Mar 5th, 2003, 03:42 PM
Pantydude.... whoah. Is your niche here going to be a slightly more articulate Naldo?
A few quick points;
"Our "talking shit" helps tremendously when reestablishing government after a regime change. "
-Have we done this since the Marshal Plan?
Here's the lead on the story you linked to under your comment
"Billions and billions to build a country......"
"KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan government said on Wednesday it would launch a new bid this month to raise more international financial assistance, saying it had received far less than several other countries recovering from conflict."
Hey! Pantydude? Can I have a billion Dollars? Look now I'm a Billionaire. Oh, crap, I forgot that 'launching a bid' and 'getting money' were different. Check the article I posted in Whoops! Afghansitan may indeed get money from us, but W. forgot to budget ANYTHING AT ALL for his 'Marshall Plan'.
"It is not the United States' responsibility to hold their hand while they get a grip on their own society."
Actually, it would be not only enlightened but in our own interest to 'Hold their hand' as you put it or as I think of it 'Do what we can to keep their country from slipping into the sort of anarchy that made it ripe for takeover by the Taliban in the first place'. It would also be the decent, American thing to do, seeing as while overthrowing the Taliban we killed a whole bunch of civillians, interupted a very nice wedding and destroyed what little was left of their infrastructure.
"By planting the seeds of democracy in Afghanastan"
I assume you are refering to our round the clock bodygaurds for Karzi. 'Cause aside from keeping him alive, I'm kind of missing the 'seeds'. Although I'm not sure we should plant any Democracy their. Democracy is majority rules kind of deal, and a whole lot of those folks hate us. Oh, wait! I be5t you mean a deomcracy like Turkey, where 90% of the people don't want us there, but the leadership will probably invite us anyway becuase we're payimng them a lot of money and we might give them Northern Iraq.
As for Powells process that the oil in Iraq will belong to and be run by the Iraqi people, I'll believe it IF I see it. Since we haven't even invaded yet, this seems a little premature. Here's the thing though, just in case it goes down? Haliburton? Not an Iraqi company. You never know though. I'd be happier than you can imagine to eat those words.
Here's the lead from your link on Afghans lining up to thank us.
" An Afghan dentist and professional cyclist who rode across the Mideast and Europe in the past 10 months arrived in Washington yesterday to meet with his nation's ambassador to the United States."
Dude. This isn't even four out of five Afghan Dentists. I'm guessing he wasn't a guest at that wedding we blew up.
Your link under them getting a national communications network is about what INDIA says they'll do for them. INDIA! Plus the article is bout talks, not actions or even commitments. AND its the largess and self interest of INDIA, not us. Maybe the ouster of the Taliban made this possible, or maybe the Taliban would have made a similar deal with Pakistan. Your argument, such as it is, works better for the Opium trade, which has doubled since the Taliban fell.
Speaking of Pakistan, that's what your article linked under Trade is all about. Not us, PAKISTAN. Pakistan active trade with Afghanistan under the Taliban. The only way for it to grow will be if Karzi gets some money from Congress, becuase Bush forgot to give him any.
Your basic argument that our war machine is way nicer than other war machines... I find that like saying "You're grateful I didn't kill you, though, right?" as I bandage you up and spoon feed you soup after breaking your nose. We're SUPPOSED to be the good guys, that's what America is all about and patting ourselves on the back for being less brutal than other people falls way short.
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