Does anyone else find THIS news troubling? Why would we send the Marines (on a humanitarian mission) to a predominately Muslim area of Indonesia with no weapons? Our agreement to this situation is nothing more than an advertisement for any radicals to come in and inflict as much damage as possible... It's the equivalent of me putting a sign out in my front yard that says: ATTENTION HOME INVADERS: My Family is Unarmed!
The safety of our troops now depends on two things:
- The competency of the Indonesian Armed Forces, which are 'protecting' our people.
- The temporary suspension of hatred towards the US by any radicals in the area.
I don't know about you, but I don't think that's much to go on. This is a situation where we should have taken all the political heat from the do-gooders and politely declined sending our Marines to Indonesia. There are plenty of other needy areas where we might win a few hearts and minds...
2 comments:
Hi
I find your whole USA cant do anything if I dont have my gun attitude worrying. The government , not to mention a heavy Australian military presence ensures that the relief effort will be protected.
Dont you realise that Americans are so unpopular across the globe because of your terible responce to crisis like the Tsunami?
You are spending BILLIONS in Iraq on a war that has been proven to have no reason (what weapons) and yet you whinge like a school kid when the rest of the world donate to a REAL cause, and you guys only come in to stop bad publisity.
USA really needs to look at there attitudes to NON USA countries. The world could be a peaceful place if we ALL work together
Ian- thanks for your comment. I'm not sure that you read my post very carefully- I never said that Americans can't do anything internationally without our weapons- thousands of our citizens successfully conduct business worldwide every day. Our showing in the Olympics also was respectable.
You may also be unaware that in terms of the Indonesian portion of the tsunami effort, YOUR troops are unarmed as well, and thus, unprotected. Only a fool doesn't take his own self-defense seriously, whether you're speaking of a nation or of an individual.
Your Iraq comment is a non-starter, as your own government saw fit to join us to stop the brutality of Hussein.
Finally, I'm sure that American attitudes about the rest of the world will improve markedly when we no longer feel like we're being kicked in the shins every time we try to help... As for this American, I have nothing but admiration for countries like yours, and I very much hope to visit there soon. Hopefully, I will get to meet lots of new people, and maybe they'll be surprised to learn that all Americans don't hate the rest of the world.
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