Some guns from Libya

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Spartan198

Comments on online news stories and forums, YouTube, and such are always condemning us for it. I know taking words from random anonymous Internet people (no offense, IMFDB) seriously is probably telling of my less-than-groundbreaking level of intelligence, but those represent a person's opinion just like marching outside a building with a sign in your hand does.

If you admit this, then you aren't stupid. Just a little too addicted to being argumentative. I used to be the same way; as a lonely teenager, I used to waste hours on message boards in debates (probably more than BurtReynoldsMoustache).

Originally Posted by Spartan198

how were we supposed to know we'd be fighting them in 20 years? We aren't a nation of psychics who can look into a crystal ball to see who our next enemy will be.

Being psychic has nothing to do with it. Unless you think we needed to be psychic to realize that, in WWII, we were aiding a future enemy (the Soviet Union) against a current enemy (Nazi Germany).

I am familiar enough with realism in American foreign policy to know that considerations of ideology are often irrelevant. We aid state and non-state actors whose ideology is at odds with liberal democracy whenever it suits us.

Originally Posted by Spartan198

As far as Libya goes, weren't they on the UN human rights council just prior to Gaddafi turning his army on civilians?

Yes, but the UN is a joke. Many dictatorships have been allowed to chair committees in the UN that are meant to promote human rights - even though these same governments are some of the world's worst human rights violators.