Speaking Candidly on War with Iran

Luckily neo-cons lost the presidency.
 
True, Romney seems like a neo-con for hire. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to sell US foreign policy to the highest bidder.
 
Glaucus said:
True, Romney seems like a neo-con for hire. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to sell US foreign policy to the highest bidder.
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gawd... sometimes... i hate being american... we are the jack booted thugs we think are coming for us... ugh... how did we stray soooo far away from our ideals?
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
How can we get one going.
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will this help?

In the 1980s, when the mujahedeen in Afghanistan were assassinating members of the national government and the Russian troops dispatched to support it, the killers were, in Washington’s view, freedom fighters. Yet, over the last decade, when these fighters turned against an Afghan government imposed by the United States and began killing Afghan officials and U.S. troops, they were branded terrorists.
In 2011, when armed groups battling Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya were supported by NATO, they were called freedom fighters. This month, when some allegedly turned violently against the United States, which now dominates Libyan politics, they were castigated as terrorists.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a supporter for delisting MEK as a terrorist group. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)​
And last week, the United States Government through a decision by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has decided that the Iranian group Mujahedeen Khalq, or People’s Mujahedeen, which has been on the U.S. State Department’s terrorist list for years, is being removed from the list.
That means the group and its supporters will no longer face financial and legal sanctions. One day, they were feared terrorists; the next day they were not. The “bad guys” became “good guys” with the swipe of a pen.
The New York Times says this feat was accomplished through what it describes as an “extraordinary” lobbying effort costing millions of dollars over many years. Reports the Times:
“The group, known as the M.E.K., carried out terrorist attacks in the 1970s and 1980s, first against the government of the Shah of Iran and later against the clerical rulers who overthrew him. Several Americans were among those killed. In the 1980s, it allied with Saddam Hussein, who permitted it to operate from Camp Ashraf [inside Iraq]


http://consortiumnews.com/2012/09/24/buying-off-the-terrorist-list/
 
The big problem with Afghanistan is that local Afghans weren't the only ones fighting against Soviet rule. Many foreigners, many of which were Arab, also decided to join the fight. And if they had chosen to go home after the war the world probably would be a much better place today. However instead what happened is that the mujahedin found themselves without a cause (ie. enemy) and so they went and found one.

Overall, temporary alliances aren't that uncommon. The US once supported Stalin. History is full of temporary alliances and of allies becoming enemies.

As for the terrorist & freedom fighter distinctions, the mujahedin in Afghanistan were clearly both and it was the US that decided to chose one over the other at different times.
 
Glaucus said:
The big problem with Afghanistan is that local Afghans weren't the only ones fighting against Soviet rule. Many foreigners, many of which were Arab, also decided to join the fight. And if they had chosen to go home after the war the world probably would be a much better place today.
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You think that Saudi Arabia backed the Mujahedin just to get out afterwards? You think Pakistan backed the Taliban just to get out afterwards? You think the US was backing both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in this just to have no stake in the place afterwards? Yeah, living with the Soviet Union was pretty bad, girls had to go to school and growing a big beard was looked on with suspicion. Having roads and hospitals and freedom of movement was pretty brutal. It wasn't perfect but before the Soviet Army went in to protect its puppet from the religious guerrillas it was pretty much a high point in their recent history.
 
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