This fact about more wars fought in the twentieth century than any other? Where is this from? How many colonial wars did Britain have? How many wars did the Zulus have before challenged by the British? What of other tribal conflicts you never here about? How many Indians and state troops died in America? There are countless from the past which tend not to be recorded as wars, more as fueds or local conflicts! The fact is now mankind can quickly end one war and begin another. Old scores not settled can easily be rekindled.
In the past upto 1850's maybe, Battles could often result with destruction of an opponants leadership, following, wealth(till quite recently a leader took his treasury on campaign) etc. Nowadays wars are fought at the destance with some form of transport close by. Communication is more advanced so leaders can hide and evade their enemies because they need not go any where near there opponants. Where at one time war often ended with a victor and a loser,the loser dead or captured, conflict now ends with a victor and a fugitive.
Quick victories are not always the best ones. Where is Saddam Hussain? Where is Osami Bin Laden? And now equiped with the standards of battlefeild technology individuals can cause casualties out of proportion to their numbers. Where as at one time you still needed something of an army to wage guerrilla war effectivly nawadays you need less. Explosives, sniper rifles and terrorism. In the case of America such individuals are a nuisance more than a threat but to other ' little ' nations a new war erupts.
You cant blame terrorists on governments either. Take this great debate about oil and the gulf war. If, in 1991, Saddam Hussein had controlled middle east oil, living costs would go up. many anti war protesters said it is the only reason for war against Iraq. My argument is if you were so against it don't reap the benefits! Donate some of your wages to charity as a gesture of defiance every pay day, about 5% is reasonable. That way the blood of Iraqi's is not on your conscience.
Your standards of living is based on capitalist policy. Dont believe me? Ask a Russian what his standard of living was in the USSR in the 1980's.
In the may day riots we see people in clothes, wearing watches, carrying bags, playing music on stereos! All these were made by people finding a way to make money. These computers were made by capitalists and people wanting to make money. Nothing I have mentioned is a result of the generous nature of the makers. Everything we have is about money and standards of living. Even medicines are made with profits in mind.
Seriously, if you dont like US and British politics and all the capitalist bullshit that goes with it,and are really against it, then go to Iran, China, N Korea or anywhere you think is morally superior to us. The truth is everything you own is the product of greed and while you cant live without it the big industries and the government will always win. They care about money and not what you think!
As for preserving culture, what culture did the yanks actually destroy, when protecting Saudi Arabia's oil feilds from Saddam Hussein? What culture was destroyed when the people of Kuwait were liberated? The American presence was the reason Mr. Bin Laden hates them so much. The anti - American lobby keeps bleating on about propaganda. Saddam Husseins propaganda in the middle east was far more bollocks than ours. Remember comical ali The fact is many arabs are stunned by the anti-Saddam mood in Iraq. The Iraqis hate Americans and Brits but they equally hate Saddam Hussein.
And wilst I understood why some of the anti-war lobby was against the conflict what the f**k was Tony Benn, Goerge Galloway and the Popes envoy doing sucking up to a mass murderer like Saddam Hussein and kissing his f**king hand! Why didnt plackards say Blair out! Bush out! and Saddam out! We are so f**ked with self critism that we sometimes do not spot evil when we see it.
When we didn't want Hitler coming here British people risked death to rid ourselves of him! We bombed Dutch cities to rid them of Germans and they UNDERSTOOD why! The French resented us for it. See later rant! Norwegians risked death to give us good intelligence! Poles escaped from Poland to train and fight in Britain!
Russians threw themselves on Tanks to rid their lands of the German and a peasant would starve his own family to ensure not one German soldier got fed by his crops! All over the world we see stories of desperate people bravely attempting to rid themselves of bastards like Hussein! Yet no one on this forum gave the Iraqi people any credit that they were strong and brave enough to make it through one more war if only they could get them rid of that Fat F**k and his BATH party!
One thing GW 2 taught me was just what a great, passionate and funny people the Iraqis can be and now I am convinced all Arabs are probably like them. Its a shame their freedom was won this way. If the UN had been stronger Saddam may well of left Iraq and gone into exile. The anti-war lobby made sure that did not happen.
