Infanteer - I am looking at the picture above, and I see american buildings, in an american city, getting smashed by american airlines. I realize there are Canadians in the american buildings, who are supporting the american government by working in those buildings, but other then that, I do not see any attack on Canada.
That is all you see? I see the symbol of the liberal capitalist/democratic system. The attack on the Pentagon was a similar attack. Do you really believe Al Queda thought they could actually disable the US military with what they did? Canadian society is so intergrated with that of the US that to believe that the attacks were not targeting us is wishful thinking at best.
Upon reading your post, I also realize that you have unfortunately bought into the bush propaganda line that "they attacked us because they hate our freedom". This is a pure and simple lie. They attacked you because:
a) Unconditional support for Isreal
b) American military bases in the holy land (Saudi Arabia).
They could not care less about your "freedom". Again, if they loved it so much, they would move to america. As many of them do.
Your ability to read into my beliefs on the war are a bit off, if this is what you have drawn from my posts. There is a war against differing ways of life going on. The underpinnings of our modern society demands that
a) We support the right to exist of a sovereign democractic nation in a region determined to eradicate it.
b) We ensure regional stability in an area that holds important natural resources neccessary to the everyday life of almost everybody in the West. If you think we could ignore this reagion, you are again relying on wishful thinking.
As for the better solution you desire, consider this: Leave those countries alone, build up a military based on defending Canada, make it impossible for anyone to attack us, barbed wire and anti aircraft guns on every coast, battleships patrolling every inch of sea, barbed wire and minefields for kilometers in from the sea and a network of terrorist vaporising sattelites in orbit.
Let them bicker and fight things out so that they can end up progressing into a more "enlightened" society, as we have.
Again, another silly propostion. Our way of life and the world we live in demands that we are open and interactive with the rest of the world. How can you realistically expect Canada, a trading nation built up of many peoples, to "board up all the windows and doors". The friction that has come from our societal interaction is playing out, and this is Social Darwinism flowing along its natural course.
Yes this may include going through horrible wars, as we in the west have, but they will emerge as we do in the end. They will end up better off. Its how the world works.
I don‘t mean by the following comparison to insult middle easterners at all, because I have nothing but respect for their culture, but if you want an analogy: one can not expect to sit a caveman infront of a computer and expect him to start surfing the internet right away. He must learn about electricity, learn about electronics, learn abstract concepts such as moving a mouse to move the pointer on the screen and then learn that there is a bigger world out there that he can communicate with. He wants to smash the computer and use the glass and metal as cutting tools. He cannot be taught how to use the computer, as you do not even speak the same language as the caveman. Anything you knew about his culture was lost to the ages. if you try to get near him to show him, he will try to smash your head and eat your brains. It is just something he must learn by himself over a few million years of evolution.
I never said we were there to democratize the region. I never said it was the best course of action either, because history shows it to be contingent on other factors such as rule of law, liberal economy, and a degree of political freedom within society...which are non-existant throughout most of the region.
What we are doing is imperialism, and given the set of circumstances, I say it is warranted.
We are not leaving South Asia for a while, and military occupation is a form of behavioral moderation in the area to protect the interests of our way of life. Some flower-child can give me a rant onto why imperialism is bad, but he, like you, has yet to present a better course of action.
