A downside to liberating a country(Vanity)

I was reading an article on the views Iraqis hold of America, following the successful elections in Iraq. It got me to think about a subject I have mulled for a while. What are the long term psychological effects of having your freedom handed to you by another? Imagine if the American Revolution was almost completely won by the hands of another country. What if say...France had done most of the hard work and fighting and dying and also held our hands financially? How would we see ourselves 230 years later? Could we even have lasted this long? Our pride in our nation in no small part comes from the pain and suffering Americans endured, and the seemingly miraculous events that pulled us back from the brink of total oblivion. Yes, France DID help, and we should be thankful, but the hard part was accomplished by Americans, among which emerged a group of extraordinary men that fashioned our unique form of government. I could of course go on and on about the many sources of American pride, but you see my point. What if most of this didn't exist? Herein lies a problem whenever one helps another. Resentment and a less than prideful feeling about your status. We have received alot of this sort from our European friends. They know deep down that without America, they wouldn't have made it through the 1940's. We have held the hand of many a nation, and received nothing but grief for it. Are we headed down this same road with Iraq? I would say yes. We should expect ungratefulness. We should expect resentment. We should expect that sometime in the distant future (if all goes well) that Iraq will become a defacto enemy of the US, as are many of our European 'allies'. The point is, that we should prepare for and expect this. If a successful Iraq means letting them believe that they had more to do with their success than they actually did, then I say, so be it. We, as the current stewards of the free world must learn to let go of this sort of stuff, because we will end up expending alot of energy, not to mention exasterbate the situation, by trying to remind everyone what is owed us. This is a burden we must carry virtually alone and is in the long run, in everyone's best interest.

This is a timely question. In the long-run, it wont matter much, unless they can't keep the freedom.
The party that is getting the most votes in Iraq is aligned with Iran.
An alliance with Iran is the last thing that Iraq and the mid-east needs.
The US may have opened the doors for a different, more difficult, kind of nightmare.

This is an historically ignorant post. Without General LaFayette and other ground troops, and without the French fleet off Yorktowne, we would be singing "God Save the Queen" before the Superbowl.

It is hard to imagine any effort of national freedom that does not have a strong, sometimes critical, self-interested assistance by some existing nations. Get a grip on history.\

Congressman Billybob

Click for latest, "Lies, Lying Liars, and Harry Reid"

I have pondered over similar thoughts and Star Trek always comes to mind. The mindset that advanced civilizations were not to interfere with developing planets. Something about having to develop warp speed on their own and the Prime Directive. I know kind of cheesy. I am not a Treky or anything but as I was writing this I thought I would look up exactly what the Prime Directive was. I copied it below

As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Star Fleet personnel may interfere with the healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes the introduction of superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Star Fleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral
obligation.

Like I said, France helped, but that was after we went through hell. Its not at all comparable to what we have done in Iraq. And that wasn't really the point of the post anyway.

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