Get off my lawn!

Patriot got me to thinking about what we do around the world that never seems to end up with a good outcome. What is it that we always seem to get into little disputes that turn into major wars. I guess Eisenhour was right. He said "beware of the military industrial complex". So I looked back to when I was old enough to even begin to understand world politics to outline what and why we've done what we did.

Vietnam - There was Diem in charge for many years a pro French leader who gradually turned and with a little CIA help was taken out of the picture and replaced with Nguyễn Cao Kỳ and co-leader Nguyen Van Thieu. What was this all about? As best as I can remember back in the 60s when our American cars seemed to be growing both larger and with ever increasing amounts of chrome the main source of that chrome was Southeast Asia. Now the bobble heads in DC would have you believe that this was all about democracy. That if we didn't stop those dirty commies in Vietnam then they'd take over all the countries there and spread west. And the next thing you'd know there'd be a commie under your bed. Humm how quickly we forgot about Joesph McCarthy of the 1950s but remember this was at the height of the cold war. This was about the chrome though. You'll note that after the defeat cars with chrome bumpers disappeared. Bumpers themselves have disappeared since. Any trim turned from chrome to brushed aluminum.

Iran - In the 1950s Iran had a democratically elected leader but he was about to make a shift in policy moving from a pro western position to working with the Russians. DC would have non of this and again with a little nudge from the CIA the Shah was installed much to the anger of the Iranians. After many years and changes to the economic landscape the people rose up and kicked out the Shah. Again this was about oil and greed. The deal the Shah struck gave the west a 50 50 split of the oil profits only there was no oversight or audit of the books for the Iranians.

Iraq - again we have oil and an elected leader being overthrown with Sadam taking over with some help again from the CIA. And we all know what a brutal dictator he turned into. All for cheap oil and as an added bonus we got him to fight Iran in an effort to take back power from the religious leaders.

Are you beginning to see a pattern here? It's really a simple process. We develop an industry or resource in some far off land and try to suck as much profit from it as possible. When the leaders of that country either catch on to the plan or themselves get drunk with power or cash it becomes time for regime change. If we go into a country with weak leadership or many factions then we pick the party or leader with the strongest potential and put them in charge whether or not they are the best pick for the country or not. And it happens over and over again.

Look what we have in Iraq and Afghanistan. Alawi and Karzai. I seem to recall Alawi being under criminal investigation by the CIA just after we invaded and were looking for an temporary leader. He had fallen out of power until he had some magical make over. I think he's basically a power whore who will say anything to get control. And you have to wonder if he didn't have some CIA help to get elected as he was the secular choice in a field of religious choices.

Greed is a funny thing. The more you have the more you want. It's a proven fact that most shoplifters have the money to pay for the things they steal.

Now get off my lawn while I'm busy stealing yours!