Rice: Military Power is "Not the Way To Deal in the 21st Century", page 3

reply to post by marinesniper

Good points marinesniper.

It is so easy to say "oh hypocrite, hypocrite!" However, there is a lot at stake for peace in the world over there. Remember America AND its allies went to war with Iraq, don't forget the other countries involved.

It is clear we bumbled Iraq bad. Our initial intentions there were for WMD's, we all know how bad that went down. However, in the end because we have honored our word and stayed to help the Iraqi people have some form of stable government in the region, everyone on the planet is safer. We will pull out within the next year or two.

Russia is pissed off about the missile defense shield we are going to put up and America is pretty much tied up in Iraq and Afgan. So they knew we were short handed and marched their a**es down there and stomped around. In regards to 'hypocrite" Did Russia have years of open public and world debate about the Georgians wanting to be a free nation? Did they warn them for years and years? No, they went straight in and blew the crap out of them. (if we acted like that, we would already be blowing up Iran)

To me it is obvious neither the Americans nor the Russians want to have a face to face conflict. The Russians fear that we are going to open up their borders so they will not be able to defend itself if we decided to attack... I think even the white house knows what would happen if we tried to attack, boom its over. So it is very silly for Russia to think we would attack.

There was some other talk about America's 'hypocritical' nature by using our economic might.
Do we use our economic might on countries? you bet we do! Isn't that what we want? the entire world to be able to have fair trade and free societies? Why not? I think we would compete rather well as a country.

to make a long story short going to war with Iraq was/is completely different than what happened between Georgia and Russia.

In final, If you really want to talk about our moral authority, please take into account the fact that American government and its citizens have given more money, aid, and medical treatment to the people of the world than any country ever in the history of man kind put together. We have consistently bailed the world out of trouble. Our people have died to make the world a better place. So we go out to stamp out some dictatorship of evil intent in an attempt to set her people free and you want to say 'hypocrite'...? I don't remember us even asking them to pay a bill on that. We the people are paying for their freedom it is time for people in America to wake up. We are a great nation, we do good in the world, we stand up for peoples freedom. I mean come on, get off the hate train you could be living in a tent in the middle of the desert not sure if you were going to eat today or have water today or get shot by your own government, or put into prison because you said the government are Hypocrites! Have your beliefs, but moral authority? You want change you start running for local office and work your way up.

www.american.com...
"Q. Are Americans more or less charitable than citizens of other countries?
A. No developed country approaches American giving. For example, in 1995 (the most recent year for which data are available), Americans gave, per capita, three and a half times as much to causes and charities as the French, seven times as much as the Germans, and 14 times as much as the Italians. Similarly, in 1998, Americans were 15 percent more likely to volunteer their time than the Dutch, 21 percent more likely than the Swiss, and 32 percent more likely than the Germans..."