An interesting slant on events

It was interesting. I agree with the writer on several points. However, the question that keeps coming into my mind, at least since the "Axis of Evil" speech, is how much are we responsible for the current situation vis-a-vis Iraq and Iran?

The U.S. and Great Britain enabled the Shah to overthrow the government in Iran and seize complete power for himself. He was despised by the majority of the Iraninan people, and they haven't forgotten who helped him. As the op-ed stated, their government needs someone for the people to hate, a la 1984. But, we made it easy.

We aided Saddam when he was fighting Iran because we didn't like the Iranians post-revolution. Our government basically ignored his use of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war. Now we fear those same weapons because they may be used against us.

Our leaders speak about the "perilous world" we live in. But, how much of that is our own @#$% fault?

S.
 
Good article. And similar seeds were sown after WW -I when Britain "distributed" parts of the region to various tribal groups, including the ceding of the Arabian Pensula to the Saud clan which supported the Wahabbi sect of the Sunni Muslims.

Some seeds take a long time to germinate and mature.
 
Spence,

You are worrying too much about trite stuff. There are always plenty of reasons to hate. Native Americans should hate Europeans, Mexicans should hate North Americans, Blacks should hate Whites, Women should hate men, men should hate women, every religion and creed should hate every other religion and creed, and everyone in Europe has every reason to hate everyone else in Europe. So what?

The real problem, as this author notes, is that the Arabian world lacks a reason to stop hating. They can't seem to get on with developing a future for themselves; so they can do little more than continue in their senseless hatred. Old rivalries are just that; you can't change the history, whatever has been done, has been done. But, most of us find it far more productive to focus on the future, even as we let go of old rivalries.

The Islamic world has to learn, that while we cannot do anything about the past, we can certainly make our future better.

n2s
 
This is more of a question than a comment:

Does the Arab world continue to hate because the Western world continues to manipulate them?

I think this is entirely possible. Who would leave all of those oil supplies unsecured? We have done it time and time again, maybe we are still doing it. Not that it justifies the way that terrorists act against us.

Seems like nobody gets into the 'Satan of the month club', without an economic interest at heart. What about Cambodia, Romania, Rwanda, Bosnia, Robert Mugabe, and the host of other cruel, torturous despotic nations? Genocides and atrocities were and are committed in many other nations, and pleas for help fall mostly on deaf ears.

My heart goes out to everyone who is innocent and suffers because of hate and greed. This sad day is a most painful reminder that those evils are still in the world. Mankind has not improved. We just got sneakier. I wish people could get along everywhere, but realism always seems to temper my idealism.

This Canadian's thoughts are with you on this day.
 
I can place blame on everyone and everything because I'm not a brain surgeon. It might sound like a good excuse but if you look close enough you'll find that I'm just too dumb.

It's easy to blame someone else. Looking at one's own faults requires honesty and a willingness to admit one's own mistakes.

Militant Islam blames the west and Israel for all their problems. Perhaps they should look at how they run their countries for the answers.
 
IMO, n2s, Bruise and the geezer articulate what is needed to go forward. However I think that accepting our part in this mess is a necessary part of the recipe. If for no other reason than to prevent our repeating these mistakes again. Yes, hindsight is 20-20 as the saying goes, but I think that there must be lesson for us hidden in this mess somewhere. Perhaps to try to look beyond immediate goals and consider the long term future? Certainly this latter error is a great contributor to many of our own internal problems at this time.

While I do not advocate dwelling on the the past, what it can teach us should not be dismissed, so such errors are not repeated if possible, at least on our part. We can try to learn from this to our own advantage, and take into account that others are unwilling to let go of the past. That should be why we pay for diplomats and intelligence services. The US can avoid repeating past mistakes even while others chose not to. And doing just that should be to our benefit.

That said, let's not allow the past to prevent us from doing what must be done now to preserve our interests and investments in the region. We don't have to repeat past mis-steps even though others chose to.
 
Originally posted by firkin
I think that accepting our part in this mess is a necessary part of the recipe. If for no other reason than to prevent our repeating these mistakes again. Yes, hindsight is 20-20 as the saying goes, but I think that there must be lesson for us hidden in this mess somewhere. Perhaps to try to look beyond immediate goals and consider the long term future? Certainly this latter error is a great contributor to many of our own internal problems at this time.
Click to expand...

That's exactly my point, Firkin.

S.
 
Politicians worldwide are exempt from the old rule which says, "experience is the best teacher."
 
People usually say that Death and Taxes are the only certain things in life. I would add Politics to that mix since it seems ever since Human history has been recorded, Politics has been involved in a number of events.

Arvind
 
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