[Rhodes22-list] Reply to Dave Lewis and his fellow travelers

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Art,
 
The facts are:
- The iron curtain DID come down, even though we were there. If we had  
promptly left the Soviets might have expanded their territory further, so there  is 
some validity in your point  The real reason given for the continued  
occupation of Germany is to counter the Soviet invasion threat and help defend  
Europe.  In Iraq there is no threat of an external invasion.  With the  demise of 
the Soviet Union our forces there are being cut back and  consolidated.
- Actually we did NOT maintain stability on the Korean peninsula with  forces 
in Japan.  The North Koreans ignored the forces on Japan and came  rolling 
down.  Only when forces were station IN Korea did the situation  stabilize.
 
As for what it's going to take to make Iraqi's "passionate" about  democracy, 
why should anyone assume they will ever be passionate about  democracy?  
Because we like it, and other developed nations like it in no  way implies a need 
that Iraqi's "like" it - they may have a completely  different mind set, and I 
think the evidence is that most of them do.
 
Dave