re: #236 Leonidas Hoplite

Well, I agree that it would be better if the Iraqis and the Iranians had/will thrown off the yoke of tyranny on their own, like we did. Except we didn’t. We relied heavily on the Dutch and the French, the freakin’ FRENCH, who provided active military support including its navy as well as its army. There is a graveyard of French soldiers in Yorktown. So even we needed help.

We wouldn’t need to borrow from the Chinese if we had our priorities straight.

It would be nice if we could overthrow dictatorships everywhere but obviously we can’t. However, if we do take out a clear and present dictatorial threat and replace it with a republic, and stand by our word (unlike 41) then perhaps that will inspire others.

We relied on the French inasmuch as they provided us weapons and troops who fought alongside us and against the British. France did not invade our nation, place it under military occupation and then install a government of their choosing. The analogy is almost completely inapplicable.

As far as borrowing from the Chinese, what kind of spending do you think drove us into trillions of national debt? It was for wars. Money was borrowed to pay for Korea, and then Vietnam, and then the Cold War, and then the Gulf War. I’d throw all the 80’s Latin America black ops in there as well, but those were financed with weapons sales to Iran / coke sales.