No fair Fury, i wanted to say it!

But he is right guys. If it had not been for the French in the American Revolution, everyone in the US would be hailing the Queen of England. In WW2 we just paid them back by giving back their country.
 
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"Only Trust your Allies as much as you can Predict your Enemies."
"We need Boots! Good Boots! The kind of Boots your mother used to make!"
"Luke, I am your Fasha."
To Nom Anor, a truly superior Yuuzhan Vong.
TRP/CPL_Rema/Dark_Dragoons/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][OPE] [AM-B][AM-S][AM-P][SoA][IH]

Damn those frenchmen! Hail our Queen you fools!!


 
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SL/SGMTRaziel/4SQD/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/ {EW1} {WoS} {VP} {IG} {CDS} {BoA}
Assistant Squad Leader - Squad4 Wraiths
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.

Let me see about addressing the various issues:

War:
I consider myself a realistic pacifist.

Basicly what that means is I'd rather not fight or see war but there are times when there are no better alternatives.

We gave Afghanastan and Iraq so much warning that we were going in there that the reasons for us going in there could have been hidden or moved somewhere else.

As such I never really agreed with those wars.

Sure the people of those nations are rid of oppresive regimes but they may as well be flying the American flag rather then thier own.

Afghanastan got the better end of that deal to me, but still they dance when we tell them to.

Is that such a bad thing?

Perhaps not, perhaps so.  Only history will tell.

The UN:
We can't forget Russia in the equasion for arms dealers for Iraq either.

Now the idea of removing veto power from the UN will not come about for a long time but I think it is the biggest problem the UN has to fix.

The first attempt at something like the UN was the Leage of Nations.  It didn't work because none of the big nations would back up the mandates they passed and so it fell apart and after World War II the UN came into being.  Originaly it was invisioned as a place where nations could get together and prevent such massive wars from ever being fought again.  With the changing political climate they began doing more and more.  They have done some good work but they have also obviously failed.  The only occasion that I can think of where the UN succeded militarily was in Korea 1953 and American forces made up 95% of the military presance in that war.

Presidents/World Leaders:
In out last presidential ellection it was between a republican and one of the most extreme environmentalists I've ever heard of.  I voted for niether but personally I'm glad we got the republican.

Of course France, Germany, and Russia want to protect thier forgien trade, the US would do nothing different.  The US was getting tired of people saying "No we won't hand over what you want us to."

NATO has actually been a bit more reliable then the UN.  Sure members of the UN haven't been supporting us but a lot more have been supporting us.

As far as telling nations to take a hike when trying to bid on contracts for rebuilding Iraq, I totally agree when it comes to nations that have not put anything on the line.  Nothing ventured nothing gained.  It's our money so we should have total say on who gets it.
 
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Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

Let me put it bluntly.  My brother is going to go to Iraq and get shot at, maybe killed.  When you can step up and have a personal investment in a combat zone, ONLY THEN do you have the f*cking right to tell me who I can call a clown and what I can call a mess.  The end on that subject.

As for those contracts.  No one asked the companies of this country if they wanted to go to war.  To extend that, no other country asked their companies the same thing.  Contracts are being given to corporations, not governments, and to restrict that is basically saying everything we preach about free trade is a joke.  Yeah, I don't have to like it, but literally, put your money where your mouth is.  Restricting a company because of where it is headquartered is completely ridiculous.  Remember your "principles" next time you buy gas at Shell, okay?

As for whether or not Gore would've done a better job, I don't know.  We'd be cooperating more with the world, there'd be no confrontational "Axis of Evil", and he would've given the rest of us as a nation more to do than shop and ride on airplanes as our national duty.  Aside from that, maybe the speeches would be more dull.  Remember, we praise Bush more for his top-notch staff than for what he himself can do.  I imagine Madeleine Albright would still be kicking ass over at State if Gore was in charge.

And going back to the list of nations supporting us, only 15 are rating as sending troops into the mess (yes, I said it again).  I can lament the state of affairs in the world too, but I damn well only get judged by my actual participation in changing injustice.  The same rule should apply to nation states.

And, we can agree to disagree on the Revolution, but I expect you should read some actual books on the subject before saying "only" money and some troops were all France gave.  It might have been largely ineffectual but it kept the cause going when it may not have otherwise.
 
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PRF/GEN Fury/VEA/TADATH/VE [SCP][PoC][SotE:HC][SotE:VEA][IOC]
Prefect - Stormtrooper Corps
Administrator - Imperial Center

Oh ya, restriction the right of corporations to gain contracts in Iraq based upon where their center of opreations is located is a violation of free trade.  Although I must say the US doesnt seem to be overly thrilled with free trade in some regards *looks at the illegal tariff on softwood lumber* <== yep still there.  Also claming that a lower valued currency, universal healthcare, and other such things are a violation of trade in order to help bring about tariffs is also just slightly contrary to the principles of free trade.

Iraq is a free country...or so the so-called "liberators" say.  In that case it free to work within the world just like anyother country.  And anyother country is free to work within it.  Therefore there is no argument as to why contracts should be restricted.  To restrict is to become a symbol of an empie, a lmassive nation which collects and shares the "spoils of war" with its allies instead of being part of the world and allowing all to get a chance.
 
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ASL/GSG_Afyon/Dark Dragoon Squad/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/[LoC][IH][CoH][SoA]

I'll say it again it is our money, we should have a say in who gets to do what with it.

It may be unfair but if there wasn't anything put at risk by those countries then thier companies which pay taxes to said government shouldn't get a share of the spoils.

Someone somewhere made a comment about NATO being a bit disfunctional in this current round.

In all things there must be a balance.

The BBC is better then most American news agencies but it is still biased toward the anglo-american perspective.

Iraq isn't pretty, anyone who says it is doesn't have a very good source of information.  It isn't nearly as bad as Vietnam though.
 
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Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

Their website is in English and is up when our hackers aren't hitting it.
 
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PRF/GEN Fury/VEA/TADATH/VE [SCP][PoC][SotE:HC][SotE:VEA][IOC]
Prefect - Stormtrooper Corps
Administrator - Imperial Center

Fury, I apologize about offending you.  Right now I do not have any family over there, but that does not mean that I believe in what I say any less.  I don't say things that I don't mean.  I am graduating on June 12.  On July 1 I will be taking an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

The Iraqi government will be able to make their own contracts when there is a working government, something that hasn't happened just yet.  Right now they are working on a Constitution, and then we will let them take over and they can do whatever they want.

Gore isn't an environmentalist extremist, just a weasel that changes his position constantly.  he said in one of his books that it would be the best thing ever to happen if we suddenly ran out of oil.  Then, he talked of how great it was to release the oil reserves during the oil shortage. 

I have read several books on the Revolution.  The French did help us a bit, don't get me wrong, but we would have won without them, it jsut would have taken a bit longer.

As for the Coalition, those 15 countries are the 15 that typically put up the troops and money anyway.  Not too big a difference between this and a peacekeeping action.
 
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LCM_TO_ JMac/(=A=)(=SA=)(=MA)(=FOCE=)(MC1)(VC)

Naval Training Officer

Go Army, beat Navy!

Cats run at the sound of my name

Even though Tom Clancy is a right-wing, insanely patriotic, militaristic nut (or so his books seem to indicate)...I still love his books

Rainbow 6 was good...it wasnt my favourite though by far.
 
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ASL/GSG_Afyon/Dark Dragoon Squad/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/[LoC][IH][CoH][SoA]

I'm not really sure what Clancy's political views are, but he does write great books.  Personally, I like Without Remorse best.
 
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LCM_TO_ JMac/(=A=)(=SA=)(=MA)(=FOCE=)(MC1)(VC)

Naval Training Officer

Go Army, beat Navy!

Cats run at the sound of my name

*coughrainbowsixcough*
 
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"Only Trust your Allies as much as you can Predict your Enemies."
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No Mr. Bond, i expect you to die."
"Luke, I am your Fasha."
To Nom Anor, a truly superior Yuuzhan Vong.
TRP/CPL Rema/2SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][OPE] [AM-B][AM-S][AM-P][IH][SoA]