At least American troops try to discriminate between hostile targets and the local civilians.
The Soviets seldom did that with ANYONE they were fighting throughout their very ugly history. Did the author forget about Budapest? How about Grozny?
Posted on 06/05/2008 11:49:05 PM PDT by americanophile
Of all the empires in history, the United States will go down as one of the most aggressive and least inspiring. After nearly 160 years of warfare and imperial conquest, US policy, and the war machine it marshalled, has left nothing in its tracks but death and destruction, with no lasting cultural value. Five years after the US invasion, Iraq lies in ruins. Divided, violent, depleted, unstable, rife with sectarian war, a hotbed of terrorism and with 20 per cent of its population killed, wounded, displaced or in asylum in neighbouring countries, Iraq bears no resemblance to its recent past. Meanwhile, allied regimes in the Arab Middle East, which the Bush administration vowed to democratise after invading Iraq, are now more entrenched, more autocratic than ever.
The only historical analogy that can be found for US actions in Iraq at the turn of the 21st century is the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258. The Mongol warlord Hulagu and his army of marauders and mercenary slaves (not much different from Blackwater -- modern US hired mercenaries) besieged the city for two weeks before storming it. Baghdad, the proud capital of learning, wealth, universities, hospitals -- House of Wisdom and libraries of the Abbasid empire and the civilised world for almost five centuries -- was systematically destroyed, burned and looted and its population of 800,000, both civilian and military defenders, killed. After the city was reduced to ruins, Hulagu and his army withdrew to his home base of Azerbaijan to rest and graze his horses. That was the legacy of the rise and fall of Mongol hordes. Where will the American empire go after its debacle in Iraq?
(Excerpt) Read more at weekly.ahram.org.eg ...
“Five years after the US invasion, Iraq lies in ruins”
*****
That was the 2nd sentence which of course is NOT true, and I don’t need to read further.
Where did the author learn to write? The Writing School of Osama Bin laden?
maybe he should apply to write for CNN and the AP, because the hatred for America is almost the same in their reporting.
Gimme a break. If we were actually an empire, we’d be pillaging and bringing back the loot (ie, loading up Iraqi oil on Exxon tankers for shipment to the states).
Oh, yea, and, if I remember correctly, when empires went pillaging, they weren’t actually all that worried about collateral/civilian casualties. Oh, yea, I forget - during Roman times there was no such thing - Carthaginian ? Death! Egyptian ? Death! Whomever resisted ? Death!
If we’re an empire, we’re damned kindler gentler one, that’s for sure. Perhaps we should decide to be a real one, ie, fly some B52s over the lands of those that oppose us and instill a bit more ‘respect’ for the ‘empire’.
Are there any Egyptians alive today who don’t view the world through the filter of islamic insanity?
Wow.....I want what he’s smoking.
Collateral damage and civilian casualties are one of the main tasks of an empire, to keep the subject peoples humiliated and aware of their subject status.
Dear Mr. El-Amir,
This all sounds like a lot of wishful thinking on your part, but maybe it will get you a seat closer to the head table at the next Muslim Brotherhood barbecue.
Hey, is that pork I smell on your breath? Where’s the Religious Police?
This guy will get an offer from NYT if he keeps this up.
The American Chomskyites will pick this up and run with it — in their usual stupid, blind, and ignorant-of-history manner.
At least American troops try to discriminate between hostile targets and the local civilians.
The Soviets seldom did that with ANYONE they were fighting throughout their very ugly history. Did the author forget about Budapest? How about Grozny?
Sounds much like our liberal press. What can we expect? I sat on a plane beside a pilot who happened to be from Jordan. What was interesting is how different his perspective was. He was born and raised in Jordan and married a western woman. He was actually supportive of the Iraq war. Given the press here which brings down all opinions to the one they wish to publicize the most one would think that all the Arab/Muslim world hates us. That could not be further from the truth.
In muzzie war zones, this guy would be categorized as shell shocked
Ayman El-Amir f*** y**!
Feel the love from the country we send $5 billion a year in aid too. I say we stop sending them $5 billion a year all in the name of shutting down our imperial conquest machine.
Really, we liberated Europe twice. Japan, Philippines, China are independent countries, freed from European (not American ) colonialism. Some of them are democracies. The middle east, which was part of the Turkish empire and after that British or French colonies are nation states, including Egypt.
He does have one point, "imperialists" grab and hold. We did not and do not. Even Cuba is a separate country, and Puerto Rico can vote to be independent if they want to, they are not compelled to stay a territory. As so-called imperialists we are do a rotten job of oppressive imperialism.
Perhaps it is because we believe in freedom, even for idiots like the author.
I don’t know either. Is that the same Egypt where one of their country’s greatest landmarks and tourist attractions, the pyramids of Giza, may soon be overwhelmed by mountains of trash? That Egypt?
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