Flies Still In The Ointment?

[HARDCORE]

?The scant number of foreign troops on the ground may slow-up Iraqi post war plans?, or so says the media? But some of these gadflies are also demanding more US Money, and far less personal involvement!

With some very notable exceptions, several members of the Coalition are reneging on their peace-keeping commitments! For example, with at least 40,000 Coalition Troopers needed, Latvia is sending but 12 hearty souls, Estonia a mere 55, and Denmark a whopping 380! In other words, the numbers are so minuscule that the United States won?t be able to pull out of Iraq anytime in the near future!?

As a matter of fact, a few nations are now insisting that the "UN, NATO and the European Union" still control the mandate for peace. In other words, as far as they are concerned, not a helluva lot has changed since Hussein was in control?

In my humble opinion, the "Real Coalition? fought and won the War, while the ?Coalition Of The Wieners? still demand that they pull the strings!?

?But Wait A Minute Here!? In all fairness, it must be noted that out of the needed 40,000 + troops, Hungary wants to send 300, Portugal is still in the thinking process - until the United Nations grants them permission that is, and Denmark has reduced it?s potential contingent from 5000, to a mere 380!

Poland, on the other hand, who sent 200 (?) troops into Gulf War II, has been asked by Washington to head up one of the Coalition sectors, but is putting the bite on us for $90,000,000 a year to maintain their presence in Iraq! And as usual, Germany, and others, are demanding a UN Umbrella on the entire operation!

The list goes on and on, but a few of our ?True/Blue Allies? are still standing firmly by our side! It does, however, appear to me that ?Annon & Company? are still attempting to benefit greatly from their lack of grit! ?So what else is new!??

?Meanwhile, next door in Iran!!!!?

VERITAS :cd: :cd: :cd: :cd:

[Andy]

As usual I agree with the point your making, US tax payers get an extra chance to pay and a lot of nations, vulture nations, groups of vultures, want the benefits and they don?t deserve crap. However, may I take exception to one of the areas of your concern.
A week or ten days ago it was announced that Poland was buying about 45, F-15 fighters. Not sure of the price tag but they aren?t cheap. Poland, as you said, has also been given the assignment of running the northern 1/3 of Iraq during the transition, that is a large commitment. Not sure how many troops will end up in Iraq but it will sure as hell be more than 200. Part of what they are asking for is a supplement so that each of their troops are paid what GI?s are paid. No doubt you?ll recall that we did just that in Vietnam. That?s why all the ROK troops, for example, were volunteers - lots more money than they were normally paid.
Yes, $900,000,000 is a really big number. However, unlike a lot of what we do, we will get some bang for the buck. Each year the US gives, and I mean gives, Egypt a little over one billion dollars, not including additional covert aid. Each year our foreign aid budget includes 3 billion for Israel. Do you remember a few years ago charges were brought against a couple of Israelis who were here in the US spying?
Eastern Europe has only been free for about a decade. They are for the most part rather poor, still digging themselves out from under 50+ years of communism. Lets let Eastern Europe take little steps, at least they are steps in the right direction. Also, if a nation such as Poland suddenly had as many first rate fighter aircraft and maybe as many tanks as some of their neighbors and traditional enemies, perhaps a country like Germany will not look quite as powerful. If an Eastern European nation like Poland suddenly gets US bases and the ones in Germany are closed, look at the message it sends to other US ?friends?.
Now as far as the European Union, dominated in large part, as it is by France, ?Let them eat cake?.

Stay healthy,
Andy
PS: The fact that I have a son who is in banking and can speak some Polish and Russian has noting to do with my opinion.

[Seascamp]

Pearl S. Buck wrote a book called ?The Good Earth? about missionaries in China of long ago. There she talked about the reality of ?Rice Christians? who went through the motions of loyalty in exchange for rice. So as the new Iraq begins to take shape we can fully expect to be inundated by ?Rice Christians? that talk the talk but got their paw out before they walk the walk. In some instances, they simply don?t have the financial resources to do much more than talk the talk.

France, Germany and Russia had/have the singular concern of who is in charge of the corruption and how to keep their greedy beaks plugged into the cash flow. Should they be given a cut of the new Iraq action, I?d bet they?d be singing the US national anthem in Paris, Bonn and Moscow in an instant. Sometimes I think we are seeing the realities of world diplomacy that have always existed but now with all the communication abilities, I think we are getting the play-by- play calls and as often as not, it?s really shocking to see what really goes on.

Scamp

[HARDCORE]

Hopefully, these billions that we will be pouring out of the American economy and into the Middle East will have a positive pay back in increased security and terrorism crashing?

No one can complain when a crop bares fruit, but with Iran looming directly upon the horizon, and North Korea standing in formation (potentially), the line is beginning to stretch! As such, we need the genuine help of Coalition powers, and not just expensive homage!

As you more than likely know, Syria is being proven to be a liar as concerns the hiding of WMD, North Korea is barking again like a junkyard dog, Iran is an ever-present danger, and Castro (just to mention a few) is sitting back licking his chops!

Even God can not engage Himself on too many fronts at the same time, and the United States can not afford to continue to shovel money abroad forever, to all corners, without "Mutually Assured Assistance, Genuine Co-operation, Equal Sacrifice, and most of all, without having to keep an eternal eye on our own backs to protect against (some, so-called) friends!"

Granted, a lot of our Allies are well intentioned, but this sacrifice in the war against terror and it's affiliated bad-guys, must be a (genuinely) shared one, as all will benefit from a winning action, and all (save for France, Russia, Germany, Canada and maybe Mexico), will suffer from a less that total effort on everyone's part!

The bottom line Andy and Scamp is a simple one - even "Uncle Sam's Bank Vault" has a bottom. We do more than our share, as do a few of our other Allies, but for all to gain, all must pour forth, and not just in effigy! "Do you not agree?"

VERITAS

[Andy]

A rather weird guy, who happen to have a lot of good ideas, Jeremy Bentham, lived in England in the late 1700s, early 1800s. One of his ideas was to look at each function of government every five years. If it was not doing what it was established to do, then according to Bentham, it should be abolished. As I said, I think Bentham was a bit weird but this might not be a bad idea, especially as it relates to foreign aid.
If a country is not a democracy and it harbors ill will toward the US, what's the point in giving them vast amounts of money? If it is a democracy, such as Turkey, well there government SHOULD follow the will of the people. However we should still have the right to increase or reduce aid.
Prior to giving aid the test should not be, "Does your country need it?", it should be, "What are you going to do with it?". I for one have real issues with all we give to South Korea. The people really don't seem to like us. Lets let them vote, "Do you want Americans on S.K. soil." If they vote no, lets leave! While I'm talking about that area of the world, look at North Korea. During the Clinton administration we paid "protection" money so they would not build a nuke bomb. What did it get us? Now they want to negotiate, get more money, from the US in exchange for not building more bombs. Screw them!
The original idea of foreign aid was to be humanitarian AND to make the world safe for democracy. Have we done that?

The Good Earth, had to read that in high school. Ms. Buck was not one of my favorites but she did make a good point. Aid to some countries is like trying to shovel flees from one side of a barn yard to the other. When the leader of a foreign nation says public opinion is pro-American and so am I, then an increase in aid might be the right thing to do. In other circumstances we need to think long and hard before cutting a check.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[HARDCORE]

AMEN TO THAT!