UN Passes Iraq Resolution

[Guest TJH]

Just wondering, can it be said that the US was right to support the mujahideen in the Afghan-Russian war? Surely it was a Russian matter, and the argument that the Russians were trying to control the Afghans doesn't change the fact that had they remained in charge, life in Afghanistan could well be a lot better. Not super perhaps, given Russia's economic collapse, but a lot better than the hellhole it is today.

 

I can see where you're coming from, and you may be right. But also, it might be possible that if the USSR had overrun Afghanistan in a couple of years, Communism might not have collapsed. At the time Communism was the enemy, so I believe we were right to help the Mujahideen.

 

The same argument that the US is using for Iraq (save people from despotic regime, impose better one) could easily be applied in Russia's case.

 

That's exactly what America did. Obviously military action wasn't possible, so the U.S went about it in other ways and ultimately succeeded.

 

The Mujahideen were not nice people, a large proportion were blood-thirsty savages. This raises a larger question - were any of the third party actions taken by America during the Cold War to ward off Communism really necessary? The shattered lands of South America, South-East Asia and Africa surely did not have to become battlegrounds between the superpowers. America's greatest weapon is the Big Mac, Walt Disney, the baseball cap. Because in the end that's what people want. I can think of only a few occasions in the last hundred years when America genuinely needed to apply military force.

 

I can really answer that in one word. Korea.

 

I don't think Irag at present is one of them. In fact, the only place I see in the near future that should be considered for US aggression is Saudi. Iraq and Iran will cease to be athreat in the natural course of time. Saudi suffers from a terrible mish-mash of corrupt tycoons wanting to hold on to their money, thus placating the hate-filled fanatics in their country who preach poison to the rest of the Middle East. It is they who need to be cut off.

 

I agree with you about Saudi, but I disagree about Iraq. On Iran, I feel that we should no be agressive towards them.