Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
What was our interest in Korea?
|
Lots of reasons.
At the end of WW2, Korea was occupied by Japan and when Japan surrendered to the US suddenly the US (and it's Allies) were in control of a large amount of territory. Eventually Korea was split in half, with the Southern half being a country the US set up, and the Northern half controlled by communists. Eventually North Korea attacked South Korea, the country we had created - our friends and allies - was about to be over run.
The US could have sat back and said "You are on your own". All of Korea would have been communist, and being as the US had followed a course of appeasement in Asia... China would have clearly taken Hong Kong, the Philippines, and eventually Japan. Sounds unlikely now, but not right after WW2 where Japan had expanded from Japan proper all the way across the Pacific to attack the US.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
Afghanistan?
|
I don't see how this is even a discussion. It's simple - A terrorist organization supported, financed, and encouraged by the government of Afghanistan attacked the United States causing billions of dollars in damage and killing thousands of Americans. When the United States went to Afghanistan and demanded assistance in arresting the people who did this to the US, Afghanistan said "Not interested". Thus, the United States attacked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
Iraq?
|
Iraq - after a ten year war with Iran - attacked one of our allies and threatened not only Saudi Arabia (who begged for US support), but also the oil supply of the middle east. Thus we attacked Iraq.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
Seriously if we had stayed home would anything be different?
|
Maybe.
Maybe Korea would be all communist now and China would have taken over all of Asia including Japan, The Philippines, and perhaps Hawaii.
Maybe if we allowed Afghanistan to be a base for terrorists they would have continued to attack the US, and every day we would have bombs going off in major cities. That would make what just happened in Boston seem minor.
Maybe if we allowed Iraq to take Kuwait, they would have attacked Saudi Arabia too. I believe the primary reasons Iraq attacked Kuwait was because Iraq owed Kuwait billions (loans for the Iraq - Iran war) AND wanted their oil. Iraq also owed Saudi Arabia a large amount of money too, more than Iraq could ever repay. Maybe we if did nothing the entire Middle East would be run by Saddam - And imagine how that could affect the US economy. Perhaps you don't remember the gas lines in the 1970s, how you could only by gas on certain days, IF you could find gas, and IF you could afford it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
If we did not have a huge national debt and such high spending on the military, we might offer free college like they do in many parts of the EU.
|
Sure thing. We wouldn't have a huge national debt and we could send everyone to college. Only... Unemployment would be higher than we could ever imagine, technology would be set back forty years, and we wouldn't have to worry about sending anyone to college because we would all be speaking Chinese.
At least we wouldn't have to worry about oil because so few of us would have cars.