Yemen

[Linker Niederrhein]

During Dessert Storm, when we used Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as staging points, Osama bin Laden urged Saudi Arabia no to let is do it because "they will never leave". He was right. We have bases in Japan and Germany. The US government seems to have forgotten the fact that WWII has been over for almost 65 years. Meddling in other people's affairs does not make us safer. It makes us a target.

Uh... You realise that the US forces in Germany aren't an occupation force, but a NATO deployment, yes?

There's also German forces stationed in the United States. Not an occupation, either, nor are they meddling in the US' internal affairs (Short of being responsible for beer imports).

Alliances are funky like that.

[Mean Feat]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

[Tergnitz]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

Well, usually I would try and argue this point with you by asking you to back up your fairly broad claims with some kind of factual evidence. But since you are obviously far too partisan and left-wing to see reason, I simply won't bother.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

They should go in and do peacekeeping to stop the terryism.

It could prove a useful place to help stop the Somalian pirates, too.

[Mean Feat]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

Well, usually I would try and argue this point with you by asking you to back up your fairly broad claims with some kind of factual evidence. But since you are obviously far too partisan and left-wing to see reason, I simply won't bother.

What did I say to make you think I am partisan, or for that matter left-wing?

If my outrageous claim was that Muhammed Ali was a lousy boxer, you would probably accuse me of being racist, and prejudiced against Muslims.

[Sibirsky]

Well, it's about time. Several western nations are closing their embassies in Yemen. The USA is supporting attacks on Yemeni sites associated with Al-Qaeda and profiling (restricting) all travellers from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
I wonder what caused the US to act now? A sudden attack of sanity?
17 out of 19 of the 9/11/01 airline hijackers were Yemeni - the other 2 were Saudi.
Osama bin Laden was a Yemeni-Saudi although both nations have revolked his citizenship.
The US already attacked Afghanistan where some of the hijacker's trained (some of them also trained in Florida and Germany) and Iraq which had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda (Saddam Hussein was an enemy of Al-Qaeda).
Should the US finally attack Yemen? What about Saudi Arabia?
Discuss.

Fifteen of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.

No. The US should get the fuck out of the middle east and stay the fuck out. That will make it safer.

Safer maybe, probably not, but maybe. You will have to say goodbye to your largest source of foreign oil supplies as China and India take them from you though.

During Dessert Storm, when we used Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as staging points, Osama bin Laden urged Saudi Arabia no to let is do it because "they will never leave". He was right. We have bases in Japan and Germany. The US government seems to have forgotten the fact that WWII has been over for almost 65 years. Meddling in other people's affairs does not make us safer. It makes us a target.

I'm fairly sure that the US currently has no troops within the Kingdom, no idea about Kuwait. Yeah the US does have bases in Germany (roughly 60,000 troops), Japan (roughly 20,000 marines) and South Korea (roughly 30,000). But there are logical reasons behind all of these continued deployments. The deployment in Germany and Japan served to stabilise these countries after WW2 and then they were used as stages areas during the Cold War. South Korea's troops are to prevent any current aggression from the North. While these deployments may make the US a larger target, the world need's a global policeman and I'd personally prefer the US to fill this role rather than some other superpower, e.g China.

WWII and the cold war are over. The world needs a global policeman? What exactly for?

[Sibirsky]

During Dessert Storm, when we used Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as staging points, Osama bin Laden urged Saudi Arabia no to let is do it because "they will never leave". He was right. We have bases in Japan and Germany. The US government seems to have forgotten the fact that WWII has been over for almost 65 years. Meddling in other people's affairs does not make us safer. It makes us a target.[/quote]
Yeah because no other powerful country in history has never got in other people's affairs before. [/quote]

Do you have a point? Fix your quotes.

[Tergnitz]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

Well, usually I would try and argue this point with you by asking you to back up your fairly broad claims with some kind of factual evidence. But since you are obviously far too partisan and left-wing to see reason, I simply won't bother.

What did I say to make you think I am partisan, or for that matter left-wing?

If my outrageous claim was that Muhammed Ali was a lousy boxer, you would probably accuse me of being racist, and prejudiced against Muslims.

Your angry rant about how terrible Bush was helped me to that conclusion, along with the description of your nation. Please correct me if I missed the mark.

On your second comment, I honestly would not do either of those things. I would probably ask you to justify your viewpoint, which I have already done in regards to your comments about Bush.

[Sibirsky]

Hmmm... sounds like the Romulans are Americans who assume the rest of the world are also Americans....

Wars are geneally an ecomonic boost... of course the Americans privitized war and are getting what they deserve. All empires fall.

Wars might be a slight economic boost to small sections of the economy, like the manufacturers of military technology, but they are a huge drag on everyone else. Wars are a generally a drag on the economy as a whole.

[Tergnitz]

They are both over, but the troops are in place to honour past defence agreements, while also keeping a check on the potential rise of globally destabilizing influences. For exactly that reason, to police the world.

If there is no one large power who is running the world, you get a situation like after WW1, were the US was isolationist and all of the other major powers were too weak to prevent the rise of Nazi Germany. If the US stood down from their current position, there would be a power vacuum which would soon be filled by another nation, probably China. This is not a good thing, for anybody, except the Chinese I guess.

[Coffin-Breathe]

Wars are geneally an ecomonic boost... of course the Americans privitized war and are getting what they deserve.

...not for the government, nor for economy in general - only for some armour companies...

[Bears Armed]

They are both over, but the troops are in place to honour past defence agreements, while also keeping a check on the potential rise of globally destabilizing influences. For exactly that reason, to police the world.

If there is no one large power who is running the world, you get a situation like after WW1, were the US was isolationist and all of the other major powers were too weak to prevent the rise of Nazi Germany. If the US stood down from their current position, there would be a power vacuum which would soon be filled by another nation, probably China. This is not a good thing, for anybody, except the Chinese I guess.

It wouldn't necessarilly be a good thing for the Chinese, either, because it would probably strengthen their government even further...

[Sibirsky]

For the record, they reopened the embassy.

Good.

[Sibirsky]

During Dessert Storm, when we used Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as staging points, Osama bin Laden urged Saudi Arabia no to let is do it because "they will never leave". He was right. We have bases in Japan and Germany. The US government seems to have forgotten the fact that WWII has been over for almost 65 years. Meddling in other people's affairs does not make us safer. It makes us a target.

Uh... You realise that the US forces in Germany aren't an occupation force, but a NATO deployment, yes?

There's also German forces stationed in the United States. Not an occupation, either, nor are they meddling in the US' internal affairs (Short of being responsible for beer imports).

Alliances are funky like that.

Source for German forces stationed in the US.

Uh, you realize that we lease those bases right? Uh, you realize that those soldiers contribute nothing to our production, and cost almost a trillion (as a whole) in taxes to support? Does Germany want them there?

[Coffin-Breathe]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

...what didn´t hold back States´ people to vote for him - twice...

[Coffin-Breathe]

It wouldn't necessarilly be a good thing for the Chinese, either, because it would probably strengthen their government even further...

I can´t agree - over the times it would weaken Chinese government more likely, I´d say...as spreading power usually leads to more and more compromises.

[Ledzep123]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

1) The President cannot declare war, only Congress can.
2) The President usually doesn't come up with military strategies, unless he was a general. Most of the time, his military advisor suggests to go to war.
3) GWB may have been a fuck-up, but I believe he was more of a scapegoat. Someone had to be blamed for the USA's problems, right?
4) Anything GWB wanted had to be passed by Congress, so he's not the only one to blame.
5) Sure, he wasn't the greatest president, but he certainly wasn't the worst. Some preferred playing golf more than being president.

[Coffin-Breathe]

Source for German forces stationed in the US.

Uh, you realize that we lease those bases right? Uh, you realize that those soldiers contribute nothing to our production, and cost almost a trillion (as a whole) in taxes to support? Does Germany want them there?

I´d say, yes and no. On one side, they are seen as a relic of WWII, and a disturbing source of American influence (while having their own laws, police, aso.). On the other side, they´re a great support to local economy, spending most of their money in the region as well as buying most of their supplies local. Despite the fact, that on my knowledge, Germany has to pay for these troops (might have changed meanwhile)...

[Sibirsky]

Source for German forces stationed in the US.

Uh, you realize that we lease those bases right? Uh, you realize that those soldiers contribute nothing to our production, and cost almost a trillion (as a whole) in taxes to support? Does Germany want them there?

I´d say, yes and no. On one side, they are seen as a relic of WWII, and a disturbing source of American influence (while having their own laws, police, aso.). On the other side, they´re a great support to local economy, spending most of their money in the region as well as buying most of their supplies local. Despite the fact, that on my knowledge, Germany has to pay for these troops (might have changed meanwhile)...

So it is our job to boost the German and Japanese economies? With our tax dollars? The 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the world? Probably the 2nd and 4th largest now.

[Tagmatium]

I´d say, yes and no. On one side, they are seen as a relic of WWII, and a disturbing source of American influence (while having their own laws, police, aso.). On the other side, they´re a great support to local economy, spending most of their money in the region as well as buying most of their supplies local. Despite the fact, that on my knowledge, Germany has to pay for these troops (might have changed meanwhile)...

So it is our job to boost the German and Japanese economies? With our tax dollars? The 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the world? Probably the 2nd and 4th largest now.

If their economies fuck up, and I'm not saying they would if the USA withdrew its troops, there would be repercussions across the world, not just in their respective localities.

[Coffin-Breathe]

I´d say, yes and no. On one side, they are seen as a relic of WWII, and a disturbing source of American influence (while having their own laws, police, aso.). On the other side, they´re a great support to local economy, spending most of their money in the region as well as buying most of their supplies local. Despite the fact, that on my knowledge, Germany has to pay for these troops (might have changed meanwhile)...

So it is our job to boost the German and Japanese economies? With our tax dollars? The 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the world? Probably the 2nd and 4th largest now.

If their economies fuck up, and I'm not saying they would if the USA withdrew its troops, there would be repercussions across the world, not just in their respective localities.

I wouldn´t say, US troops are some important factor of Germany´s economy at all, only for some regional businesses. The question was, if they´re wanted or liked by the population...
...some more unemployed soldiers in the States then...for instance.

[Mean Feat]

*deleted by Mean Feat*

(This post will be restored if there are any replies.)

[Dorksonian]

Why do we piss around with these little jerk-water countries? Launch 50 nukes, bring in the bulldozers, level it off and build a big Walmart Superstore, and a Toys 'R Us.

[Mean Feat]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

Well, usually I would try and argue this point with you by asking you to back up your fairly broad claims with some kind of factual evidence. But since you are obviously far too partisan and left-wing to see reason, I simply won't bother.

What did I say to make you think I am partisan, or for that matter left-wing?

If my outrageous claim was that Muhammed Ali was a lousy boxer, you would probably accuse me of being racist, and prejudiced against Muslims.

Your angry rant about how terrible Bush was helped me to that conclusion, along with the description of your nation. Please correct me if I missed the mark.

You missed the mark.

And no, I won't correct you. It would be irresponsible of me ... like telling a blind person "turn left, no not that much, STRAIGHTEN UP! BRAKE! BRAKE FOR FUCK"S SAKE!"

On your second comment, I honestly would not do either of those things. I would probably ask you to justify your viewpoint, which I have already done in regards to your comments about Bush.

No you have not. You dismissed my opinion as "partisan" and "left-wing" and in the next and final sentence specifically refrained from asking me to back my opinion up.

I consider it futile to "defend" or even put my opinion, to someone who cannot comprehend what they said themselves.

[Mean Feat]

Why do we piss around with these little jerk-water countries? Launch 50 nukes, bring in the bulldozers, level it off and build a big Walmart Superstore, and a Toys 'R Us.

But wait! Nukes cost money, and so do bulldozers. So does building a new store, and stocking it and staffing it.

So I'm thinking: maybe not so much with the nukes. Think of the customer.