What course of action should the United States Take in the Middle East consideri

1. 67

   davenmidtownposted 11 years ago

   What course of action should the United States Take in the Middle East considering recent events?
   
   Given the uprising in violence, political murder of the US ambassador, and the seemingly unstable social structure of the middle east... what do you THINK the US should do?  I am looking for public opinion, and foreign opinion. I may not agree with you but I encourage you to participate.... no judgements!  Have at it people!!!

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2. 0

   Justsilvieposted 11 years ago

   Run like hell and put a fence around the US! That's my first thought but my logical mind says move very slowly, get all the facts, move very slowly. Give diplomacy a chance to act before the hotheads and warmongers react.

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3. 89

   adjkp25posted 11 years ago

   Unfortunately I don't think it really matters what we do over there.  These areas have been unstable for a very long time and I don't think our attempts at establishing democracy are going to fix all of the problems.
   
   Take this video that supposedly spawned the embassy attacks.  Here in the US we would write it off as someone making a video because they wanted to, the majority of our population wouldn't take it as gospel.  In some of these other countries they do take it as real, just like it came from the White House so they lashed out at the embassy.
   
   I'm not trying to be pessimistic but it is hard to improve a place when this is the kind of thinking they have.

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   Old Empresarioposted 11 years ago

   I think they are trying to tell us that they want our government out of their country and their affairs. Maybe we should listen to them. What right (or money) do we have to police the world?

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      Old Empresarioposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks professor. Of course we were doing something. Our state department funnels money to paramilitaries and bribes dictators for cheap land leases. We've been doing it since the 1940s. No one blows up an embassy for no reason.

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      ptosisposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Now storming British German embassies in Sudan - who had nothing to do with the stupid film " Innocence of Muslims" so out policy is not the reason why. 40% unemployment is & use the west as a focus of frustration instead of civil war?

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      Mazzy Boleroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      They are attacking both British and German embassies, as well as burning Israeli flags - those had nothing to do with the film.  The film is just an excuse.

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5. 66

   ptosisposted 11 years ago

   
   
   Abenob Nakoula Bassely (on probation for a bank fraud conviction), posed as Sam Bacil is not a Israeli real estate developer but linked to the hate group called American Coptic Assembly  (not to be be confused with the The Coptic Assembly of America). The film was designed to destabilize the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood / Arab Spring.
   
   The film itself doesn't matter because that was posted several months ago - it's the translation by Morris Sadek of the National American Coptics Assembly that did it.

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   WannaB Writerposted 11 years ago

   I have always thought giving money and military training to these countries was  a mistake. It has seemed foolish to me that we should supply weapons, train their militaries, and send financial aid. They have turned the weapons and training against our soldiers way too often. Money does not turn enemies into friends. I think foreign aid to our enemies, whatever we call it, should stop immediately. And we should be allowed to drill for or produce our own energy, green or not.
   
   It won't happen during this administration, and I hope this administration will not hastily attack to score political points for appearing "tough." To be fair, it seems all politicians think they need to pour money into these countries that hate us and will continue to hope for our downfall. I think this kind of foreign aid should stop no matter who the next president it.
   
   As to what else we should do, I'm no expert in foreign affairs. I would hope that Obama would consult with Bush and Clinton before doing anything rash. His own state department has not been on top of foreign policy and Obama has not bothered to attend half his intelligence briefings. Had the state department and Obama been paying more attention and taken the necessary precautions, we wouldn't be in this current predicament. What is the point of having unarmed Marines defend our diplomats?

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   Mazzy Boleroposted 11 years ago

   I think the west should stand together on this. Historically, the Suez crisis back in the 1950s told the Arab world that the west was weak and disunited - we need to show that we are now strong.  The Arab world has a very different culture to ours. Showing strength and saving face is everything. Being top dog is everything. Sadly, you don't get anywhere by being weak and wishy-washy, trying to be so diplomatic and listen reasonably to their point of view. To them, that's just weakness. The political extremists are manipulating the mob and it's not hard to do. You don't want to give them more ammunition, but you do have to show that you are in control.
   
   As for it all being our fault for wanting their oil, they get their wealth by selling it to us. We like to think of ourselves as the bad guys - maybe it's time to stop that. They never do that. There's probably right and wrong on both sides.

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