Isolationist US? Yes Please!

This has been doing the rounds amongst our colonial friends, i can't find out who penned it, but it seems to be a very popular idea. I'll post it in full... there is a version of it here it pops up all over.

Quote...

My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of the Iraq regime has been completed.

Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now time to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short . The United Kingdom , Spain , Bulgaria , Australia , and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains every one not on the first list. Most of the world's nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war. THEN EVERY YEAR TH ERE AFTER IT'll GO TO OUR SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM SO IT WONT GO BROKE IN 20 YEARS.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world Hell holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine ? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France .

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home . On that note, a word to terrorist organizations. Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.

Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France or maybe China .

I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France , Germany , and Russia . Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon ne chance, me za mies.

Unquote...

Thought it deserved a reply... see below.


Aid? Are you sure anyone wants US aid any more? Have a read of this;

BEWARE OF AMERICANS BEARING GIFTS

Food aid from the USA is increasingly met with suspicion and scepticism by many, who describe the export of unlabelled genetically modified food to needy nations as 'a dangerous game played with the lives of starving people for political gain'.

More here... http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/2398.htm

This from wikipedia...

Many criticize U.S. Aid in particular for the policy conditionalities that often accompany it. Emergency funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, for instance, are linked to a wide range of free-market policy prescriptions that some argue interfere in a country's sovereignty. Policy prescriptions from outsiders can do more harm as they might not fit the local environment. The IMF can be good at helping countries over a short problematic financial period, but for poor countries with long lasting issues it can cause harm. William Easterly, in his book "The White Man's Burden" has argued that if the IMF only gave adjustment loans to countries that can repay it, instead of lending repetitively even if conditions are not met or forgiving debts it would keep its credibility.

In an episode of 20/20, John Stossel showed flaws in the distribution of the foreign aid, and the governments of countries receiving aid.

* Food given as aid often ended up on markets being sold privately
* The government receiving aid often had secret bank accounts in which it hid foreign aid money for private purposes

James Shikwati, a Kenyan economist, has argued that foreign aid causes harm to the recipient nations, specifically because aid is distributed by local politicians, finances the creation of corrupt government bureaucracies, and hollows out the local economy.

In an interview in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Shikwati uses the example of food aid delivered to Kenya in the form of a shipment of corn from America. Portions of the corn may be diverted by corrupt politicians to their own tribes, or sold on the black market at prices that undercut local food producers. Similarly, Kenyan recipients of donated Western clothing will not buy clothing from local tailors, putting the tailors out of business.

So it's not always a blessing to be "aided" by the US. But, in spite of this, for 2007, we saw $21.3 billion in foreign aid in total by the US.

But, your military budget for the same year totalled approximately $626.1 billion. You guys seem to invest an awful lot more in killing people than you do in saving them. How many total health schemes, social security packages and investment in infrastructure could $626.1 billion buy?

So if you are thinking of becoming a little more isolationist, how many countries would be very, very relieved that you've stopped your interventionist, christian taliban, pre-emptive warmongering?

Lets take a look at the list of US interventions since WWII.


1946-1949 China Major US army presence of about 100,000 troops, fighting, training and advising local combatants.

1947-1949 Greece US forces wage a 3-year counterinsurgency campaign.

1948 Italy Heavy CIA involvement in national elections.

1948-1954 Philippines Commando operations, "secret" CIA war.

1950-1953 Korea Major forces engaged in war in Korean peninsula.

1953 Iran CIA overthrows government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh.

1954 Vietnam Financial and materiel support for colonial French military operations, leads eventually to direct US military involvement.

1954 Guatemala CIA overthrows the government of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.

1958 Lebanon US marines and army units totaling 14,000 land.

1958 Panama Clashes between US forces in Canal Zone and local citizens.

1959 Haiti Marines land.

1960 Congo CIA-backed overthrow and assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.

1960-1964 Vietnam Gradual introduction of military advisors and special forces.

1961 Cuba CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion.

1962 Cuba Nuclear threat and naval blockade.

1962 Laos CIA-backed military coup.

1963 Ecuador CIA backs military overthrow of President Jose Maria Valesco Ibarra.

1964 Panama Clashes between US forces in Canal Zone and local citizens.

1964 Brazil CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government of Joao Goulart and Gen. Castello Branco takes power.

1965-1975 Vietnam Large commitment of military forces, including air, naval and ground units numbering up to 500,000+ troops. Full-scale war, lasting for ten years.

1965 Indonesia CIA-backed army coup overthrows President Sukarno and brings Gen. Suharto to power.

1965 Congo CIA backed military coup overthrows President Joseph Kasavubu and brings Joseph Mobutu to power.

1965 Dominican Republic 23,000 troops land.

1965-1973 Laos Bombing campaign begin, lasting eight years.

1966 Ghana CIA-backed military coup ousts President Kwame Nkrumah.

1966-1967 Guatemala Extensive counter-insurgency operation.

1969-1975 Cambodia CIA supports military coup against Prince Sihanouk, bringing Lon Nol to power. Intensive bombing for seven years along border with Vietnam.

1970 Oman Counter-insurgency operation, including coordination with Iranian marine invasion.

1971-1973 Laos Invasion by US and South Vietnames forces.

1973 Chile CIA-backed military coup ousts government of President Salvador Allende. Gen. Augusto Pinochet comes to power.

1975 Cambodia Marines land, engage in combat with government forces.

1976-1992 Angola Military and CIA operations.

1980 Iran Special operations units land in Iranian desert. Helicopter malfunction leads to aborting of planned raid.

1981 Libya Naval jets shoot down two Libyan jets in maneuvers over the Mediterranean.

1981-1992 El Salvador CIA and special forces begin a long counterinsurgency campaign.

1981-1990 Nicaragua CIA directs exile "Contra" operations. US air units drop sea mines in harbours.

1982-1984 Lebanon Marines land and naval forces fire on local combatants.

1983 Grenada Military forces invade Grenada.

1983-1989 Honduras Large program of military assistance aimed at conflict in Nicaragua.

1984 Iran Two Iranian jets shot down over the Persian Gulf.

1986 Libya US aircraft bomb the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, including direct strikes at the official residence of President Muamar al Qadaffi.

1986 Bolivia Special Forces units engage in counter-insurgency.

1987-1988 Iran Naval forces block Iranian shipping. Civilian airliner shot down by missile cruiser.

1989 Libya Naval aircraft shoot down two Libyan jets over Gulf of Sidra.

1989 Philippines CIA and Special Forces involved in counterinsurgency.

1989-1990 Panama 27,000 troops as well as naval and air power used to overthrow government of President Noriega.

1990 Liberia Troops deployed.

1990-1991 Iraq Major military operation, including naval blockade, air strikes; large number of troops attack Iraqi forces in occupied Kuwait.

1991-2003 Iraq Control of Iraqi airspace in north and south of the country with periodic attacks on air and ground targets.

1991 Haiti CIA-backed military coup ousts President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

1992-1994 Somalia Special operations forces intervene.

1992-1994 Yugoslavia Major role in NATO blockade of Serbia and Montenegro.

1993-1995 Bosnia Active military involvement with air and ground forces.

1994-1996 Haiti Troops depose military rulers and restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to office.

1995 Croatia Krajina Serb airfields attacked.

1996-1997 Zaire (Congo) Marines involved in operations in eastern region of the country.

1997 Liberia Troops deployed.

1998 Sudan Air strikes destroy country's major pharmaceutical plant.

1998 Afghanistan Attack on targets in the country.

1998 Iraq Four days of intensive air and missile strikes.

1999 Yugoslavia Major involvement in NATO air strikes.

2001 Macedonia NATO troops shift and partially disarm Albanian rebels.

2001 Afghanistan Air attacks and ground operations oust Taliban government and install a new regime.

2003 Iraq Invasion with large ground, air and naval forces ousts government of Saddam Hussein and establishes new government.

2003-present Iraq Occupation force of 150,000 troops in protracted counter-insurgency war.

2004 Haiti Marines land. CIA-backed forces overthrow President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

So, it seems there's quite a few countries around the globe that would rather you kept your aid & military interventions, or lethally violent, ill informed, crass, jingoistic, with god on your side, willy waving blunders as they could also be described.

The speech you posted above is a prime example of US ignorance and denial. Denial of the fact that, as the list above attests to, the cause of most of the suffering, wars and threat on the planet today is the US itself.

Your population is cushioned by a near complete lack of geographical / geo-political knowledge. Ask the next ten people you meet to put a pin in, say Austria. No, better still, try this little geography test yourself...

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/question_01.html

One common phrase heard after 9/11 was "Why do they hate us so?" Well, a glance up at that list might give you a clue. Also, the small minority who have the ear of the administration that keeps the US blind to the atrocities committed by Israel. In the foul open prison camp holding the Palestinians an Israeli helicopter gunship rocket attack on family houses is called a "surgical strike against terrorists" and leaves tens of innocent women and children dead or injured.

Yet a single, last desperate act by a teenage Palestinian trying to keep this last tiny piece of the land he calls home free, with nothing left to lose, there is no jobs, no fuel, no electricity, no dignity and no hope. If his last act was to take out an Israeli armoured bulldozer about to flatten more of his neighbourhood homes by using his last possession left that he can fight with, his body, and blow himself up in the process, he's called a terrorist and a coward.

He was neither of those things, you'd have done the same if, say, all the Mormons decided it said in one of their books somewhere that your home state was their true land given to them by god. And a very rich world power, say China, backed them up to the hilt, armed them and ignored their atrocities committed against you.

And you found yourself in the Palestinians situation, with Mormon F-15's strafing your home, "security walls" fencing you in, and all services, hospital supplies, food, travel, work and life and death itself controlled by Mormons encircling the last bit of territory you have left. All the while China bankrolls them and spins the story for them.

You'd do the same, you'd fight for your family, your home, your land. And if it came down to it, you too would consider such a terrible last act of defiance. Would you be a coward then?

In that light take a look at this BBC report on US military aid to Israel...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6920988.stm

Here's a snippet from it...

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has confirmed that the United States is planning a significant increase in military and defence aid to Israel.

The package would reportedly amount to more than $30bn (£14.8bn) over the next 10 years.

Mr Olmert described it as an important element for the security of Israel.

US defence aid to Israel currently stands at $2.4bn a year - the new package would amount to a 25% increase.

Doesn't that leave a nasty taste in your mouth? Do feel comfortable that this is still going on?

Look, it's not that americans are bad. I have american friends, there's good and bad in any country, just like here in the UK, Afghanistan, North Korea, Canada, New Zealand or wherever. Countries are made up of people, just like you and me. It's the government that is to blame.

Your views on foreign aid you spouted above, if you knew what was actually going on, instead of the Fox News / Washington version, your stance would be different I'm sure.

Just wanted you to know though, that if the US really did stop it's "aid" and invasions and it's blind support of Israel, it wouldn't be just you breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward to better, less lethal times.

One thing to note here, whilst i am an atheist, I hold no special dislike of either the Mormons or the Jews. I used the Mormons to try and get you to see the Israel / Palestine situation from a new perspective, it could have been any religious group. And as for Israel, it's the US / Zionist political machine i am criticising, not the Jewish religion or it's people.

It's the Israeli government that seems to like to use the cry of "Anti-Semite!" as soon as anyone mentions their tactics and methodology used against the Palestinians. I can separate a persons religion from the way his country is governed, politics should be freely discussed without recourse to hiding under theistic skirts.