They're Not Going To Like Us(And do you really care?)

WASHINGTONPOST.COM ^ | September 23, 2005 | David Ignatius

[Lejes Rimul]

"Yes, we do really care" Well I hate to burst your bubble but there are verrrry few nations who "like" us. LOL

Never said that there were. That's precisely the problem.

and just because someone doesn't like you, doesn't necessarily mean they want to kill you.

Tell it to bin Laden and Zarqawi, and Ho Chi Minh and Mao before them.

[Dick Vomer]

You know what???

American liberals want the "world" to like them. I don't give a rat's a@# if some camel humper likes me...or some Cuban punk likes me...or some smelly, long armpit hair French man/woman (they're the same) like me.

Just buy our stuff, don't try to kill my kids or country men and STFU....

Stay in your 3rd world sh#tholes (including Europe, have you seen the garbage in French and Italian streets?)pretend that you live in a socialist nirvana like Brazil, Cuba, India, South Africa/Zimbabwe or Germany...and play some stupid soccer.

Quit being jealous of our capitalistic system that produces more goods and services than your Utopian BS plans, give up the 3 months of vacation , get off your a&&es and produce something besides RPG's, IED's, whiny pinheaded socialistic crybabies, and bureaucrats.

I say this while I stand and salute the rest of the world.... eyes forward, back ramrod straight, right arm lifted towards the heavens and middle finger pointing towards the stars.

That goes for the press and lawyers as well.

[Lejes Rimul]

"...In contrast, fewer American troops may actually make it easier to stabilize the country,"

History is NOT on the side of this writer's theory - Look back to what happened to Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam when U.S. troops left.

You aren't grasping one of the subtleties of the situation. Iraq is only one small portion of the larger Arab world. If the Soviets had hypothetically "only" occupied the East Coast, you can bet that the rest of the U.S.A would still have something to say about that.

[Lejes Rimul]

We are not having troubles in Iraq, things are going about as expected which is amazingly well. Everyone understood from the beginning that it would be a huge undertaking.

We were supposed to have only about 30,000 troops in Iraq now. It was supposed to be funding its own reconstruction. It was supposed to be a modern, pluralistic, inclusive society. None of those overly rosy scenarios has come to pass. So please don't tell me that "everyone understood" that this was the way it was to be.

[kellynla]

"bin Laden and Zarqawi, and Ho Chi Minh and Mao"

and just what do you think you could have said or done to make these maniacs "like" you? LMAO

pull off those rose colored shades and smell the coffee, there are people out there who hate us and want us D E A D...and nothing you do or say will change that.

Every forty or fifty years we have to "take out the trash" and if we had eliminated Stalin and Ho when we had the chance and Saddam Hussein in '91 we would have saved millions of lives. Like Gen. Patton said, "I hate paying for the same real estate twice."

[Lejes Rimul]

pull off those rose colored shades and smell the coffee, there are people out there who hate us and want us D E A D...and nothing you do or say will change that.

Don't be such a fatalist. Nobody's born hating Americans. It's dumb foreign policy moves, repeated by generation after generation of incompetent bureaucrats, that make people "not like us," as the article euphemistically put it. If we had pushed for genuine democracy and cultural reforms in the Islamic world from WWII on, there would be no Khomeinis or bin Ladens. Instead we let deranged autocrats run the shows, all-but-ensuring that the people would turn to radical Islam.

[UCANSEE2]

libs want to be loved. conservatives want to be respected.

Libs demand respect.

Conservatives Earn respect.

[oldbrowser]

So please don't tell me that "everyone understood" that this was the way it was to be.

Everyone who was paying attention understood that we are trying to crack the Muslim monolith in the middle east that is fomenting terrorism around the world.

By helping to establish democratic principles in Iraq we hope to light the spark of representative government and individual rights that will undo centuries of religious fanaticism.

[dfwgator]

conservatives want to be respected.

And occasionally feared.

[uncitizen]

Part of our Benjamin Franklin heritage of industry and self-improvement is that we want to be admired, applauded -- and, yes, loved.

It's quite a stretch to find a relationship between Ben Franklins industriousness and his desire to be admired and loved.

Yes, he was something of a man-whore. But that has nothing to do with his many brilliant ideas or inventions.

[Lejes Rimul]

Everyone who was paying attention understood that we are trying to crack the Muslim monolith in the middle east that is fomenting terrorism around the world.

There is no Muslim monolith, just as there was no Communist monolith. There is Sunni Islamism, and there is Shia Islamism. We dealt one a severe blow in Iraq, but in doing so, we made the other much, much more powerful, and that will come back to bite us in the future.

[kellynla]

"Nobody's born hating Americans. It's dumb foreign policy moves, repeated by generation after generation of incompetent bureaucrats, that make people "not like us"

That has to be the most ridiculous comment I have ever heard. America is and has been the most generous country in the history of the world. We have sacrificed life and treasure to liberate millions throughout the world and how have they shown their gratitude? By "stabbing us in the back" both literally and figuratively, that's how. Where was France, Germany and Russia, just to name a few, when we went to war in Iraq? Why hell if it weren't for America they all would be under a totalitarian regime today!

Quit bothering me with your inane comments.

[Lejes Rimul]

I'm not talking about Europe, I'm talking about the Middle East. Where most of the people who "don't like us" live. Don't get stuck on stupid.

[kellynla]

"Don't get stuck on stupid"

you must be looking in the mirror! LMAO

And who would have controlled the Middle East today had America not entered and help win WWII?
yea that's right genius, the Nazis!...
Now who's STUCK ON STUPID!
get lost...you're reeeeely starting to bore me...

[Lejes Rimul]

Are you able to read? I said that if we had pushed for democratic, Ataturk-like reforms in the Middle East after WWII, instead of embracing autocrats, radical Islamism would have been cut off at the knees. What the hell do Nazis have to do with anything, except to prove that you're irrational?

And by the way, it's spelled "really."

[wouldntbprudent]

For a people who want to be loved as much as Americans do,

Oh, gag.

Americans do not want to be loved, although we appreciate our fans.

I would say we want to be left alone to live in peace and security and, failing that, we want to be feared.

Mess with us and the eagle will fly.

Leave us alone and we will merrily go about our way of life and, btw, being the economic engine for the entire world.

[wouldntbprudent]

Why are we subsidizing nations that hate us?

It's not a question of whether they "hate" us. WTH cares if they "hate" us.

It's a question of whether subsidizing a particular country somehow advances our self-interest as a nation (self-defense, etc.). If it does, go for it. Money well spent---regardless of how "they" "feel" about us.

[wouldntbprudent]

We are not having troubles in Iraq, things are going about as expected which is amazingly well. Everyone understood from the beginning that it would be a huge undertaking.

THANK YOU!!!

People should read up on post-WWII Germany/Europe and get a grip.

Oh, I forgot. Facts get in the way.

[wouldntbprudent]

all-but-ensuring that the people would turn to radical Islam.

It's the U.S.'s fault that people turn to radical Islam? That's a series charge.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Yes, we do really care... because when people "don't like" us enough, they try to kill us.

Respected or feared, I don't care which. If I can't get respect, I'll settle for feared. That should be enough.

Regards,
GtG