Why we have so few Allies in this war?

Many of our allies aren't leaping up to be our allies because they haven't needed us yet. The Eiffel Tower didn't get an airplane flown into it, so France doesn't need us yet. None of the German govt. buildings have gotten airplanes flown into them, so Germany doesn't need us yet. I know...I know...there's "no evidence" that Osama and Saddam are ina any way acting together. Please!:rolleyes:

My guess is that when a major terrorist event happens in the countries that are currently not supporting us, suddenly the USA will be everybody's new best friend!!!!!!
 
Originally posted by Disneymad



On the other hand, if I <i>have</i> offended anyone you can always remind me that I could be speaking German right now if it hadn't been for you :p

Thanks for saving me the typing.

Look, we're supposed to be allied with a lot of these people. You know, friend. I scratch your back, you scratch mine? WELL, my back's got a big ole itch right now and lots of people aren't holding up their end of the bargain.

Do you think we LIKE sending resources - ie $$$$$ - all over the world while there are many things in OUR OWN BACKYARD that could use the attention??? Frankly, it pisses A LOT of us off! We have our OWN people who go without medical attention. We have our OWN people who are starving. I'd just as soon take all of our own damn marbles and GO HOME since it seems that the neighborhood has had its fill of the rich kid anyway.

A little GRATITUDE now and again wouldn't hurt anybody, you know?

BTW, you're still not mad about that tea party thing, are you? :p
 
Originally posted by JohnTBap
Thanks for saving me the typing.

No problem - it's the least I could do for still being able to speak English :)
 
I can understand how people in some countries view us as evil tyrants...not in France because they know better...but in countries like Iraq. All they get to see on TV is what their government tells them about us. They're telling them that we're targeting civilians and we're after their oil. What they don't undersand is, if that was the case, we'd be carpet-bombing the entire place, they'd all be dead and we'd have the oil. If we really wanted to "take over" the entire Middle East, we'd have it by now. Truthfully, the only exposure I've ever had to Iraq is watching them dance in the streets after 9/11. My first instinct: they're all animals! But, better sense took over because my country doesn't reinforce that belief of the Iraqi civilians. It's sad that they feel that way about us because I think we're a generous, peace-loving nation.

The funny thing is, if we DIDN'T go over and help them escape Saddam, people would still be protesting that we were selfish and didn't care about anyone else. Now that we're doing something to help them, we're criticized for the method, even though we tried other alternatives - apparently we were supposed to "try" forever. We'll never win, people will never be happy and trying to change someone's mind is useless. We should just agree to disagree about it and move on. Having said that....laying down in the middle of the street while people are trying to get home is just plain rude. They had that "vomit in" in San Francisco where they all threw up! HELLO! Not exactly the way to be taken seriously by your government or your fellow citizens. I have a lot more respect for Fred Durst and his grammatically incorrect speech at the Grammys! He made his opinion known, which is the American way, and then he moved on.

The only thing that sort of bothers me...and this might just be a standard procedure, I don't know....but, why are we flying the American flag over there? If we're trying to prove that we don't want to take over, should we do that? Maybe someone knows more about this. That would look a little alarming to me as an Iraqi citizen.
 

So, the world does not like us.

Gee there's a surprise.

Here's my take form another angle.

The perception of many AMERICANS is that regardless of what we do, when we do it, where we do it, we are hammered in the international forum of public opinion.

When the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan, who provided the most food aid??

Who has provided the most aid to North Korea over the last 8 years when they were continually violating international agreements??

Who kept the Soviet Union from starving to death in the 70's & 80's through grain sales??

What country do the NY Mets play baseball in??



The answer is the same to all of these questions.


Ya' know, IMHO, one of the biggest issues that other countries have with us is that we actually DO things, or TRY to make something happen.

Foreigner's scream at us, beat us to a pulp in the press.

Then they go out & buy Levis, eat at McDonalds, listen to American music & watch American movies.


The french protest McDonalds & try to stop the construction of Euro Disney. My take is that if french culture cannot withstand the influence of a cartoon mouse or a clown peddleing hamburgers, then maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Germany protests us while never acknowledging the presence of hundreds of thousands AMERICAN military on the frontier to deter the aggression of the Soviet Union. BTW, you are welcome.


We, as Americans, regardless of how imperfect we are, how inconsistent & flawed we are, at least TRY to solve problems. The rest of the world (with the noted exception of those aiding us in this cause, however imperfect it may be) sits idly on their hands and hopes that problems disappear by themselves.

It's EASY to protest our actions. The HARD part is to find the fortitude to try to make something happen. The majority of the world repeatedly chooses to take the easy path.


We don't.
 
** stands and claps for JimB ***
 
LOL. I am truly amused about the silliness of the attempts to overplay the amount of support that the US/UK are getting from the "coalition of the willing." Lets look at the number of troops provided by each of these so call supporters. See http://www.areporter.com/sys-tmpl/t...onofthewilling/ <http://www.areporter.com/sys-tmpl/thecoalitionofthewilling/> Remember that only troops from the UK, the US and Australia are actually be in combat.

Second, lets compare the "coalition of the willing" to the coalition built by Bush 41. See.http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...usa_alliance_dc <http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...e=1&u=/nm/20030320/pl_nm/iraq_usa_alliance_dc> The comparison is so sticking that the statements on this board about the support for the current invasion are truly amusing. We have three countries providing combat troops (assuming you count the 2,000 aussies) compared to 16 in 1991.

The conservatives can try to paint a rosy picture here but they are simply ignoring the facts.
 
The conservatives can try to paint a rosy picture here but they are simply ignoring the facts

You mean the rosy pictures & facts from Iraq painted by the liberal media??

Little Property damage

Few civilian casualties

Iraqi troops surrendering without a fight

Securing of port and airfield facilities inside Iraq.

Perhaps the head of the snake is gone already?


The success of this to date really galls you, doesn't it??
 
Who cares about the "coalition of the willing"? If people thought we were so wrong, why aren't they helping Saddam instead of sitting on their hands and pointing the finger of blame at us?? They just won't take an active part because they're afraid 9/11 will pay them a visit. They can run and hide and cry "please don't hurt me" all they want, but until they actually start fighting AGAINST us and FOR Iraq, I'm going to continue to believe that they agree with us but don't have the courage to do something about it.

We have nothing to lose...we're going to be attacked whether we go after Saddam or not.
 
*claps, cheers, and whistles loudly for JimB*

Someone once said (I forget who) that no country ever has true friends, they just have allies with mutual interests.
 
Yes Jim B! Everyone is simply jealous of us. It's no different then kids in jr. high and high school.
The rich kid, everyone is so jealous of so all the kids get together and make fun of him to make them feel bad. Always just pretending to be there friend.

Those other countries have pretended for years and years to be our friends and the truth has now shown itself. It really doesn't matter what anyone thinks of you, just like in high school, you can choose to ignore them and stick with your true friends.

And those that complain about Bush always will have an excuse as to why they won't leave this country, none of them very good. These are the type that aren't happy unless they have something to complain about. All of us know this type.
 
Anyone see "Bowling for Columbine"? I think it answers the original poster's question.
 
Originally posted by AllyandJack
The only thing that sort of bothers me...and this might just be a standard procedure, I don't know....but, why are we flying the American flag over there? If we're trying to prove that we don't want to take over, should we do that? Maybe someone knows more about this. That would look a little alarming to me as an Iraqi citizen.

As I support the President's decision to go to war, I am too confused by this. Does anyone know why this is done?
 
As I support the President's decision to go to war, I am too confused by this. Does anyone know why this is done?

This was just addressed on Fox News.

It has been described as "youthful exuberance" of the young troops more than anything.

It is a valid concern (& I agree with it) that is being addressed by the troop commanders in the field.

We will probably see that practice come to a halt pretty quickly.
 
The flag was taken down. Or that's what I heard.
 
The world also gets bombarded with images of protests from around the world, thanks to the media. They don't like to show the fact that, MOST people in Iraq are desperate for liberation, they are thankful for this war. My Dad is in the military, in fact he could retire at any time with full benefits, but he doesn't. He has been to many countries, he was in the Phillipines for 6 months last year and spent a year in S. Korea. The vast majority of people in those countries appreciate the help that America gives to them. There have also been lots of pro-war rallies, even in France, they are just not as interesting for the media to cover, obviously. I am proud to be a citizen of the U.S. and I am proud of our current leadership, Clinton really cut our military to the core during his presidency, Bush is at least trying to fix things. I DO NOT TRUST Saddam, he kills his own people and if you have watched any of the stories about his two evil sons, it will scare you even more. If there is the slightest chance he has WMD, or that he might het them, he has to go. I also feel that way about the current leadership in N. Korea, left unchanged we will have another 9/11 or worse nuclear war. America is the greatest country, we truly care, yes we are powerful and power is scary to those who don't have it.
 
There was a protest in Boston led by someone carrying an Iraq flag. I know how it irritates me to see someone flying another flag in this country, so I figured they would feel the same way about us flying ours over there.

It's good to know it was just an excited kid and that it was taken down. I wouldn't want anyone to get insulted and I think we should be extra careful to prove to people that our intentions are decent. Not that they'll believe it, but we should try our best anyway.
 





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