Look closely just at at Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. Their foreign and military policies were ALL about achieving military, political, and economic hegemony throughout the world, and about “co-opting what is not theirs”.

And listen to yourself because you are all about the same thing – a “winning” strategy, and making sure that only the U.S. gets to “game Iraq” (or Iran, or Syria, or Pakistan, or fillintheblank) to its benefit.

As for “all anyone talks about is Dubai” – yeah, right! Maybe – MAYBE – that’s a favourite topic among the traitors, collaborators and profiteers, but hardly among mainstream, “ordinary” Iraqis.

As for “all anyone talks about is Dubai” – yeah, right! Maybe – MAYBE

But the Cheney world view you articulated fuels the hatred toward us.

The “Cheney world view” is remarkable because it is so ‘outré’, so excessive, so evidently brutal and merciless. But it is in no way unique or limited to some Republican extremist fringe. Again, Cheney and Clinton/Obama share the same view, the same concepts of strategic interests. The difference is in the way it’s presented to the populace. Clinton/Obama might be subtler, might appear more reasonable, less strident in their pursuit of wealth and profits for their friends/sponsors/cronies, but the end result is the same.
From the victim’s POV, the bombs fall just as hard, but a Dem admin might spare us that “balls-to-the-wall”, “in-your-face-till-you-bleed”, “fuck-’em-ragheads” attitude. It will all be couched in some feel-good, warm and fuzzy human-rights-first-and-foremost packaging. Maybe!
These attitudes and pseudo-differences used to be pretty sharply defined. They’re less so now, in a post-9/11 world where “everything has changed”.
Also, the pressure on the Dems/Reps to deliver the goods to the powerful (control of resources, creation/maintenance of a safe and desirable investment climate, the acquisition of international market share via diplomacy or bombs as required,…) has increased sharply.
The hatred you speak of is not necessarily directed at the mythical concept of “America” (cue heavenly choir of cherubs and seraphims singing hosannas to the divine greatness of our god-chosen land), but to the harsh reality on the ground affecting the unfortunate people currently benefiting from our wondrous Democracy. I don’t doubt for a second that the Iraqi population yearns for and likes NY Yankees baseball hats, hip hop and rock’n'roll, Hollywood shoot’ em up movies, Nike sneakers and 501 jeans.
They’re likely a whole lot less enthused by Exxon-Mobil originated oil “laws”, western privatization of all aspects of their lives, massive bombardments of their cities, and the force-feeding of some nebulous concept of “democracy” which we ourselves have a harder and harder time getting for ourselves!

American leaders who think like this are in for a rough time, this country won’t survive if they don’t change their point of view.

Survival is the keyword here. This strategic thinking has been in place for quite a while. At least since the closing of WWI, definitely since the end of WWII.
It’s hard teaching an old ruling class dog new tricks. For instance, real and profound changes in the industrial/economic order vitally necessary to the planet’s survival, changes such as the complete jettisoning of the “economic growth” concept and the immediate abandonment of the “compete and consume more and more, always more” paradigm of the dangerously obsolete “free market” system, to name only two, well these crucial 180s will NEVER happen, at least as policies coming down from the political/industrial/financial elites, whether they be aligned with the Democratic or the Republican parties.
If anything is to happen, and it must, it’ll have to come from us the people, organized and focused on OUR solutions.
As long as we keep placing our hopes and trust in “prayer” or some nonsensical “leadership qualities” from a variety of corporate-Wall-Street shills like ‘Presidents’ McCain, Clinton, or Obama, we’re in for yet still more disappointments!

The subject is still the reduction of violence below the levels of last year due to the imposition of more military force.

Deal with the subject or shut the fuck up.

I figure the Pigs got about 100 Kilos of Lipstick Now..

The next question is..How Deep can the Pig Poop Get.

Just someOne…I regret to say I missed that..

its Also Called CHINESE CHECKERS..

Dominos..Hmmmm..Haven’t about that since Biet Nam..

Yes..The US is caught up in a ASS~O~METRIC WAR alright..They measure us in METERS..We Measure them in Feet ..

Same Old Strategic Game that warring Nationsw and People have always Played..

The Tools of War Change but the Human Mind is the Force that Controls them..

Its All about WINNING..Pissed Off Players and Coming Back with Your Next Strategic Move..

The Idea is the same..Logistics..Power and thinking You have the Winning Hand..

SO Simon..You Have Faith in the Pentagon..??

The same Pentagon that allowed a Terrorist to fly a Plane into it..??

High Tech..Super Power Arrogance against Your Basic Kamakazi Attack..and Fighters walking right up to you with a Bomb on thier Ass..

I am said to say I agree with a Eurpoean Friend who once told me..”The Americans are th Most Naive people in the World”..

I also might add..The Most Spoiled..

I suggest you start saving your money..or buying gold..

Seems to be going thier way..doesn’t it..We Made them Rich..Financed thier economy ..supplied them money for thier military…They have HUGH Cash Reserves..and are making strategic deals all over the World..Including OIL Contracts..and are aligning with those in the Midle east and Asia who will help them Triangulate that part of the world..

They still cnsider US the enemy..when we don’t buy thier goods..stand up to them..with sanctions..or Regulations..or move Jobs back to the United States..I think China will just Move to the EU..and Quite buying Our Debt..thwey will look elsewhere for Strategic and corporate partnerships..

Strategic Strangulation..

Similar to what Ronald Reagan claimed HIS Administration did to the Russians..(Who have Not Forgotten) and the Industrialized nations did to germany…Ruined the Currency..and to japan..Embargoed and Cut off thier OIL..

Reagan and Bush One should have gone Green Years ago when the United States got Bitch Slapped..

Great! Cut out ALL of your projects in Iraq, please. You owe reparations, you are not entitled to enjoy the benefits of your “projects”.

“That means are ability to influence events with our checkbook will shrink, not grow.”

Haven’t you done enough with your ability to influence events?! Your influence on events has thus far been an unmitigated disaster. The United States has no business attempting to “influence events” in Iraq. Any “projects” and any “influence” are bound to be tied to your real project of gaming Iraqi to your benefit. Any benefit to Iraqis is purely coincidental.

Please take your checkbook, your “projects”, and your “events influencing” and put them in a dark, warm, moist place.

“We need to think carefully about what our national interests are in the Middle East and construct a policy capable of achieving those goals.”

Oh yes – YOUR national interests and YOUR goals are what matter. Iraqis’ national interests and Iraqis’ goals are irrelevant unless they just happen to coincide with yours. Why am I not surprised to hear this from you, Larry?

This analysis from Helena Cobban is far superior to anything I have seen on this page, has its basis in a real understanding of and concern for the Middle East and the Arab world, and comes from a far more practical – not to mention less self-centered – point of view:

“The harmful effects of this war on the peoples of Iraq and the Middle East are still continuing, day after day after day. And they will continue so long as the US military continues to stay there, continually sowing its seeds of divide-and-rule and distrust, and continually pumping into the country both military tools and a militarized mindset. The moment a US President states clearly that he or she intends to pull the US troops out of Iraq completely, defines the timetable within which s/he will achieve that, and calls on the UN to convene the negotiating processes– at the intra-Iraqi level, and at the regional level– required for this to happen in a calm and orderly way, then the dynamic in the country and in the region will change. [Got that, people? Only then will the dynamic in Iraq begin to change. Iraqis know this, people who understand Iraq and the Arab world know this. Unfortunately, the people who drive U.S. policy are only thinking of U.S. "national interests".]

“It is quite unrealistic (and therefore quite dishonest) for any US leader or official to claim at this point that the US on its own can “control” the modalities of its own exit. But exit there must be– primarily for the good of the Iraqis, whose sufferings over the past five years have been vast; but also for the good of the US and for many other actors. [Oh no! Can it actually be that a quick, rapid, and complete withdrawal is also in American "national interests"?! Say it isn't so!]

“…let’s try to make sure that this time around, the ‘Lessons from the failure of US military power in Iraq’ are properly learned and properly (and irreversibly) integrated into the practice and planning of the US government. That is: we need a drastic redirection of resources from military hardware, military “preparedness”, and global power-projection capabilities into supporting all the many tools of diplomacy and international cooperation that already exist, and some new ones that we should now work with the rest of the world to build from scratch.

I do not think they stay up nights plotting how they are going to build an empire

Michel made a point regarding SOME Americans and a god given attitude of entitlement, America should control all the world’s resources.

In a way, as a small child, I just took that for granted, if we needed it, we took it, for business purposes, but we paid, we created jobs.

As you grow up, you understand how wrong this is, America is NOT entitled, we MUST respect other countries, win -win.

But now I see in China an attitude of entitlement, and I really wonder how it’s going to play out for them.

High-level party officials and hierarchs in both major parties along with the nation’s ruling elites share the same worldview: America is number 1, must lead the world and control its resources in America’s interests.

American leaders who think like this are in for a rough time, this country won’t survive if they don’t change their point of view.

And yes, you’re right.

Our greatest strength is our democracy, in terms of fighting for human rights, that’s what the PEOPLE of the world admire us for, by and large.

Really.

But the Cheney world view you articulated fuels the hatred toward us.