The US as provocateur.

[panader0]

The media and the politicians call them terrorists. We have a "War on
Terror". The Iranis have stated that their goal is for the US to leave the Middle East.
Why are we, as a nation, there to begin with? Is it a hangover of imperialism?
Is it because of the profits from oil? That's an absurd idea. The endless wars
cost much more than buying oil.
No, the meddling in the Middle East seems to be the way for unscrupulous
people to make vast amounts of money, not for our country or their country,
but for themselves.
I have tried in my life to be peaceful, but if Iraqis or Iranis or Afghanis were
riding their tanks up and down my road, killing civilians, blowing shit up, torturing
and stealing our natural resources, I would have to resist with force. I would become
a "terrorist" to the invaders, and a patriot to my country.
The US has no good reason to be screwing up the Middle East. The lost money,
the huge numbers of casualties have hurt everyone on every side. The fallout
from our bumbling "adventures" have had world-wide repercussions.

[grumpyduck]

1. Not the US.

Those pricks doing it.

[panader0]

2. Every pundit, every general on the TV, say "there's no doubt that

Soleimani was a very bad guy." He's bad because he resists the invaders.
Which makes him a hero to his people. The US is fighting in those countries,
we are told, because it's better to kill them over there than let them
terrorize our nation here. There would be no so-called terrorists without
the US provoking them.

[grumpyduck]

6. But that's my point.

And maybe it's splitting hairs, but the U.S. is not provoking them: a group of short-sighted pricks in Washington is provoking them by using U.S. military forces. In the case of Soleimani, those pricks are only concerned with causing a distraction and winning the next election, regardless of lives lost.

[lapfog_1]

3. the only reason we have ever cared a crap about the entire region

is oil.

[panader0]

5. And that oil is not for the average Joe.

It's for the elite rich. The British company BP stole untold amounts of oil
from Iran. The CIA led a coup against the elected leader of Iran in 1953
and set up the Shah. The Iranis have a memory of foreign nations meddling
and stealing from them.
Sure, the US has a powerful military (with an obscene bill), and could level
their country. Why?

[KY_EnviroGuy]

4. What ever happened to the Christian's Golden Rule?

Oh, wait......one has to know the damage you're doing to others in order to live by that Rule.

Why do they think we have thousands of soldiers with PTSD?....

When it's halfway around the globe and sanitized by our media, it's hard to see the blood on our hands.....