Re: History from the perspective of Europe?
dogsdad<br /><br />I apologise for misinterpreting your comment<br />"All the US is trying to do is keep commerce free and stable. All certain Islamic extremists are trying to do in the Iraqi situation is stifle fair and free petroleum commerce in order to harm the USA." <br />as being capable of any interpretation that there is any connection between the US presence in Iraq; trade and commerce; and oil. Clearly you meant to say that the US and others are in Iraq for reasons totally unconnected with trying to keep commerce free and stable and certainly not to try to oppose certain Islamic extremists who are trying to stifle fair and free petroleum commerce in order to harm the USA. I must be stupid beyond belief to infer from any of that that you saw a connection between the US presence in Iraq; trade and commerce; and oil supplies to the USA.<br /><br />
Originally posted by dogsdad:<br />And your imaginative stretching of my comments to mean that the US is in Iraq to take their oil reveals something about the spirit of your thinking that I won't name.
Don't keep us in suspense. I can live with it.<br /><br />
I'm not going to waste my time explaining American presence in Iraq---I'm sure many folks have absolutely WASTED a lot of effort doing just that.
My Prime Minister, his government, and lot of other fools and liars among others. If we could have harnessed the energy generated internationally in trying to justify a war on Iraq we wouldn't need their oil. But you're right, as far as I was concerned it was definitely a waste of time, just like the search for non-existent WMD's that were supposedly what it was all about.<br /><br />
But I'll explain something to you now, just once: if we wanted to do so, we COULD confiscate all of Iraq's oil, and that of a few other countries as well.
Does this prove something worthwhile? If it's such a big deal, surely it's worth repeating again and again? Anyway, you couldn't do it without going onto a war footing. You're already stretched rotating your units through Afghanistan and Iraq. You can't even equip them properly. And before you get all wound up about the last statement as representing some evil and unspeakable hostility towards the US, that's not me talking but what your troops on the ground said to Donald Rumsfeld when he visited Iraq. And the former concern comes from your military, not me. Or is it now an attack on America to repeat what your soldiers in Iraq say and what your military planners say? Or can't I say that at all because I'm not an American and I shouldn't respond to puffed up, jingoistic, militarily and politically impossible comments about America being able to take pretty much all the oil it wants?<br /><br />
Your insinuations are over the line and OUT of line. You have no right to criticize or set standards as to how I respond to one of my own countryman's comments---especially in defense of my country. See about developing a sense of propriety.
Ignoring the fact that your comment to which I responded wasn't specifically addressed to anyone, let alone one of your countrymen, I thank you for setting me straight on that. I was under the misapprehension that this was a board where members could contribute to open discussions and open comments like yours. I didn't realise that on an international board only Americans could respond to Americans' comments about American activities that affect the rest of the world. I'm grateful to you for setting the standards for me and I apologise for doing whatever it was that you think constituted me setting the standards for you. I acknowledge your right to set standards for others. You are perfectly entitled to be immune from reciprocal conduct, both on this point and your original comments to which I responded. I should not have presumed to attempt to object to your implicit opinion that what is good for America is good for the world. <br /><br />I would not wish to offend you by suggesting that I have as much right as you to express my views on Iraq, particularly when my country happens to have been involved in Iraq purely to support yours and my country shares the consequences of those actions. Next time some radical Islamic ratbag gives a rant about how Australia is on their hit list because of our involvement in Iraq, I'll just ignore it because it's purely an American issue that nobody else is allowed to comment on.
.<br /> I have no sense of moral anything. dont believe much in morals. just believe in truth. if your right your right and if your wrong lie about it till your right is the way I guess.<br />dogsdad<br /> if another countries policy is to sell their oil someplace else than the US, is it a national security issue or a policy issue ?
