What about The American?

Submitted by Pat (United States), Jul 27, 2007 at 15:54

In today's political climate, what more can Americans do but wring their hands and avert their eyes?

Countries of the world don't want us in their business. Read "Perfect Spy", which tells the story of a South Vietnamese man who became a reporter for Time Magazine during the war. He studied journalism in the US in the 1950s and used this period to collect data on the US. He covered the war in the South and fed military data to the North. He was rewarded after the war with a commendation from the triumphant Communists. He wasn't a dedicated Communist. He just wanted the US out of his country. He got his wish. The rest, like the Cambodian slaughter and the South Vietnamese reeducation camps and the boat people, as they say, is history.

It's the same in Iraq. They just want us out. They're not willing to condemn the actions of a fellow Muslim if it means siding with the US in a public manner. What do you expect Americans to do? We can't control the actions of other people and trying only gets our president branded a terrorist or a war criminal. What is to be gained by ruminating? In the words of a wise man: thinking about something you cannot control only wastes energy.

So why shouldn't we just conduct relations with whomever is in power over any particular swath of planet Earth and leave it to the people of that area to solve their own problems, so long as they don't threaten or attack the US? We can't waste our time and energy on people who don't want it. They know what's best for them, so let them have at it.

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