This week mark the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war. At the same time, Obama is traveling in the middle east. This reminds us of the problems this area has caused us over the last several decades and the many mistakes we have made over there. Here are some of my thoughts:
1. The several thousands U.S. lives and maybe a hundred thousand Iraqi lives lost were terrible price to pay for a war that was wrong. That was on top of the trillion dollars spent and the lost of focus in finishing the job in Afghanistan. Never again should we allow crazy politicians lead us into such a war.
2. One of the reason we are bogged down in this region is because of our dependence on oil. We propped up despots who are friendly to us so that we can get the oil we need. We must do everything we can to become energy independent as soon as possible.
3. We spend a lot of money in the region trying to bring peace but we have not gotten much for it. About the only thing the Israelis and Palestinians have in common is that they don't agree with what our presidents have propose for each side to do to even start the peace progress. So lets withhold our financial support unless each side agree with our proposals.
4. Support Muslim countries that have been friendly to the U.S. A country like Jordan must become economically much stronger in order to prevent extremists from taking over from King Hussein. If populous Muslim countries like Indonesia and Turkey can become more prosperous then it will demonstrate to average Muslims that the U.S. is helping them and is not their enemy.
5. Don't sweat about Iran and nuclear weapons. Just like Iraq, Iran will not be dangerous to us. By constantly worrying and complaining about their nuclear weapons program will only help Muslim extremists recruit terrorists.
On a lighter note the Big Ten did well this weekend. Four teams made it to the sweet 16. Minnesota and Illinois won a game and played well against tough opponents in the second game. Only Wisconsin was disappointing. As predicted the team that is in Gonzaga's region has the best luck. That is OSU. I think they will have a clear path to the final 4 now.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
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I just saw Zero Dark Thirty this weekend. I thought it was a pretty good movie. I thought the woman who was in the lead role did not do as good of a job as the woman in Silver Linings Playbook.
ReplyDeleteI plan to watch Amour when it comes out. Though I have to be in the mood to watch it and read the subtitles.
It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since the start of the war. Thinking back, it seems to me that it did far worse damage than good. Though hindsight is 20/20. Maybe we would be dealing with Sadaam still and another war between Iraq and Iran.
If the war was really about oil, then why are oil prices so high still? Could it be that the war lined the pockets of the oil men?
I like your idea of being energy independent, but we already get a majority of our oil here. It's a global economy and unless we can harness the power of the sun, it's an uphill climb.
Big Oil will not let alternative fuels take over, so even though it's a great thought, it'll never happen.
Withholding money from the Israelis and Palestinians is another great idea, but political suicide. I don't have a solution but we already have both sides mad at us. But you are right, we are throwing money away to battle a winless battle.
Supporting Muslim countries is very difficult, especially with Israel and a strong pro Israel lobby. You are correct that we must show support for these countries.
I don't think that we've shown a huge concern about Iran. I think the news has been overblown. Though I also think that we need to keep close tabs and let the UN do it's job.
Let me pose this question: Out of the two, which are you more concerned with: Iran or N. Korea?
You and I agreed that the West regional was weak and that OSU would get an easy path to the Final Four. What I don't get is how Cal and Oregon, despite being low seeds got virtual home games.
Oregon should have been ranked higher anyway, but I don't know if Cal would have gotten higher than a 5 seed and there's no way it should have been playing in San Jose.
Some major flaws in the tournament seeding and placement. Why not just put everyone in a region close to home and be done with it?
I kept hearing that you had to be a 3 seed or better to get consideration of playing close to home. This obviously didn't happen with UM. So you can make an argument for a 4 seed, which is fine with me.
But when you award a 12 seed, that's ridiculous. Again, I agree that both teams didn't deserve to be seeded so low. I think Oregon should have been a 4 or 5. Cal should have been a 6. And if that were the case, they wouldn't have been playing near home either.
This is coming from someone who picked Oregon to make it to the Sweet Sixteen, based on where the games were played and who they played.
-LBOAYM
I also saw Zero Dark Thirty and Argo recently. I thought both were overrated. I liked Argo better. I thought that Zero would have been better as a documentary. It was very difficult for me to follow the logic behind the investigation by dialogue. It was way too long for 2 and a half hours with very little action till the end. I can see why Bigelow was not nominated. Chastain had a few good moments but you are right in that she was not as good as Lawrence.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the war was about oil, unlike the other policies in this region for many years. I think the neocons really believe that a war would lead to democracy in Iraq and subsequently elsewhere in the region. But that is a bad miscalculation and certainly should not lead to war under false pretenses.
Yes, I have no illusions that any of my suggestion will become reality. I am just throwing them out there in case I become King of the world.
I think North Korea is less of a threat. It is ruled by a secular dictator whose main concern is remaining in power. Kim knows that if he uses nuclear weapon it will be the end of him so he is not going to risk that. Iran is ruled by religious leaders so it is more likely to die for a cause. But even there I think the Ayatollahs are not illogical people and they don't want to die early so I don't think they will attack. As far as the bomb falling in the hands of terrorist, it is possible for that to happen in Iran but the more likely possibility is Pakistan. If terrorists get the bomb from Iran, we would destroy Iran and the Ayatollahs know this. If terrorists get the bomb from Pakistan, are we going to destroy a supposedly ally and plunge South Asia into darkness? Another bad scenario is a dirty bomb given to the terrorists from someone from the former a Soviet Union state. Are we going to bomb Ukraine, for example? So I worry more about Pakistan and former Soviet states losing control than Iran.
I agree with you about the location of games. I don't even think that top seeded teams should have a geographic advantage. I think all of this is to boost attendance, otherwise random draws is most fair.