"America. One of the few countries that has committed itself to world security and the first one to take on the responsibility."
Some countries don't want America to have this responsibility and want Americans to get the hell out. America has imposed their 'world cop' attitude on many countries.
"A democratically elected leader who is concerned about the lives of his citizens."
You are pretty naive. You don't need to bully everyone around to do what you want in order to protect the lives of your citizens. America is starting to play vigilante.
"What do you call a government whose leader says everyone must play by his rules or risk being attacked?"
Well, Saudia Arabia definately isnt allowing us to use it's soil for a future attack on Iraq and Bush hasnt even talked about attacking Saudia Arabia. Russia has also refused to "play by Bush's rules" and we certainly arent threatening to attack them.
"American troops are in those countries only because the governments of those countries were bribed with your money to allow American troops in. "
Well, in that case, these countries are equally to blame for this "unwanted" intrusion. I'm sure Saudia Arabia would have loved for the United States NOT to have come in to Saudi Arabia to protect it from potential invasion, while also using military technology to try to help shield the country from scud missile attacks. I am also equally sure that if Saudia Arabia asked us to leave, we would do so.
"In the past 50 years, our government has attacked many countries - Panama, Grenada, the Sudan, Afghanistan (twice), Cuba, Vietnam, Iraq and others. But it has never attacked a country that had the capability to hurt America. "
Christ, has this guy forgotten that the Panamanian Defense Force captured, assaulted, and murdered US citizens on what is legally American soil in Panama? Has he also forgotten the Panamanian dictatorship that shipped billions of dollars of illegal narcotics to the United States? If that's not harming America, I dont know what is. As for Grenada, they took AMERICAN students hostage. The Taliban was also a fucking puppet regime for the likes of Al Queda, and we've seen what Al Queda has done to America.
"Russia, China, Pakistan, India, North Korea, Israel - all have nuclear weapons. So we participate in "constructive engagement" with those countries. "
Yeah, but these countries dont have the desire to use them against America. As for Russia, that's a moot point. We entered into the START Treaty over 40 years ago that called for the joint disarmament of both countrie's offensive nuclear weapons. China also does not have the missile technology to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US, and the only country China really has any believable reason to nuke is Taiwan, which I doubt is likely. As for North Korea, I have no clue why we arent all up in arms over them, so that is a somewhat valid point. As for Pakistan and India, they both have governments that can be reasoned with, unlike Iraq.
"Of course not. Our attention is directed to Iraq - even though there's no public evidence that Iraq has anything to do with al-Qaida - and a lot of evidence that they're enemies of each other. Suddenly, Osama bin Laden is no longer important. "
Take a clue pill. Like it or not, Iraq is involved in terrorism. Iraq funds and supports terrorism to try and undermine it's enemies. The PLO, which is responsible for a lot of the so called "suicide bombings" used to be a lot worse than what it is today. At one time this terrorist organization threatened to destabilize the entire Middle East. Why does he think the U.S. sent Marines to Lebanon in the 1980's? Hell, Iraq was directly involved in terrorism during the Gulf War. This makes Iraq a very good target.
"For the past year, we've been hearing over and over that the Muslims and others around the world hate us because of our freedoms and our prosperity. " Most Muslims do not hate America, and most Muslims despise what Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden have done, and they equally despise how the likes of Osama Bin Laden has subverted the image of their religion into that of intolerance and hate. Yes, a lot of Muslims dislike the United States because of our over-agressive foreign policy, but the Islamic Extremists hate us the most because we are NOT a Muslim country. We've seen this in Lebanon. The Lebanese military was made up of a combination of Christians and multiple Muslim sects when they were fighting against Lybia invading their country.
Hopefully this makes some sense. If not, I'll edit it later when I'm thinking a little more clearly.
We do have German troops in our city. The German Air Force trains and stations personell at various US Air Force bases on our soil.
You're a load of bloody useless loonies!
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." Julius Caesar
Rainier
"What do you call a government that has troops stationed in a hundred countries around the world?"
America. One of the few countries that has committed itself to world security and the first one to take on the responsibility.
"What do you call a government whose leader says everyone must play by his rules or risk being attacked?"
A democratically elected leader who is concerned about the lives of his citizens.
"How would you feel if there were Chinese troops wandering around your city?"
Very thankful if China was acutally defending my right to self rule and my country was unable to stand up to autocracies such as, say, China. Unfortunately China would rather execute dissidents and any leaders of a religious organization than defend my God given rights.
"So how do you think Germans feel about seeing American troops walking their streets..."
Well, I would hope they'd feel pretty thankful that they are not just another Soviet satellite state. Of course, Mr. Brown probably thinks that the Soviets would have done them a favor. It's a real shame that Western Europe wasn't dominated by communism. "Worker's rights!" under a regime that will send you to prison for expressing any other ideal than their own or even thinking about forming a real workers union.
Mr. Browne concludes this rant very predictably, claiming not to be part of the "blame America first crowd." Still, he continues, suggesting that we trade with any country (I'll say 'any' because the author seems to think that Sudan, Cuba, Vietnam, and Iraq are benign). Not being Western nations they can do no wrong, not matter how many people they torture and kill. Were we to really put our morals and security concerns aside, and do business with these criminals, I wonder how long it would take for these ideologists to cry foul.
-Rainier