y does America try to control other countries...i mean we want them to be free...but like Japan, we dont let them have weapons...dont get me wrong i know its for our protection...it just seems like we alwayz get exactly what we want, and when we dont...there goes a war

Yeah.. we dont have the right, its realli stupid and arrogant of our leaders to think that.. they're building up an American Empire.. i think someone paralled this to Rome..

yehh i agree... who made us the ruling country? i guess since our country is more stable than others... and we're trying to help the other countries out? well sumthing like that!!

hmm...never really noticed that. i say that we should jus mind our own n yea. still good to help though...

I'm not too sure about this, so correct me if I'm wrong.. BUT

Japan doesn't have a much of a military compare to the USA. Infact, someone told me that they depend on American military more than ever simply because their tax money goes towards education the most and the least goes to military, or something like that. I'm sure they don't mind US presence in their country.

don't you mean korea? i've never heard of japan having any weapons...

but since teddy roosevelt we've been "the constable of the world", but now it seems like we're just bossing everyone around.

Yeah.. I think that's right.. but Japan's more of an example.. I mean.. like Iraq or something, and the ongoing war on terrorism (which has no foreseeable end as of yet..).. why should we police the world? We dont even wait for UN approval anymore.. this country seems to be taking a turn down a very dark road..

EDIT://

Exactly.. it seems like the onli valid opinion, the onli valid government (for example), is our own.. if other countries dont model after us, they're wrong.. at least that seems to be the attitude the politicians are taking..

You're kidding right? We aren't in Iraq to police the world! We're in Iraq because they attacked us and we retaliated! Doesn't anyone remember 9/11? Also, they said the war would take a long time. They said that from the very beginning of the whole ordeal. Guess what though, it's been going much faster than expected.

[QUOTE]I'm not too sure about this, so correct me if I'm wrong.. BUT
Japan doesn't have a much of a military compare to the USA. Infact, someone told me that they depend on American military more than ever simply because their tax money goes towards education the most and the least goes to military, or something like that. I'm sure they don't mind US presence in their
country. [QUOTE]
thats b/c we limit how much military they can have...im not trying to critize the government, it just seems wrong

maybe because the japanese said they would only make a defense force and never declare war again? the JASDF does have plenty of weapons. here, take a look at some:

http://globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/weapons.htm
http://globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/ship.htm

:errm: As I recall, Iraq did not strike us first. Iraq did not make 9/11 happen.

Sure it is going much fatser......running the country into the ground. We want to say oh yeah an Iraqi government, but want to get upset when the president does not want out presence there.

We can't afford to police the world. We blow up people who haven't done anything, they pick up guns and shoot at us, and meanwhile we're spending $100 billion to build roads ofr a country with no cars.

QUOTE

As I recall, Iraq did not strike us first. Iraq did not make 9/11 happen.

Yes, but their brutal dictator, Saddam, had connections to terrorists and Bush declared a war on terror after 9/11.

There is not a single shred of evidence that Saddam Hussein had terrorist ties.

In fact, Bin Laden was trying to overthrow Hussein since he got into power.

wow never thought of that now that i did wow interesting hmmmm............







.:tony:.

There are terrorists in Iraq. Terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, killing thousands of people. Now we're going after them for killing Americans. True, it wasn't Iraq, but the Alquidea is in Iraq, and they were the guys behind 9/11. (I know that I spelled Alquidea wrong, sorry bout that)

And for pete sakes! The country may not be doing as well as is was before the war, but this is nothing compared to the great depression.

Of course, Al Qaeda is based in Afghanistan and all the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

How does Iraq figure into that?

ok bud but we supposedly went into Iraq for the reason of Saddam Hussien.... not for the terrorists....

Exactly, excellent point.


How is it going much faster?



So we should go and invade every single country with connections to terrorists?


The Great Depression was extreme.. but at the rate things are going...

Aww you beated me to it.

BTW don't forget the JGSDF and JMSDF.



I'm a believer that Al Qaeda had no ties with Iraq nor Iraq housing terrorists until the war and occupation.

What are those?


Supposedly they did have ties... supposedly.. though I'm disinclined to believe stuff coming out of the White House anymore..

How did this debate turn into focusing on Iraq all of a sudden?

i agree with you, kelly. we try to take over other countries, inderectly. but we try to flash our power and wealth (even though we're in debt right now. thanks to our wonderful *sarcastic* president bush. he's ditching our economy while playing golf ). so, really, what does give us that right?

I was about to say the same thing. People don't realize that they came from Saudi, and they are in fact Saudi and not Iraqi.



The person before me said something about the war going fast and the country getting better faster. And i diagree. I think sure it has moved fast, us running their country into the ground. Right now i 'm like we need to get out. If they want to kill each other and have a coup every new years, let them it is their country and their right.

Still not sure why everyone's focusing on arguing Iraq.. but it seems like no one believes we have the right to do so..

i wouldnt say we're bossing the other countries around, but taking all of it into consideration, we're probably the most stable and well off, and if we didnt but in every now an then, there'd be missiles flying everywhere.

And those missiles wouldn't be launching at us, like they currently are, so why should we care?

Exactly, why should we go and defend other countries and hurt ourselves in the process?

So true. I'm sick of hearinf of these 19 year old soldiers being killed. We had no business going into Iraq and our time is up. Let them kill each other, as long as they aren't killing us i'll be fine.

yeahhh we should just leave all the other countries alone. i mean like just cuz we got more power doesnt mean we get to boss dem around, not like were the boss .

Yea, everything this country does comes off as arrogant. I do believe we should help some unfortunate countries, but lets not take it to far.

Exactly. Not onli do we not have the right, its also harming us.. our resources, our personnel are being expended in doing this

most of the world sees us as arrogant assholes who care about nothing but themselves. but really it is our leaders who control us. once they are in office they rule our country with veryy!! little input from us...

We did vote for them... well some of us did..

ditto

Haha, I'll stay here a while longer.. but that definitely seems like a good option if this keeps up..

yea... as a japanese person i hav to admit. japan does depend on america for many thingz. but really, is america becoming an EMPIRE or sumthing? juz because u guyz all a lil more stable and rich than other countries....

Sadly I'd say it is becoming an empire..

Rich? Perhaps somewhat.. (thought at the rate we're going I doubt that'll be for too long..)

Stable? Depends on what you're comparing to..

I disagree, somewhat.

For the most part, some of the world is catching up, for example, the Japanese's technological advancement is incredible, and Europe's Euro is doing better than the American dollar. America's economy is pretty... hmm.. stagnant (not sure if this is the word I want to use) right now.

I don't know if "empire" is the word to use, because it's often associated with sovereignty and even independency from other countries. But I don't think we're independent at all. In fact, we must depend on the economies of other countries and foreign investments to keep our economy up to standards. Therefore, if we should overstep our boundaries, the rest of the world will let us know...

Instead, I'd like to think that we're globalizing, economically speaking. <-- I think I totally went off topic there...

ill come with... lol but yeah our country sucks right now....

Yes, I agree, economy is certainly not looking the best right now..


Well not an a true empire, at least not like one of the classical empires..
But I do say that we ARE overstepping our boundaries, and the rest of the world HAS let us know.. yet do we care? No.

In my opinion, we're only testing the waters, not overstepping boundaries just yet. Even if we are, it's nothing too grave.

Nothing too grave? You sure about that? And how much is "too grave"? I dont have any facts on me.. so you'll have to wait till I go search or till Minda shows up

Sure, something too grave would be if our intentions are something like the next holocaust.

We're testing the waters and we're already getting chilled. We know that the rest of the world do not approve of our actions.

Then we should withdraw as soon as possible. No empire has ever lasted without destroying the Republic it was built on. And I'd rather have a Republic than an empire.

*nod* why were you talking about being Facist in the "why bush..." thread?

Because Bush and Kerry are both fascists, or have significant fascist leanings (Kerry slightly more so than Bush, but Bush will have absolute power while Kerry will be hogtied, so it's tough).

How are they both fascists?

When you go into the military, you take that chance of getting killed. No one forced the 19 year old to fight. It was their own will.

When we invaded Iraq, it was like a ying-yang (the idea of good with bad). Yeah so some people hate us, but on the other hand look how many lives we have saved. Most Iraqis would of died somehow if Hussien was still in power. And if they were killing each other that would be bad. Just imagine your country in that situation, your family and friends dying because of a heartless leader.

And some people saying fighting for peace is dumb, well what are you doing to do? Sit there and die? I mean damn, I'd rather go out there and do something than sit my ass at home and watch TV.

Didn't we also take their weapons away because of Pearl Harbour?

I'm sure it wasn't only us, the Allies probably concurred thinking that it was the best thing to do after what happened.