I think it would do us (The U.S.A.) a lot of good to realize this is true of everywhere (not just Iran or Iraq), before we go around "liberating" a bunch of Muslims who don't want freedom, only some @sshole mullah to tell them what to do. We need to devise a way to go after America's enemies (i.e.Saddam and sons), without having to stay forever and occupy these places. I don't know how to do it, but we need to recognize the need for it before we can devise the method. Muslims only want benevolent dictators, not real freedom. It's engrained in the culture (broad brush, but true for the most part). Otherwise there would already be Muslim democracies already.
This is actually a very simple matter. When a nation has attacked us, is a threat to us or harbors terrorists that are a threat to us we have a right to defend ourselves. The politically correct, blame America-first crowd has our values turned upside down. America does not cause terrorism. America does not cause rogue nations headed by brutal dictators like Saddam Hussein. These nations, dictators, and people have the ability to control their actions. Supposedly they are human beings. Being able to control one's actions is one of the distinctions between humans and animals.
Recognizing who the good guys are and who the bad guys are is paramount in winning the War on Terror. This crap about Religion of Peace, and the innocent people of Iraq and Afghanistan makes me want to puke. They are the damn enemy. The people of these nations, and others (Saudi, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Yemen, and the list goes on) have either taken action to cause their fates, or have not taken enough action. It is time to motivate these scum to start taking the right actions. (And I am not in favor of some liberal education program to help them figure it out.)
The first thing to understand about these people is that they live in a culture of submission. That is is what Islam means. It can't be too hard to understand this with out a lot psycho-babble. These people have deeply ingrained in them the notion of submission. It is a part of their religion. They are fighting a religious war against America. That is what they call it - a religious war. We don't call it that. It's the Gulf War, the War on Terror, the Iraq War; anything but a religious war.
Understanding where your enemy is coming from is the first step to defeating your enemy. Since our enemy comes from the standpoint of submitting to a religion that wants to wage war on us, we need to change their minds about about their submission. To state it briefly, the enemy needs to submit to America before their religion. This is how your win a religious war. You either kill the enemy, render the enemy incapable of hurting you, or convert the enemy to your way of thinking. Personally, I don't think America should be in the business of religious conversion, so that leaves only the first two options.
Back the where I started this reply; the notion of who is to blame. It is not America's fault, and certainly not my fault as an American tax payer that some religious nut thinks he should wage war on America. I don't like the idea of having to pay to take care of these scum. I don't like the idea of my fellow Americans losing their lives to these scum. I will pay to defend my freedom, and if it comes down to it, I will personally fight to defend my freedom. But America did not start this problem and we should spend no more money or give more lives than required to win this war.
Thus, how do you make these rag heads submit to America. Force is the only way. Being nice is not the way. How do you think Islam makes people submit, it certainly not through peace and beauty. It's about cutting off hands, tongues, beating of women, stoning, and much worse. Cutting off hands is not the way of America's military, so we should focus on what we do better than anyone else in the world - and that is killing and breaking things. After we are finished killing and breaking things, we still have a matter of the cost. This is called war repartions. We should be sucking Iraq dry. We should develop the natural gas industry in Afghanistan, and keep the gas for ourselves. The rest of the world already thinks we are doing this. Perhaps they know better than we do. They expect it, but since they are not so in love with America, they believe we would abuse it.
Lastly, we have the exit strategy. Once we have acquired the appropriate assets to compensate Americans for their efforts of war, we leave. No rebuilding. Let other kind hearted people to pick up the pieces. Many Americans, would probably be motivated to save a starving child in Afghanistan or Iraq. That is fine, but don't mix what the military does and American people do. The military kills and breaks things. The military should do that in the most violent manner possible. That is where the submission comes from. These people will think twice in the future before listening to some religious nut.
Personally, I don't care if our enemy loves America or not. I do care that they respect America. They can hate us, but they must know without any doubt, that if they do anything provactive that we will be on them like ugly on an ape.
P.S. I've been wanting to work "ugly on an ape" into my post for some weeks now, and finally I have done it. This leads to the trivia question: Where did "ugly on an ape" come from?