner elements of the administration (Richard Clarke, Colin Powell, etc.) steered Bush toward attacking Afghanistan first. Or consider the credence given to the fantasy that invading Iraq would create a seismic shock throughout the Middle East, in which the spontaneous creation of a free, modern Iraq would magically transform the region into an ally of the US and Israel. Recall US troops being greeted with candy and flowers, the erection of a George W. Bush statue in central Baghdad in one year, and the notion that the occupation would be self-financing due to Iraq’s oil wealth. These were not comments left on fringe blogs by right-wing nutters, they were by high ranking officials in the Bush administration. You can look it up.

The decision to use the UN and weapons of mass destruction as the ostensible casus belli derived only from the Administration’s fear that without such a charge, the American public (and other leaders such as Britain’s Tony Blair) wouldn’t agree to go along with the invasion. When it was becoming clear that the weapons inspections were not turning up Saddam’s supposed WMD cache the inspectors were sent home and the invasion was speedily requisitioned. The rest, as the say, is history.

The problem with your analysis isn’t that the UN isn’t culpable (the oil-for-food scandal is particularly outrageous) but the assumption that the US got involved to do the UN’s dirty work for them as a result of a lack of will on the part of the latter. Several intelligent and experienced people were able to understand that Saddam Hussein’s regime was a problem AND that removing it by force would still be catastrophic. These voices were shut out in the run-up to the invasion, as was any criticism of the ruling party during a “time of war”.

Look, there’s a lot of cheap anti-Americanism out there, and as a US citizen and proud American, it bothers me too. But your remarks about the war show a rather breathtaking lack of humility, and a lack of humility has been a rather large Achilles’ heel for our country for a long time.

For Korea and Vietnam, we paid an extremely high price in blood and treasure and especially for Vietnam, it was terribly mismanaged. Does it still count if the “government” that is pleading for our help is corrupt and no popular support among the people? Do you really think that Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia should feel grateful to the U.S. for the millions of landmines decapitating children, Agent Orange causing cancer, and death of millions?

I am a patriotic American, but the fact of the matter is that we’re being led astray by incredibly unpatriotic leaders who care much more about obtaining power and money than running the country. These people represent us and are doing a terrible job… and since we elected them, we’re also accountable. Yes, the world’s sole superpower should help others and protect our own interest. So… is invading a country on false pretenses, killing hundreds of thousands, creating new jihadists with every terrorist we kill, and spending trillions that we don’t have, the right way for a superpower to act? Does this type of action help us remain a superpower? I think not and you should wake up if you think that folks who lost their parents, spouses, and children to a war started by the U.S. will appreciate us. We’ll be lucky if they don’t become suicide bombers.

To me, this is the real crux of the debate on the War on Terror. I've never looked up the data on bathtubs and cheeseburgers, but I have compared the statistics on terrorism related deaths with alcohol related vehicular fatalities. I've always found it disturbing that those suspected of terrorism are sent to Guantanamo Bay while those convicted of drunk driving are roaming free.