What do you expect to happen with the next US president??! (fit in, crime)

[jsfountain]

I live in France. I am taking french classes with a bunch of adults from other countries who have come to France. I enjoy hearing their views and perspectives of the world. One thing that continues to come up with me being an American is "what do i think of Bush?"; "are you ready for Bush to leave?"; "are you ready for the war to be over?"

And i have to smile and bite my lip. Because i think most people in the world are oblivious to what is going on in the world. They see what the media shows them and most often it is branded as Bush wants war. Which is just funny and really silly.

What i would love to say to them is this: Do you really think America is going to change after Bush (in regards to foreign policy)?

I suppose people believe that Al Qaeda will simply leave us alone after Bush is gone and that other forms of terrorism will not be aimed against us. But the fact is that the war in Iraq is really a war with Al Qaeda. As long as you have Al Qaeda plotting against the US in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq then you are going to continue to see a strong military presence in that region (100,000 plus troops). The next president (whoever it is) is not going to be able to withdraw a substantial amount of troops without causing a greater security risk both for the region and for the States.

So i am curious as to why people from the world and the States tend to think America's foreign policy is going to change simply because there is a new man (or woman) on the job. The same threats and obstacles will remain for America when they take office. Regardless of what people want, we are over there for the protection of freedom and for the preservation of freedom; both ours and theirs. I am sorry but the next American president will not turn away from that. The course will continue.

[LINCOLNSHIRE]

A big back pocket and a short memory,,Just like most before him,,But he has to ,,to fit in with the rest of the Western worlds ``Democratic`` leaders of the last 30yrs..
My Politics?? ,,a member of the British Labour Party for over 25yrs until the early 90s when I resigned,,,,,A Union shop steward for 15yrs, following my Fathers 20+ and my Grandfathers 35yr plus...Nobody will take responsibility for anything today. This means anyone can do the job. As at the end of the day there is no come back WHATSOEVER!!

So if you fancy a go at politics all you need do is this,,,,Make sure you have no concience and are a resonable actor..you don`t need to be too good with the latter as most of the world see a suit and tie and think you must be real!!

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by jsfountain

I live in France. I am taking french classes with a bunch of adults from other countries who have come to France. I enjoy hearing their views and perspectives of the world. One thing that continues to come up with me being an American is "what do i think of Bush?"; "are you ready for Bush to leave?"; "are you ready for the war to be over?"

And i have to smile and bite my lip. Because i think most people in the world are oblivious to what is going on in the world. They see what the media shows them and most often it is branded as Bush wants war. Which is just funny and really silly.

What i would love to say to them is this: Do you really think America is going to change after Bush (in regards to foreign policy)?

I suppose people believe that Al Qaeda will simply leave us alone after Bush is gone and that other forms of terrorism will not be aimed against us. But the fact is that the war in Iraq is really a war with Al Qaeda. As long as you have Al Qaeda plotting against the US in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq then you are going to continue to see a strong military presence in that region (100,000 plus troops). The next president (whoever it is) is not going to be able to withdraw a substantial amount of troops without causing a greater security risk both for the region and for the States.

So i am curious as to why people from the world and the States tend to think America's foreign policy is going to change simply because there is a new man (or woman) on the job. The same threats and obstacles will remain for America when they take office. Regardless of what people want, we are over there for the protection of freedom and for the preservation of freedom; both ours and theirs. I am sorry but the next American president will not turn away from that. The course will continue.

Most Americans are ready for him to leave and are growing increasingly tired of the war. The global war on terror must be fought, don't get me wrong, but there are more effective ways of going about it (it should be a multi-country effort and none of this "your with us or against us" nonesense), and if you take the typical righty stance that we are in Iraq to fight Al Qaeda, then you are wrong. We are also not there simply for the oil, as the lefties would like to think. The politics and agenda of why we are there are deeper and more complex then either one of these simple notions. And in that respect, you are correct in that the next President will keep us there for some time longer in one way or another. How long, who knows? Also, despite how anyone feels about the situation, it is logistically impossible to remove every soldier out of Iraq in a quick matter. If the war was declared over at this very minute, it would still take over a year to mobilize every soldier out.

By the way. Do you think that the media in the US is not biased as well?

[Mag3.14]

Originally Posted by jsfountain

I live in France. I am taking french classes with a bunch of adults from other countries who have come to France. I enjoy hearing their views and perspectives of the world. One thing that continues to come up with me being an American is "what do i think of Bush?"; "are you ready for Bush to leave?"; "are you ready for the war to be over?"

And i have to smile and bite my lip. Because i think most people in the world are oblivious to what is going on in the world. They see what the media shows them and most often it is branded as Bush wants war. Which is just funny and really silly.

What i would love to say to them is this: Do you really think America is going to change after Bush (in regards to foreign policy)?

I suppose people believe that Al Qaeda will simply leave us alone after Bush is gone and that other forms of terrorism will not be aimed against us. But the fact is that the war in Iraq is really a war with Al Qaeda. As long as you have Al Qaeda plotting against the US in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq then you are going to continue to see a strong military presence in that region (100,000 plus troops). The next president (whoever it is) is not going to be able to withdraw a substantial amount of troops without causing a greater security risk both for the region and for the States.

So i am curious as to why people from the world and the States tend to think America's foreign policy is going to change simply because there is a new man (or woman) on the job. The same threats and obstacles will remain for America when they take office. Regardless of what people want, we are over there for the protection of freedom and for the preservation of freedom; both ours and theirs. I am sorry but the next American president will not turn away from that. The course will continue.

I think you have an extremely basic view of American foreign policy. I have an American wife, and have lived there for over a year. Yes, Europeans (and others) have a media based view of W and I do think that the US is a very complex and misunderstood country.

However, fighting AL-Qaeda has NOTHING to do with Iraq... even stating this shows a lack of understanding. Al-Qaeda is not even remotely like the kind of comlpex, organised, and managed organisation that our media's potray on a daily basis. Jason Burke wrote a great book called 'Al-Qaeda' which explains what it really is, and ultimately its manipulation by western media. Al-Qaeda has now become a banner under which terrorists can unbrella their hatred and anger. This banner has been amplified by our media's fascination and warping of it.

US foreign policy will very much shift under a democrativ president. Whilst withdrawel from Iraq will be difficult for any President, foreign policy has been a mere facade all nicely prmoted as the 'war on terror'. What exactly do mean when you say "AL-Qaeda plotting against..."?? Do you really think there is a board meeting going on right now, and the leader of 'Al-Qaeda' is issuing instructions that will be passed to ingeniously linked cells all over the world, all with a cause to destroy the US!!!! Get Real.

Stating that the world is oblivious to what is going on in the world only portrays your ignorance to the manipulation and deceit of the neo-cons that are currently in control in the White House. Only 30% of Americans now support the current administration, and there are many damn good reasons that 70% disagree with you.

Ponder this: If Al Gore had won the 2000 election, there would be no 'war on terror', and you know what... the world would be a MUCH safer place.

[Mooseketeer]

I think if anyone is misinformed it is the American public who were "sold" the idea by politicians and a biased media that Iraq was somehow linked to terrorism and the tragedy that was 9/11.

Saddam Hussein for all his many horrendous crimes against his own people was a very secular guy with very few ambitions apart from exerting power over his nation and making large sums of money. A monster absolutely, a terrorist NO.

The terrorists and nutjobs who caused the atrocities of the 11th Of September and the 7th of July and the 11th March, had nothing to do with Saddam and his followers.

What Bush has managed to do is to radicalise a Nation of fairly secular people ( possibly one of the most secular Muslim Nation on the planet) and made them more susceptible to now becoming terrorists against the allied troops which occupy their Nation.

If someone bombed my country back to the stone age, killed my family, destroyed my home and business I suspect I might turn to trying and fighting back.

Saddam was a monster but was NEVER any threat to the US or the West. A malignant toad with a lot of blood on his hands domestically but certainly not a terrorist in the western sense of the world.

The so called War on Terror ( a very worthy goal if ever such a thing was possible -which it isn't by the sheer definition of terrorism ) has been nothing but a distraction from the fact that the US had no idea how to get to Bin Laden and his followers.

Afghanistan was always going to be a total disaster ( how arrogant to think that the very guerillas who defeated the Soviets could be somehow eradicated by the US) so the Bush administration jumped on Iraq as a perfect scapegoat and one they foolishly believed would be an easy target.

Big mistake which has cost hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian lives, thousands of our own troops, radicalised people who never had anything against us and made the world a far more dangerous place to be.


So quite frankly I can't see how another President could be any worse. All I have seen of Bush is a man with the IQ of a chimp, the linguistic abilities of a toadstool and intellect so deficient as to be embarrassing.

Someone greedy, arrogant, completely ignorant of foreign policies, and sadly advised by people with about as much integrity as a piece of coal ( and not as useful). A man with bellicose intention whose "philosophy" could be summed up by his ridiculous little publicity stunt on the aircraft carrier "we got'em! " ( No you bloody didn't you imbecile!)

He is starting to even be disliked within his own party which shows the incredible impact his actions have had on the world.

I am looking forward to a president ( hopefully a Democrat!) who will have a modicum of intelligence and at least a basic understanding of the serious issues he will have to deal with. Sadly whoever takes over will have to try and undo all the damage done by the supreme commander himself and that will be quite a feat.

A job I do not envy anyone. If the new president of the US turns out to be a Republican I just hope he too will have the sense to realise that one does not "catch" and "stop" terrorism with war and invasion of a sovereign nation ( one with suspiciously a large amount of oil at that).

I cannot believe people would actually vote that poor excuse for a man twice but hey what do I know, I am only the misinformed brainwashed European...

I think the American people have been lied in such a blatant and appalling way ,it is amazing they still believe the lies ?! Well no actually if popularity ratings are anything to go by they too have woken up to this.

IMHO to honour the memories of all those victims of terrorism we should try to be a bit more honest and admit that Iraq was not just a mistake but a crime against humanity too.

I want to see the victims "avenged" as much as the next person , but not at the cost of freedom , democracy and justice which is why this administration has done for years now.

They have used those words and carried them like banners to persuade Americans that the cause of invasion was just.
Lies, deceit and more lies . Those words have been soiled by an administration with no shame and an attitude so devoid of common sense it beggars belief.

So yeah , I do believe the next president will do better. Because is he does worse we might as well just hand over the keys to the fundamentalist nutters as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks to the idiot supreme the whole world is now a lot more dangerous.

And what for ? No gain whatsoever apart for the contracts which will have been won in Iraq. Big Whoop!

The invasion of Iraq was morally, intellectually and strategically wrong. Wrong on so many levels , it's amazing it actually happened at all.

Iraq was never a threat but now thanks to Mr Bush, it might just be. For him to have made Iran and Iraq closer is a minor "miracle" ( or should I say horrifying prospect), the repercussions of which will be felt for decades to come.

Saddam and Bin Laden were always enemies. But nobody in the Bush administration was going to let a few facts get in the way of political expediency. What a shame Iraq did not roll over as expected. That was the first flaw in that very cunning plan.

[CMDallas]

Originally Posted by jsfountain

I live in France. I am taking french classes with a bunch of adults from other countries who have come to France. I enjoy hearing their views and perspectives of the world. One thing that continues to come up with me being an American is "what do i think of Bush?"; "are you ready for Bush to leave?"; "are you ready for the war to be over?"

And i have to smile and bite my lip. Because i think most people in the world are oblivious to what is going on in the world. They see what the media shows them and most often it is branded as Bush wants war. Which is just funny and really silly.

What i would love to say to them is this: Do you really think America is going to change after Bush (in regards to foreign policy)?

I suppose people believe that Al Qaeda will simply leave us alone after Bush is gone and that other forms of terrorism will not be aimed against us. But the fact is that the war in Iraq is really a war with Al Qaeda. As long as you have Al Qaeda plotting against the US in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq then you are going to continue to see a strong military presence in that region (100,000 plus troops). The next president (whoever it is) is not going to be able to withdraw a substantial amount of troops without causing a greater security risk both for the region and for the States.

So i am curious as to why people from the world and the States tend to think America's foreign policy is going to change simply because there is a new man (or woman) on the job. The same threats and obstacles will remain for America when they take office. Regardless of what people want, we are over there for the protection of freedom and for the preservation of freedom; both ours and theirs. I am sorry but the next American president will not turn away from that. The course will continue.

I couldn't of said it better myself, I hate it when people see the media over exaggerating it, but it happens.
The next US president knows that they simply won't be able to walk away from the subject, and simply pick up our bags and rake the closest rocket out of that desert, if they do they are stupid... who ever they may be. What you see in TV is posturing, they are telling you they will do so only to get votes.
If we pull out of Iraq we will see another Terrorist attack, this maybe in Chicago, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Athens, Manila, Singapore... wherever. Then people will look back at our president and complain on how they didn't do anything or changed Iraq.
We can't please everyone, so why try? Might as well and please your self first.
I am glad too see you, as a Frenchman, caring to think ahead in the future. The battleground has already started in Europe? the bombs have already started to go off, yet many of you don't have a troop in Iraq and are sticking you nose up, not only to our president (who by all means is no angle, but no devil either) but our whole country.
I think the Next US president will keep the troops their, maybe if they plan to get all of them out they will take them slowly. Unless its John McCain, he'll put more.
People always cry 'death and doom' that why it looks why were are loosing, death and doom, death and doom, death and doom. Instead people should think of Victory and Peace, Victory and Peace. The pessimistic minds of the people find this in the media, the media should show the good AND the bad.
These organization are found all over the middle east, which is a fact that some people choose to ignore.

[Sweden]

Originally Posted by CMDallas

I couldn't of said it better myself, I hate it when people see the media over exaggerating it, but it happens.
The next US president knows that they simply won't be able to walk away from the subject, and simply pick up our bags and rake the closest rocket out of that desert, if they do they are stupid... who ever they may be. What you see in TV is posturing, they are telling you they will do so only to get votes.
If we pull out of Iraq we will see another Terrorist attack, this maybe in Chicago, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Athens, Manila, Singapore... wherever. Then people will look back at our president and complain on how they didn't do anything or changed Iraq.
We can't please everyone, so why try? Might as well and please your self first.
I am glad too see you, as a Frenchman, caring to think ahead in the future. The battleground has already started in Europe? the bombs have already started to go off, yet many of you don't have a troop in Iraq and are sticking you nose up, not only to our president (who by all means is no angle, but no devil either) but our whole country.
I think the Next US president will keep the troops their, maybe if they plan to get all of them out they will take them slowly. Unless its John McCain, he'll put more.
People always cry 'death and doom' that why it looks why were are loosing, death and doom, death and doom, death and doom. Instead people should think of Victory and Peace, Victory and Peace. The pessimistic minds of the people find this in the media, the media should show the good AND the bad.
These organization are found all over the middle east, which is a fact that some people choose to ignore.

The war in Iraq has been proved to have engaged more muslims to become radical terrorists. It is not as if the war in Iraq has created less potential terrorists, so a withdrawl from Iraq would, according to common sense, probably make the world a bit safer. Maybe not Iraq, but the rest of the world.

Europe is a continent, not a country, and yes, bombs have gone off here, but only in countries with military troops in Iraq. The rest of us who don't have military troops in Iraq have not been bombed. To me, that is an indication that military presence in Iraq is the cause of terrorism in one's country, not the other way around.

Media is different from country to country, and even inside a country. The media I rely on is very focused on bringing forward different angles to every news it reports, good and bad.
One cannot make generalizations and say that "everyone is being mis-lead by the media" because we all use different media to gather our information from and through.

Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaida. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Iraq is of no threat to the US or to any other country outside the area. The only threat deriving from the area now is due to people there feeling attacked for no reason. If global terror will find a home in Iraq in the future, it will be because of this.
For the same reason as the US reacted as it did after 9/11. The muslims in the middle east are people too, and they react the same way Americans do when being under attack or feeling attacked. And IMHO, I understand if they would feel that way. Saddam posed no imminent threat to any country outside of the middle east, and even if it is a good thing he is no longer in control, it has not been handled properly. I have many Iraqies in my class, and they all say that eventhough it was bad when Saddam ruled the country, it was better under his rule than it is now.

My hope is that the next president (who hopefully will be a democrat, and preferably Obama) will withdraw the military troops from Iraq, and leave only peace workers.
I hope that the next president will take a step back and look at the situation with fresh eyes, and address the terrorism-problem from a new, well-thought through angle that the rest of the world can agree on and help out with realizing. The war on terror cannot be won by countries fighting it on their own -everyone with different styles. It must be fought by the whole world, working together according to the same agenda. Only then can we achieve something.
If a problem is global, then it must be solved globally.

The same goes for global warming. The rest of the (industrialized) world sees this as a problem and threat, and my hope is that the next US president will realize this and make changes like the rest of us have had to. Even small changes go a long way.

Then, of course, I also hope that he/she will be good for the US.

[Cornerguy1]

Sorry, folks, this thread is closed.

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