Thanks! to Australia & Great Britian - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

STORMINORMAN · #1 03-19-2003, 11:31 AM

The Australian commitment of 2,000 troops & the British 45,000 let us know, with ABSOLUTE SURETY, who our friends really are.

Let those who have turned their backs on us never forget why they can expect to see our backsides turned to them in the future.

God Bless America & our True Friends in this most serious endeavor...

Diesel-Lover · #2 03-19-2003, 02:13 PM

Me thinks we should rethink our Euro-base for that matter the Global-bases initiatives. Pay the rent and keep them as operational US bases rather than defensive forces for the host country which generally reaps many economic benefits from the presence any way.

Its a real shame to see the locals not appreciate the bases and the savings they gain in their defense budget. What the heck do they think we are mercenaries or something?

I say we should turn our attention to the homeland and the democracies which support us. Let the rest go to where-ever in a hand basket. Once they see a democratic government gets trade opportunities, pathways to development etc the people every where will automatically follow the road to freedom. Viva le Liberty.

BENZ-LGB · #3 03-19-2003, 04:31 PM

And as far as Diesel Lover's comments above...

Ditto it for me.

jeffwolinski · #4 03-19-2003, 06:39 PM

I must say that I am extremely pleased with the support from Tony Blair. I had always though of him as Slick Willie Junior, but he has shown that he has much bigger cojones than WJC could ever dream of. Could you imagine how WJC would have reacted in this situation? Turn tail and run, for sure.

The UK and Australia deserve all of the support that any of us can give them. Buy Anglo-Australo-American!

73MB280SEL · #5 03-19-2003, 07:09 PM

Yup, we should surely punish those that did not support us (i.e. Germany) by moving some of our bases out, but we still have responsibilities elsewhere.

I know it is convenient to think of Europe as secure, but I think the episode in the former Yugoslavia shows that we need to be in Europe somewhere, just not Germany. Furthermore, we MUST comit to the security of democratic Asia. Absolutely our comitments to Japan and Korea must be met.

It's easy sometimes to fall into the "America First" argument that Pat Buchanan is making that we should let the rest of the World fix itself. I kind of fell that way sometimes, but really, how long would our allies in Asia last without the deterence of having US troops there?

I think that the focus has shifted, but we must still be vigilant. So what if the locals agree or not, we must make the case for continuing US policy in those countries where it makes sense. I think that we also must be plain, direct, and straightforward with those that ARE protesting US presence in their countries. We must tell them: Look, we may disagree on the Kyoto treaty or trade negotiations or war in Iraq, but the bottom line is we are not here for any of those reasons. We are here to protect YOU from THEM.

So, I agree with you all, but be easy on the nay-sayers. They have used the mantra 'US IMPERIALISM' to represent opposition to other things they disagree with us over. We've got big shoulders, we can take it.

Thanks,

Sholin