Saddam is gone.....

Whatever. We have more than enough problems here without running all over the world trying to rid other countries of *evil dictators.*

 
I agree with you up to a point. I feel that once we leave, things will go back to the way they were. And, every person there we have tried to help has turned on us. Saddam was once our ally against Iran. bin Laden was our ally against Russia and communists in Afghanistan. We "allowed" the formation of the Taliban as long as they stopped communists. Only problem is, if we leave the Middle East be, it will de-stabilize the oil market and that will totally wreck our economy, partially because people here work against us being able to develope our own fuel sources.

Brace yourself Ron. I agree with you 100%.

As to the hanging and the televising thereof, there's a cultural aspect people might not be taking into account. In the Middle Eastern cultures, it is supremely important that a person or organization claiming power of any kind, show it by visibly exercising it in a physical way. The terrorists don't cut off heads on TV because they are horrible twisted people who enjoy what they do. It is necessary for them to maintain their power base. If the Islamic/Middle Eastern networks would stop televising these things, they'd stop doing it (not to mention our Western networks who pick the images up for their shock value, yahoo). We didn't see the images here, but the images of the ghastly carnage associated with 9/11 were broadcast all over the Middle East, and Bin Laden accrued tremendous power thereby.

The Iraquis had no choice but to execute Saddam, if they wanted to remain in power. It won't guarantee it, but it will win over many, many more fellow countrymen and others in that culture, who would have viewed their keeping him alive as a sign of weakness (that somehow Saddam was still capable of exercising some control over his own fate).

ORIGINAL: ron2

Whatever. We have more than enough problems here without running all over the world trying to rid other countries of *evil dictators.*

Only problem is, if we leave the Middle East be, it will de-stabilize the oil market and that will totally wreck our economy, partially because people here work against us being able to develope our own fuel sources.

Considering there have been some quiet and nervous estimates that we will reach world peak oil in 3 years time, this probably matters less than you think it does. I know that when I was over in America 6 months ago you guys were just starting to feel the pinch with oil prices, but I can tell you that it's been like that over here for years and it's only eased up in recent months thanks to the new oil field off the Mexican Gulf.

Not to discount your assertion that you need to develop your own fuel sources. [] You REALLY do, because I would not be surprised if oil-based fuels became uneconomical within my lifetime. In fact, I expect it to. The most liberal estimates for world peak oil are for 30 years time. Considering we rely on oil for plastics, polyester AND fuel for just about everything, we're all woefully underprepared for the iminent oil crisis. Thankfully, there are scientists working their butts off on things like hydrogen fuel cells, biofuel, and viable ways of making limitless amounts of ethanol. Nevertheless, I think it will get very dire before it gets better.

Becca, that's all well and good, but if the US government hadn't interfered in the first place, there wouldn't have been a need to demonstrate their strength.

Not OUR strength. The Iraquis who are now in control. Whether we started it or not, I won't argue, but to get out now, for good or ill, we need at a minimum for the Iraquis to have confidence in the efficacy of their government.

Now, if we ever capture Bin Laden, that will be a different story. I hope and pray we will understand then why the Iraquis did what they did (and still are doing) with the leaders of the previous dictatorship.

viable ways of making limitless amounts of ethanol

 
90 years ago, people in Alabama called it moonshine and used in their cars, even as late as the 60's.
 

Brace yourself Ron. I agree with you 100%

 
Thankfully, I was sitting down.
 
All the major gas and oil companies buy from OPEC. And I have a large, sneaking suspicion that some of that money gets funneled to terrorists. If we could, like Brazil, become independent from OPEC, terrorism would lose major funding, as America is the largest consumer of energy commodities.
 

ORIGINAL: brookcove

Not OUR strength. The Iraquis who are now in control. Whether we started it or not, I won't argue, but to get out now, for good or ill, we need at a minimum for the Iraquis to have confidence in the efficacy of their government.

Sorry, misunderstood.

That's a whole other issue and one I'm not going to comment on. I believe strongly countries like the States should mind their own flaming business. Of course, Australia had troops over there as well, and wherever Bush goes, Johnny follows, tail wagging behind him. I can at least say my time in the States opened my eyes to the concerns of living in the mainstream part of the world. In Australia, no one really cares about us and we are therefore blessed with living carefree lives.

Ron, in case you were interested, the ethanol research I was talking about centered around finding enzymes in microbes that can break down cardboard and produce ethanol. The research was started because people realised it was going to be awfully hard to produce enough ethanol to satisfy the growing fuel needs of large countries currently relying on oil. I could be mistaken, but I thought current ethanol production mostly came from what was left of sugar cane when the sugar had been extracted.

Thank I-dog for the lates news updates. I was out the othe country for a few weeks and this is the first I've heard about it. I'm still forming my thoughts on this...

ORIGINAL: corvus

That's a whole other issue and one I'm not going to comment on. I believe strongly countries like the States should mind their own flaming business.

I agree with that, playing "world police" is what have bring too many enemies to USA, if they support a country on its fight against another then is that other country that joins the "hate fan club" against USA, they dont hate Canada, they dont hate Latin America, etc. because those countries mind their own business

There should be a rule in USA that if they want to go to war then the president and congressmen children should be the first ones to go, i bet they would think about it twice before sending other people's family also but since is not their children then is not such a big deal to think about going or not [:'(] 

Well, we do have a lot of new changes in Washington.  I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens with "The Shrubs" request for more $$$ and more troops.
 
Joyce