Fortunately for Americans, Bush doesn't give a damn what his detractors think. He's going to make the hard decisions to ensure national security, political fallout be damned. I don't believe there's a Democrat alive that I could make that statement about. :911:

And yet, Red, consider the alternative to U.S. power. If it were not there, who would be in charge? The Nazis? The Axis? Would the Soviets have achieved their desire of a one-world Communist state? Or would the radical Islamists have total control of a country and be on the march to conquer Europe with armed forces (instead of just slowly taking it over through demographics)?

And that is to say nothing of the countless small nations that would have been forever lost to genocide and tyranny without U.S. intervention or support since World War II (Greece, Turkey, South Korea, Taiwan, West Germany/Germany, Israel, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., etc. ,etc.) Yes, we lost Vietnam, but we can't save everybody; you will win some and you will lose some in the fight for freedom, but I think we won the Cold War as a whole and it will be only a matter of time before freedom takes root everywhere.

I realize that "world opinion" thinks it's bad, evil, and wrong for the U.S. to be so powerful, but once, just once, I would like them to consider the alternative and think about the statement that I heard one foreign diplomat make, which was something to the effect of, "The world would have been much better off had the U.S. just fallen apart during it's Civil War and never become a superpower." Would it really be better? Because, guess what, somebody out there is going to fill that power vacuum, and they might not be nice people.

Besides, the people screaming for "balance" in global power (which I honestly don't think "world opinion" favors, because the French, the Russians, and Chinese always seem to be the loudest voices for balance. Oh the world would be such a wonderful place if they were running things!) are not interested in what is best for the world, but in augmenting their own power, feeding their egos, and proving to be true the worst stereotypes about America and Americans.

Time and time again, when evil rises to destroy the planet, the U.S. is the ONLY thing that has stood between them and victory. This "world citizen" simply doesn't trust anybody else to hold the line. So I like the current system, thank you very much.

Also, Red, we aren't a "medium-sized" country. We are a pretty big country (4th in land area, 9th in population, 1st in total wealth and economic GNP). Minor stat quibble there.

As to the topic of hand, I support taking down the Islamic govt. in Iran 100%, even if it means a draft or radical foreign re-alignment of U.S. forces. A nuclear Iran is simply unacceptable, much more so than a nuclear North Korea. Kim Jong-Il is nuts, but at least he is concerned with self-preservation. Contrast that with the mad mullahs of Iran who would eagerly look to bring about Armageddon just to destroy the U.S. and believe that Israel can be nuked with "minimal loss" to the Islamic world. Folks, this is the real bottom-line reason we took down Iraq; to prepare the ground for the inevitable confrontation with Iran and to have a backstop in case of Wahabbist revolution and takeover in Saudi Arabia. Iran is the true backer of terrorism; they have given huge amounts of material support to dozens of terrorist groups, including Al-Qaida and Hizbullah, the two most dangerous, most well-armed, and most "thirsty for American blood" groups in the world. I have no doubt Iran would supply them with nuclear or chemical materials. Iran has also got their bloody hands elbow-deep in the Iraqi insurgency; they trained and backed al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and are believed to have ordered the assassinations of several pro-U.S. Shi'ite clerics and govt. officials in the last year. They know what Iraq is all about and it's got them scared.

That could very well be the greatest post I have ever read. I'll have to spread around some rep points before I can give them to you again, but I will make a note to do so.

Red, I'm not accusing you of having that mentality, just that you are sympathizing with it a bit too much. Just because a lot of people in the rest of the world think something, doesn't make it right or true. A lot of people in the rest of the world think the Jews control the world and drink the blood of Gentile babies. Again, doesn't make it right or true.

This isn't the first time I've heard the grossly oversimplified comparison of the U.S. to the Romans. It's basically just what you said, "The U.S. is big, powerful, and rich. Just like the Romans. Thus, America is evil, just like the Romans, and will fall one day, just like the Romans."

The reasons for American power status are infinitely more complex and very different, and the reasons for Rome's rise and fall are also infinitely more complex. And when you get down to the basic research, you come to a conclusion; the America of today is NOTHING like the Rome of the ancient world.

Rome conquered just for the sake of conquering. And when you were conquered by the Romans, you knew you were conquered every minute of every day. They ruled their territories with an iron fist, exploiting them economically, taking thousands of prisoners as slaves, and brutally crushing anyone who stepped out of line. Rome fell for several reasons. It is true they overextended their power. It is true their cruelty became so unbearable that many peoples rose up against them. It is true that their society became decadent and complacent. It is also true that their economy faltered. But, there is more to it than that. Rome fell because, in late Roman times, half the populous was too busy being filthy rich and wretchedly immoral while the other half became so pious and pacifist in the Christian faith they didn't want to fight for any reason, leaving the work of growing the economy and defending the empire to the outlying provincials, not all of whom were very rah-rah about the empire. Also, bigger kids grew up to push Rome around (the Huns and other Germanic tribes from the North and East) that they probably could not have stopped even in top form.

The difference between us and them? The U.S. is not an empire, like Rome or even the more recent British Empire. It does not maintain total military and economic control over dozens of vast territories and foreign nations simply for the maintenance of it's own wealth and power. Quite the opposite, we are spending a whole lot more money than we are making on Iraq and the Iraqis enjoy more economic and political freedom than at any point in their nation's history. And the U.S. does not kidnap slaves or slaughter the children of the people who fight us. We use our power to expand freedom and liberty and eliminate threats to global stability and prosperity. We are quite possibly the most unselfish nation in the world.

With all due respect to Mr. Toynbee, the fact that America has knocked over a chair or two does not mean American power hasn't made the world better.

That said, I will acknowledge that we have a PR problem in a lot of the world. A problem not helped by our biased media and disgusting popular culture. They think we are something we're not. We have to change that. We do that, not by changing anything we are doing, but by getting ramped up in the PR and propaganda sector. I remember an old World War II poster, of a giant Nazi boot crushing a church steeple with the caption, "We are fighting to prevent this!" We ought to launch a series of commercials based on that concept. Commercials with images of the burning World Trade Center, images of Islamic nutjobs cutting innocent peoples heads off, images of train bombings and women in bhurkhas, and Theo Van Gogh's headstone, with the caption "The U.S. fights to prevent this," should be running around the world, in every language. VOA radio should turn the juice up. The BBC needs to get back on our side (Blair needs to clean house over there). That way, we do a lot better with image.

wrong, there were many more reasons than that. saying that over and over doesnt make it true. read bsh's speech to the UN justifying the war. read some of this new stuff about oil for food. wmd was not the only reason, and furthermore, suspicion of wmd is bad enough, even if they really arent there.

read that last paragraph twice. WMB was not the only reason to go to war.

Once our spy’s get our hands on the new Russian missile we will fix our system. So, don't worry to long.

quote from Red,
They don't hate us because of who we are, but because of what we do. This gives us the opportunity to influence them by doing the unexpected.
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I would disagree with this statement and say they do hate us for who we are, maybe
not all of them but the Islamic Jihad and Hamas, terrorist groups hate us for who we
are just like they hate the Isrealis for being who they are.
Why else would they want to exterminate every Jew and the whole state of Isreal.
Make no bones about it, Arafat was a terrorist, Clinton and the Isrealis gave him
everything he wanted and he walked away in favor of violence.

I didn't mean to change the subject but it proves my point, OBL may care somewhat
about what we do but to them anyone else who doesn't believe like he does is an
enfidel and should be exterminated.

About the USA and its aggression against Russia and the world.
This country has a track record, show me somewhere in history where the USA acted like the Roman Empire, quite the opposite.
We liberate countries and give them back to the people of that country.
Show me another country that spends their own money to rebuild a country to where it is in far better shape than before America arrived.