Posted by Shawn S on Friday, June 18, 2004 at 3:40PM :
In Reply to: Paul Johnson dead ? posted by Ed S on Friday, June 18, 2004 at 3:19PM :
A friend of mine and I have been descusing this matter to a little extent. I tend to agree with her thinking. It helps that she was an economist for the government for while. If you guys are interested here is what she wrote me. I will have to clean up the language a bit but here it is. If you have an opinion I would love to hear it. I know this is not Power Wagon related but I beleive it is intersting none the least.
Shawn S. saltersm@hotmail.com (If you would like to voice your opinion. I love a good debate.)
This is the complication of US foreign policy at this time.
When I was growing up, the Cold War seemed clear and understandable (especially to people like me who knew what Communist regimes were like, because half my family lived under one). But I assume that the period from 1945 - 1952 or so must have been like this... confusing and upsetting. Just as we finished a monumental battle to defeat fascism, suddenly the Soviet threat was understood and the Cold War began to build. People must have felt like "Jeez - you're telling me we have to keep fighting? Why can't we all get along?" Plus - there was a whole generation of American intellectuals who had been very committed to Int'l Socialism in the 1920s and 1930s who were now told the US was going to fight Communism. There must have been huge social upheaval going on.
So, we're going through another time like that, in my opinion. There are people who get it -- that Al Qa'ida is truly a threat to our nat'l security -- and many who still just don't see it. Many seem to believe - heck like the Democrat Party - that if we just get out of the whole Islamic world and help the Palestinians get what they want, then they will leave us alone. Just like during the Cold War how the same people felt like if we were just nice to the Communists and give them what they want, there would be no threat.
With recent events in Saudi Arabia, it brings the point home. Al Qa'ida wants to control Saudi Arabia. From there UBL, would like to be the voice of islam for the Islamic world. What do you think would happen to the US and our economy if they get their way? We would be completely crippled, that's for sure. So, I get upset with the steady mantra from the Left that we brought this on ourselves for supporting Israel and being in Saudi Arabia. The fact is, if the Saudi government falls, we're ******. Fact is, Israel is our best ally in the region as we try to combat these b*&%$#@#s.