[split] Wacky Iraq-ee

[azharrison]

America is in DEEP SHIT financially! I don't care what side of the political fence you're on. Left, Right, Facsist, Marxist, what ever. When our market collapses we owe a HUGE debt to China, it won't what party you side with, we will all be screwed.

Rise up and overthrow your governement!!! But you may want to brush up on your Chinese and Arabic in the process.

[Minimalist]

The Chinese and the Arabs have a few problems of their own. Relax. The sky is not falling.....yet.

[Violet]

America is in DEEP SHIT financially! I don't care what side of the political fence you're on. Left, Right, Facsist, Marxist, what ever. When our market collapses we owe a HUGE debt to China, it won't what party you side with, we will all be screwed.

Rise up and overthrow your governement!!! But you may want to brush up on your Chinese and Arabic in the process.

Say china wants to collect... do you really think we aren't just going to roll them over with our (much superior) military? They say we have debt to china, I say china gave us money when we wanted it, and that to give any money back to them is beyond stupid. If a fool and his money are soon parted, steal from the fool, and when you've nothing more to steal: shoot him, or put him to use. Anything else is what you do out of the goodness of your heart ^_^ (Like me! I'm chaotic good, YAY! XD). When our market collapses, we go on a military onslaught of easy pickings and suddenly our market is filled with all sorts of nice things (See example of Columbus and Spain for a similar idea).

There are so many languages among the 'istans' and whatnot that to brush up on all of them would be ridiculous, and chinese has a foul writing system that should have been fixed some millennia ago.

[azharrison]

Say china wants to collect... do you really think we aren't just going to roll them over with our (much superior) military? They say we have debt to china, I say china gave us money when we wanted it, and that to give any money back to them is beyond stupid. If a fool and his money are soon parted, steal from the fool, and when you've nothing more to steal: shoot him, or put him to use.

A strong military is only powerful if you have the cajones to use it. China is a back burner concern militarily rt now. In addition to the high alert status from the mid-east meltdown, we have Iran and N. Korea going nuclear with crackpots in charge and Mexico making almost any border a war zone right now. Historically, it seems to me that all we need is a tipping to spin this out of control. Collective bargining for some state workers in some broke-ass state is not on the top of my radar screen.... Strategically speaking, of course.

As for the rest of it... Sounds like you shouldv'e put Tony Soprano in the white house... hehehe

[Minimalist]

do you really think we aren't just going to roll them over with our (much superior) military?

Careful, Sae.

Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule. I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war. It is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China". It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives.

* Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery
In the House of Lords, 30 May 1962

In case you haven't noticed, we're not doing all that well in fucking Afghanistan.

[Violet]

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A strong military is only powerful if you have the cajones to use it.

]

Too true

America lacks the guts to exercise its potential.

China is a back burner concern militarily rt now. In addition to the high alert status from the mid-east meltdown, we have Iran and N. Korea going nuclear with crackpots in charge and Mexico making almost any border a war zone right now. Historically, it seems to me that all we need is a tipping to spin this out of control.

Granted... and it would seem that the dogpile is right close to happening between all of this and the current economic state.

Collective bargining for some state workers in some broke-ass state is not on the top of my radar screen.... Strategically speaking, of course.

As for the rest of it... Sounds like you shouldv'e put Tony Soprano in the white house... hehehe

This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Soprano ? Putting a crime boss into a country's leadership isn't such a bad idea to some extents (they've already proven themselves competent against the government). Sadly, their organization would be likely to lean on them, and they would either have to kill all of the ranking members (to say nothing of bringing down lesser members if it came to it) or fear for what are likely somewhat talented assassins.

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do you really think we aren't just going to roll them over with our (much superior) military?

Careful, Sae.

Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule. I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war. It is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China". It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives.

* Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery
In the House of Lords, 30 May 1962

In case you haven't noticed, we're not doing all that well in fucking Afghanistan.

+1, and I like that man already. Reading up on him now

Ahh, his character was acted in "A Bridge Too Far".

Edit:2: Yes, I do like him if the wikipedia page on him is accurate.

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[Minimalist]

Ahh, his character was acted in "A Bridge Too Far".

Operation Market Garden was an ill-conceived disaster.

[Violet]

Ahh, his character was acted in "A Bridge Too Far".

Operation Market Garden was an ill-conceived disaster.

This is true. I still cannot see reason for even trying it, though it would seem largely from the arrogance that (costly) victory in normandy and the subsequent "germans retreating faster than allies can advance" helped to generate.

[Minimalist]

Poor intelligence. No respect for the opposition. Arrogance. Political motivations. Insufficient force for the operation intended.

Oh wait. That sounds like Bush in Iraq!

[azharrison]

Militarily, the attack on Iraq was one of the most successful campaigns in history. Strategically it turned into a logistical nightmare. I have every confidence that our military is the best, most well equipped, best trained, highest morale fighting force on earth. They just need to be given a clearly defined mission. I'm not talking about "exit strategy", any idiot can see that you can't plan on a departure date... we are STILL in Germany, Japan and Korea...

Bush and his staff may have blundered in Iraq and Afghanistan, but by its very nature, war is unpredictable. I STILL support the rationale for Invading Afghanistan as well as Iraq. Be prepared, all the campaign promises in the world won't get us out of either country for perhaps decades!