GarryB,

I said, “I didn’t see any Marines looting that museum”

You then go on a diatribe about how Americans never loot, and that we think were better than everyone else, I don’t know how you jump from one point to the other. Americans do loot, but they didn’t loot the museum, again, GarryB what exactly happened to you to make you find everything the US does wrong?
My analogy of the barking poodle still stands

Geforce,

You make some good points, but the bottom line is the if the EU is to field a credible military force for the future, then it will have to relegate monies from other sources/programs or raise taxes, which would hinder economic growth. In the US we have this debate every year we call it Guns vs Butter
Its not that one side likes war or the other likes peace, but its impossible to have a strong credible military force and large expensive social programs that some people desire, Its the crux of alot of debate here. Every time the world seems to become a peaceful place and we cut our military budgets something like Desert storm or Sept 11th occurs and the need for a strong military rears its ugly head. I thought after the fall of the USSR we’d cut our military to the bone, and Clinton tried but recent events have shown we can’t. trust me a smaller military budget would mean less taxes I’d have to pay.

Also, this was a war!!! I know of very few war planners who worry about non-military targets or objectives such as the Museum, I agree 100% that it was unfortunate and its a shame that we didn’t do a better job preventing the looting, but in the “big picture” of warfare, I seriously doubt that any planners even considered the museum as an objective. The oil ministry was an important objective due to the information contained within, and the importance of revenues from oil for the rebuilding of Iraq. I know it looks bad, but militarily its the correct course.

Plawolf,

I will change the tone of this discussion, mostly because I’m quite curious about China, But first, your points about the “free press” in the west are just wrong and i’ll explain why. You are correct that some news agencies express certain attitudes or lean towards one side of the political spectrum, for instance in the US Fox news has a more conservative/republican slant to their news reporting, CNN on the other hand leans heavily towards the left/democrat side, the diference that you fail to realize is their are literally dozens of news outlets in the US and the West, such as rueters, BBC, SKY, as well as CBS,NBC,ABC, not to mention Al Jesera….and the list goes on, FREE people have free and EASY access to all these media sources, and therefore can see all sides to a story. and decide for oneself. For example FOX news did show more “pro-American” stories but CNN was more than happy to emphisize all the negative anti-American events, so your theory that all media is a puppet of the state exposes your own lack of what the meaning of a “FREE PRESS is all about, By the way do you travel around the world? have you been to any other countries? just curious, because this too is a FREEDOM we all enjoy. By travelling freely one can learn for oneself what other nations/cultures are like, and come to their own conclusions.
My question about China is simple, and I mean no disrespect, but like mixtec said before why is the existance of Taiwan such a sore point with the mainland Chinese? surely it is no military threat, and it seems like a proponderance of Chinese foriegn policy concerns itself with Taiwan, wouldn’t it be easier to just sign some non-aggression pact with eachother and get on with life, or is Taiwan a deep rooted issue with the PRC?, again not trying to argue just always wondered.
PS Its nice to talk with somebody from the PRC. I have another deeper question I may ask later concerning politics.

Monster 500,

The left/democrats here in the US and abroad are really trying to elevate the looting of this museum as an apocolyptic event that has destroyed the lives of millions!!! its so sad people who were against this war, who predicted doom and gloom, and probably secretly hoped that the US and England would fail, have been proven wrong!!so they are grasping at anything that would besmurch this victory.
Monster 500 tell me are you more outraged by the looting of this museum, or the fact that coalition forces have found tons of weaponry banned by the UN sanctions, soon the WMD’s will emerge, thousands of unmarked graves, thousands of political prisoners telling stories of torture and murder, women and children used as human shields, the discovery of $800 million dollars in Oil for food money, found in Saddam’s palaces instead!!!!do any of these small insignificant facts outrage you as much as the looting of the museum, your hypocracy can be smelled from across the Atlantic!!!

GarryB,

The reason Americans enjoy “cheap Oil” is our government doesn’t tax oil 500% !!oil is sold on the open market so every country should pay the same price, Your country and some European nations tax the hell out of each gallon to pay for all the expensive social programs that its citizens desire,Americans don’t desire all this social welfare and wouldn’t stand for outrageous taxation to pay for them…and it wasn’t the Americans who looted the Iraqui museum, it was Iraqii’s..I didn’t see any Marines running away with 5000 year old artifacts…keep on blaming the US…like a yelping little poodle…all noise no bark!!!!

Plawolf,

” Wasn’t the missiles shot into Kuwait chinese silkworms?” So I guess China is selling weapons to dictators as well. I won’t even get into North Korea, but, obviously a large and powerful nation like the US and China have many alliances,and ties with other nations, sometimes these relationships offer many benefits, and sometimes they cause many headaches. Unfortunatley there is no crystal ball out there for foreign policies. Unlike China we have a free press, and we can learn about different sides to every story, I don’t just follow Fox news, but thats a funny comment coming from a person who still lives in a country run by the communist party, (If indeed you live in the PRC) and I don’t think everything the US does is right, but we do catch alot of scorn from other nations just due to the fact we are the easy target in the world today, Have a happy Easter

Plawolf,

I guess the Russians under Stalin, didn’t sign a non-aggression pact with Hitler, essentially giving him the green light to invade Poland in 1939????starting WWII? I suggest you read a little about how World War one started, it was not just the shooting af Arch Duke-Ferdinand but a chain of events that culminated iinto that war, France and other European powers were all involved., and while your at it, while the peoples republic of China did not start any World Wars, There are probably more deaths attributed to Moa’s Purges than in a world war, I guess If you don’t know these facts of history, you may be the one in the alternate Universe!
GarryB
Both Clinton and Reagan were born of modest to poor means yet they became president, Sure they had money by the time they ran for office, but in both cases they were self-made men, You seem very jelous of anything US…….