Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 17 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 10 months ago by
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Why do the people of Iraq and places like that always go to war? Are the people of Iraq meaner than other people?
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Name : Kara-Z, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 13, City : Zeeland, State : MI, Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma,Let me start by saying that I have been in the military for nearly 18 years. I have been deployed to such wonderful places as Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Somalia, South America and many other locales. Iraqis did not go to war all the time. The Iraqi military was directed by their leader, Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait. They did so. The US and allies went to war to liberate Kuwait. Since then, the US military has been in combat in Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq (to name a few). None of these countries had invaded the US. Afghanistan was harbouring members of Al Qaida who did attack the US. With the above, I could replace Iraq in your question with the US. But are we meaner than other people? No. Neither are Iraqis as a people.
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Name : Gonzo, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Wiccan, Age : 36, City : Denver, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : Military, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,What do you mean with ‘places like that’? I think pretty much most of the different nations, ethnic groups, countries etc. have made some kind of war at some point of their history (including the United States). There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guys in the great geopolitical chess game. There are only bigger and smaller players. I don’t think the people of Iraq are generally ‘meaner’ in nature than, say, Swedish, Chinese or Americans. I don’t know all the people in the world, but it’s probably safe to assume that the average human inhabitant of this planet does not want to use violence or make war against his/her fellow human being, if she/he just can avoid it. The average ‘next-door guy or girl’ of the world does not want war. What he/she probably wants is a good education, a decent job, good friends, a loving spouse, a couple of kids, a nice house, something to eat every day, some money to pay the bills etc. Your usual, every-day normal stuff. Wars are fought because of complex geopolitical reasons. Certain group of people want to control certain area or another group of people for a certain reason. These reasons could be political, economical (for example, it’s hardly a coincidence that the U.S. now effectively rules the Mid-east oil wells and through it the energy sources of Europe and Japan), geographical (for example, access route to a large sea, or something like that), ideological (as in World War 2 in Europe – it was a religious war between National Socialism, Communism and Western democratic liberalism) etc. Of course, they are always bad reasons. Ordinary people always suffer when the Great Leaders(tm) play their global chess game. All in all, it’s a very, very complex issue! I formatted this little piece for quite a while, and I’m still not satisfied 🙂 Probably confused you even more 😉
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Name : Marko-S, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : myopia, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 28, City : Jyvaskyla, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,The people of Iraq and most other places don’t really have a choice to go to war or not. It’s the imperialist United States government that, in the process of trying to control the entire world in its global Empire, goes to war or threatens war and turmoil against any country that might stand up against U.S. oppression. In most cases, it’s the Yankees who are meaner and more aggressive than other people. The U.S. government has openly admitted to destabilizing dozens of other countries in efforts to combat people’s movements there. Perhaps the best explanation why Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations seem to be constantly at war, is because they happen to have a lot of oil which is needed by the United States for fuel (we have about 4% of the world’s population, but use 25% of the world’s oil). Due to neoconservative Zionist interests controlling the government, the government also provides unparalleled support for Israel, an illegitimate imperialist government in the Middle East that usually does things in line with the business interests of the United States. The zealous religious fervor of Israelis in taking over land that does not belong to them translates into constant war with the inhabitants of the region they want to take over. When Israel gets into hot water, they call up the U.S. military to come take care of their problems (and even sue them if something goes wrong with providing the defense at no cost to them, as happened during the first Gulf War). The ruling-class controlled media in the United States often portrays the Iraqis (and anyone else we are at war with) as evil for merely fighting back against the invasion and occupation of their country (which was invaded for oil, but masqueraded as a campaign against non-existent weapons of mass destruction). That may be the reason you consider Iraqis meaner than other people, while ignoring the atrocities committed by U.S. military forces in Iraq (killing women and children, bombing hospitals, etc etc). If any government needs to be overthrown for possession of weapons of mass destruction, it’s the U.S. government.
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Name : J.A., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 17, City : Springfield, State : PA, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,They didn’t start this war. They are only defending themselves, as they were attacked by the USA. I don’t want to get into politics right now, but basically they haven’t done anything wrong. I think you should be asking other questions regarding this war.
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Name : Piotr Szmitkowski, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 24, City : Warsaw, State : NA, Country : Poland, Occupation : Marketing specialist, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Kara, people everywhere go to war, always. It’s part of human nature. However, the Middle East (I’m assuming that’s what you mean by ‘places like that’) is at the center of many conflicts because of the many races and cultures that meet there and because the area has religious significance to those cultures. It’s a complicated history. But no, the people of Iraq are not meaner than other people. War is not generally caused by meanness, but by economics and religion.
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Name : Karen26771, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Atheist, Age : 22, City : Bethesda, State : MD, Country : United States, Occupation : Consultant, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I have never been to Iraq but I have been to other countries in the area and the people seem to me to be the same as everyone else in the world; looking for a peaceful life with security for their loved ones. The Iraqi people did not ask for Sadam Hussein, neither did they ask for the Americans. If you look back over the history of the area you may find that essentially tribal lands were forced into countries by Westen Powers and have not had a settled existence since. It is very sad and we can only hope there is a better life ahead for them some day.
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Name : Spike27897, City : Bangkok, State : NA, Country : Thailand,I could politicize this a lot. But this is the truth, young Kara: People fight and die for only a few reasons. They fight because they fear for the safety of their families. They fight because they believe their country needs them. The fight because they believe they can win their freedom. And, occasionally, people do fight for money or rewards. These reasons are common to every soldier – ever. You can find men and women fighting for all of these reasons in the American Army; you can find them fighting for the same things in Al-Qaeda terror cells. In the Iraqi Republican Guard, in the Nazi Wehrmacht, in the Allied Forces during WWII – even in the Roman Legions or in the army of Alexander the Great. Men fought the American Civil War – on both sides – for these causes. It is only after wars end that history decides which side was right and which was wrong. And in the end, history’s judgment has very little to do with the people who did the fighting and the dying. Pray that all wars be brief; and pray that the leaders who start them remember they are calling people to die for their cause. In the specific case of Iraq, Saddam Hussein was not a good man. He was calling his people to fight needlessly, and he was calling them to kill innocent people in their own country and their neighbor-states. But he did this in the 1980s. Why America decided to ignore this for twenty years, I do not know. Why America decided to sweep in in 2003, I do not know. But I suspect it had little to do with Saddam Hussein’s poor leadership twenty years ago, or his actions in the last Gulf war, or his alleged connections to Al-Qaeda, or his still-unlocated ‘weapons of mass destruction’. I don’t know the real reason we went there and killed a lot of Iraqis and lost a lot of Americans. And I think all of us – young, old, rich, poor, liberal and conservative – should be asking why.
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Name : Charles32265, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 24, City : Albuquerque, State : NM, Country : United States, Occupation : Architect, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Umm, let’s not forget who’s been dropping the bombs there! Keep in mind, the US has probably done more military incursions into other countries than any other country over the past fifty or so years! In terms of war, Iraq’s had one major war in the past several decades, with Iran. That was over a major religious differnce – the Sunnis vs. the Shi’ites. A Muslim can better answer why it’s such a big deal, but it’s basically about who was the true prophet after Mohammed died – his cousin Ali or someone else (this was all back around AD 600). I think a lot of it probably has to do with poverty and despair – when you don’t have much, you don’t have much to lose (I’ve heard that before somewhere). But the Middle East in general has often been a turbulent place, and a lot of it simply has to do with geography. During the Middle Ages, they controlled a lot of the trade business between Europe and the Far East (spices, silk, and other good stuff) and a lot of European countries wanted to control that trade. Go back hundreds of years, and it’s farmland. Fast forward to now, and it’s oil. Add in two evangelic religions – Christianity and Islam – and you’ve got a pretty volatile mixture.
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Name : dersk25702, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 34, City : amsterdam, State : NA, Country : The Netherlands, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,‘This is not right. This is not even wrong.’ – Wolfgang Pauli. … If you see which states has initiated or catalysed the most wars in the recent times, they are the superpowers. The United States and the Soviet Union have fought over the world in the Cold War. Soviets were active and dangerous in trying to get Communists to power. (This country was one with this problem. Luckily the Stalinists screwed it up and a market economy was sustained.) It was against U.S. policy to allow any kind of communist to get to power in any country, no matter the cost. Hence U.S. support of Pinochet, Suharto, Saddam, bin Laden etc. Those all fought a war against something that USA didn’t like at that moment. This has not ended with the Cold War. Very, very far from ended. The United States just went to war to destabilise Afghanistan and conquer an oil supply in Iraq. USA actively fights for its interests. Get over it. … Why do then the Arabs seem so militant? This is not overly complicated. Since 1970’s the economy of the Arab world has stagnated 0.3% but the Western world has enjoyed a huge growth. It is a fact that differences in wealth intrisically fuel conflicts between people. The islam faith has history of fanaticism – just as violent as the Christians have. Had the figures been the other way, some Arab would be posting that message.
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Name : lh, Gender : M, Age : 21, City : Espoo, State : NA, Country : Finland,I cant believe that you are serious with your question, but here is my opinion anyway: For my knowledge the most common reason to fight is the need/willingness to improve the conditions of life (i.e. satisfied people dont feel the need to fight). These conditions can vary from need nutrition to need of power. In Iraqi they fight because your contrymen went there to fight: there were supposed to be dangerous weapons in Iraq, but when none could be found, your president/government said the attack was ‘to free the people of Iraq’.
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Name : Henna, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 27, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,I cant believe that you are serious with your question, but here is my opinion anyway: For my knowledge the most common reason to fight is the need/willingness to improve the conditions of life (i.e. satisfied people dont feel the need to fight). These conditions can vary from need nutrition to need of power. In Iraqi they fight because your contrymen went there to fight: there were supposed to be dangerous weapons in Iraq, but when none could be found, your president/government said the attack was ‘to free the people of Iraq’.
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Name : Henna21496, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland,Violence is a result of poverty. Poverty can very easily make some one have a bitter attitude towards life. It is hard to expalin and, It can be very hard to understand this if one does not grow up poor, or has never experience poverty 1st hand. look at it like this: you and your family of five hasn’t eaten in three days; some one in your family brings home half a loaf of bread to ration throughout the house hold, and nobody knows when the next time they will have something more eat. Now imagine some else who is as equally poor and hungry as you are tries to steal your bread to feed his starving family. Your basic animal instinct to survive wont allow you to give up that bread with out a fight. There are also many other factors that play into this as well i.e. religious conflicts etc… But you will find that generally violence (war) and poverty go hand in hand, not necessarily because people are meaner in a certain area.
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Name : MR Smith, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Mixed Black and White, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 20, City : Boston, State : MA, Country : United States, Occupation : intern, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Iraq has been in three wars in the past 25 years. Two were started by its dictator Saddam Hussein for reasons of wanting to get his hands on its neighbours’ oil (Iran and Kuwait). The current state of unrest comes from the US invasion of Iraq. The US has been involved in considerably more than 3 wars in the past 25 years!
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Name : Matthew21849, Gender : M, Age : 32, City : London, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom,I’ve found that whenever you separate a group of people (for instance the whole world) into us and them you will get fighting. Whether the seperation is based on color, gender, religion (like it is in Iraq and the current never ending conflict with Israel and Palestine), geographical location etc. Haven’t you noticed that its not very often that you see a group of friends get into a serious fight with themselves? It is always against someone else. Us and them… it ruins the world.
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Name : Ian Laughlin, Gender : M, Age : 18, City : Palmer, State : AK, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma,
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