Of course, we could take the lefty approach (being adopted by the Free Republic Ostrich Brigade) and ignore reality...perhaps saying, "well, their reason is stupid and based on wrong information, so we'll pretend it's not real"--OR, you can face the fact that their reason is there, whether it's valid or not.
John Hinckley thought that shooting Ronald Reagan would endear him to Jodie Foster. You might give all the reasons in the world why that was a stupid and wrong belief, just like you can explain we were invited by the monarchy of SA, but that wouldn't have made President Reagan bulletproof.
And, I might add...just because you know the reason for Hinckley's actions, doesn't mean you have to give in to him and take the bullet. Understanding irrational opponents is in our best interests, not something that controls us.
“Again, it doesn’t matter whether the reason has legitimacy or justification, it’s the reasoning of what so many FReepers call an irrational group. So you’d think that these same FReepers would be able to connect the dots and realize that “reasons” of “irrationals” probably won’t always coincide with American conclusions.”
“Understanding irrational opponents is in our best interests, not something that controls us.”
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Thank you.
My approach certainly would not have been “moral” by the standards of many freepers. I would have just liquidated the bunch of them with neutron bombs. I would have had no second thoughts or qualms about it.
The only “standard” that would have had to have been met would be “What method would cost the fewest losses of American lives”. Every option would have been on the table.
If we can’t count on our so called “friends” the Saudis to cover their own collective asses....well then I suppose they can be counted as collateral damage. Now we have this latest “mess” in Iraq that has been going on for 17 years and has cost tens of thousands of American lives as well as a bazillion taxpayer dollars. Had we nuked them 17 years ago....any petty whining from the UN and others would have been long since smothered.
We need oil. Let the Saudis and neighboring Arab states know that if they can’t protect their own ASS(ets) then they can count themselves among the crispy. Oil is sold on the world market. they can’t cut the spigot off because we’ll go in and smoke them anyway...