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Old 08-27-2003, 03:37 AM   #14
Skunk
Banned User
 

Join Date: September 3, 2001
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Age: 63
Posts: 1,463
Quote:
Not necessarily, but you have to be willing to make the committments required to making your "quick-fix" solutions both stable and long-lasting.
In 1953, at the behest of the British, US decided on a quick-fix solution to the nasty democratic Iranian governments decision to nationalise its own oil reserves - launch a coup - which successfully installed a dictator to power. For 26 years the United states was committed to maintaining the regime - and carefully nurtured it - unfortunately, the Iranians didn't like the police state and a popular revolution occured and the government was replaced with yet another regime which (at least in the early years) was equally unpleasant - only now it was entirely anti-American.

Not to be outdone and remaining fully committed to the future of Iran - the US tried numerous times to destabilise the new regime (including making the rash decision to support a young Iraqi politician by the name of Saddam Hussein); supplying this man (rashly) with the technology to construct chemical weapons to use in a war with Iran (that the US had egged Saddam on to commit himself to).

The 'Cheap and Cheerful' solution to the 'Iran problem' and its nurturing has led to a 24 years of US problems with Iran and one of its quick-fix solutions to that problem led to 12 years of problems with its neighbour and is currently costing the US tax payer $1 billion dollars a week to sort out (not including the increased costs in domestic security).

When the Soviets looked like they were going to get too much influence in the Afghanistan by helping the socialist government to put down a rebellion by muslim fundamentalists, some bright spark in Washington thought that it would be a quick and cheap solution to supply and train the local resistance groups with arms. The US were successful in their endeavour - problem was that the new government was worse than the one from before and within three years of the conflict one of those that it trained (Osama Bin Laden) began his first attempt to blow up the WTC...Continue to 15 years later and now it is the US playing the part of invader, commiting loving detail to fruitlessly spending US lives and dollars in the country.

How many more 'quick fix' solutions will there be before someone decides to think of the consequences before acting?
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