the U.S. defeated Japan and Germany and rebuilt their economy. They are now economic

[demosincebirth]

powerhouses thanks to us. South Korea was in a disaster after the Korean War. We helped rebuilt it also. It is also a economic power house. Now, the Iraq war is over and they basically told us to take a hike. That's the same situation in Afghanistan . They want us out as soon as they think they can handle the situation. Iraq will still be third world country, even with all their oil, thirty years from now. and Afghanistan with still be involved with tribal warfare that will go on infinitum. What keeps us from trying to do the same for them. Is it their culture (Islam), or do they think they can do it themselves. If so. I think success is slim

[teddy51]

1. Huh? Iraq did not ask for a George W Bush or Dick Cheney attack, and I am certain that

Afghanistan certainly did not welcome the US attacking them either. We still don't know what the real truth of 911 was, and until we do we are in limbo as to the attacks on Afghanistan.

[saras]

2. Shimon Tzabar explains it succinctly in "The White Flag Principle..."

"...or How To Lose A War And Why".

http://www.shimontzabar.com/books/white-flag-principle.html

All we need is someone to invade America, destroy all our old obsolete infrastructure, build us new infrastructure, and set up a manufacturing economy. Canada, maybe? Backed by the Scandinavian countries?

[Owlet]

6. Be careful what you wish for (eom)

[Bonobo]

3. Germany and Japan rebuilt their own economies. nt

[demosincebirth]

12. ...and we had nothing to do with it. I guess you don't know about the Berlin airlift? and the

millions of $ we poured into Japan after WW11.

Here is something you should read. Quite long, but informative about MacArthur laying the framework for Japan's miraculous recovery.


http://www.research-assistance.com/paper/21421/a_ra_default/japans_economic_recovery_after_wwii.html

[pinboy3niner]

4. Are you saying it's time for us to use 'The Mouse That Roared' strategy?

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. It's a delicious blast from the past.

[Selatius]

5. Germany and Japan were pretty homogenous countries when we finally invaded.

Iraq is a pretty heterogeneous state. There are large minorities of Sunni and Kurds alongside the majority Shi'ite population. The Shi'ites and Sunnis have been and will continue to be historic enemies, and the Kurds have been struggling for independence for a long time. The problem is that Iraq is an invented concept of the withdrawing British Empire. Prior to that, the whole region was under the domination of the Ottoman Empire. To make matters worse, the British Empire thought it was apt to essentially take away most of Iraq's access to water by carving out a piece of land that became known as the country of Kuwait.

When Hitler was defeated and Emperor Hirohito declared that the war was over, there was no argument among the German or Japanese people because there was no large minority group to disagree. Most people accepted the change in power structure, and this is typical of large homogenous groups of people, especially after a war that essentially decimated an entire generation of German and Japanese people who were of fighting age. When Saddam was defeated, that simply meant that all the ethnic and religious groups were free to engage in old rivalries and hatreds that Saddam was able to keep a lid on for several decades.

Afghanistan is a somewhat comparable example. There are many different ethnic groups within the borders of Afghanistan, the largest of which being the Pashtuns who are historically friendly with the Taliban, and like Iraq, Afghanistan is also a colonial creation of the departing British Empire. Why is there, for instance, no nation called "Pashtunistan" for instance? Ask the map makers in London. Just because the Taliban was toppled in Kabul doesn't mean the Taliban was also defeated everywhere else in Afghanistan. They haven't been. In fact, they still control vast swathes of countryside that few American units are able to reach or occupy for any length of time.

[demosincebirth]

7. Your're response is the most logical and close to the way it really happened. Thanks. I still

Last edited Thu Feb 16, 2012, 08:12 PM - Edit history (1)

think we helped build up their economy by staying there after the war.

[Rex]

8. Well I would not say it is all due to us

but we did help.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. Wasn't this the plot behind Michael Moore's "Canadian Bacon?"

[Bandit]

10. Iraq is the oldest known civilization on Earth

I am pretty sure they can figure out how to run their country without the USA, which is only a little more than two hundred years old, telling it how to do so...

[DavidDvorkin]

11. The US! All by itself!

No one else was involved!