Imagine an occupied America

[annarborgator]

The thought experiment speaks for itself:

Imagine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of "keeping us safe" or "promoting democracy" or "protecting their strategic interests."

Imagine that they operated outside of U.S. law, and that the Constitution did not apply to them. Imagine that every now and then they made mistakes or acted on bad information and accidentally killed or terrorized innocent Americans, including women and children, most of the time with little to no repercussions or consequences. Imagine that they set up checkpoints on our soil and routinely searched and ransacked entire neighborhoods of homes. Imagine if Americans were fearful of these foreign troops and overwhelmingly thought America would be better off without their presence.

Imagine if some Americans were so angry about them being in Texas that they actually joined together to fight them off, in defense of our soil and sovereignty, because leadership in government refused or were unable to do so. Imagine that those Americans were labeled terrorists or insurgents for their defensive actions, and routinely killed or captured and tortured by the foreign troops on our land. Imagine that the occupiers' attitude was that if they just killed enough Americans, the resistance would stop, but instead, for every American killed, 10 more would take up arms against them, resulting in perpetual bloodshed. Imagine if most of the citizens of the foreign land also wanted these troops to return home. Imagine if they elected a leader who promised to bring them home and put an end to this horror.

Imagine if that leader changed his mind once he took office.

The reality is that our military presence on foreign soil is as offensive to the people that live there as armed Chinese troops would be if they were stationed in Texas. We would not stand for it here, but we have had a globe-straddling empire and a very intrusive foreign policy for decades that incites a lot of hatred and resentment toward us.

According to our own CIA, our meddling in the Middle East was the prime motivation for the horrific attacks on 9/11. But instead of reevaluating our foreign policy, we have simply escalated it. We had a right to go after those responsible for 9/11, to be sure, but why do so many Americans feel as if we have a right to a military presence in some 160 countries when we wouldn't stand for even one foreign base on our soil, for any reason? These are not embassies, mind you, these are military installations. The new administration is not materially changing anything about this. Shuffling troops around and playing with semantics does not accomplish the goals of the American people, who simply want our men and women to come home. Fifty thousand troops left behind in Iraq is not conducive to peace any more than 50,000 Russian soldiers would be in the United States.

Shutting down military bases and ceasing to deal with other nations with threats and violence is not isolationism. It is the opposite. Opening ourselves up to friendship, honest trade, and diplomacy is the foreign policy of peace and prosperity. It is the only foreign policy that will not bankrupt us in short order, as our current actions most definitely will. I share the disappointment of the American people in the foreign policy rhetoric coming from the administration. The sad thing is, our foreign policy will change eventually, as Rome's did, when all budgetary and monetary tricks to fund it are exhausted.

http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=14377

[G8rMom7]

While this article does provoke some good insights, it doesn't take into account the US military and the assistance and help they have given to people of Iraq and Afganistan. There are people whose lives have changed for the better because of the kindness of these brave military personel.

If the Chinese military were helping feed the hungry, provide housing for the homeless and protect our citizens from a dictator that was killing off their own people for his pleasure, then yes...I would welcome the Chinese military...and I would ask them to make me some good Kung Po chicken while they were at it.

But that's my .02

[TheTodd]

I think you've first have to imagine living in a country where you could be killed for saying the wrong thing or being the wrong type of person. If the American government were killing tens of thousands of Americans (outside of what the police already do kill mind you) for no good reason, then I might welcome a foreign force as long as I felt they were good for the long run.

[DocZaius]

Todd, I think you raise a valid point. There are cultural differences between the United States and even other western nations that would make the reaction to occupation difficult to predict.

We occupied all of Western Europe for a while after WWII, and I didn't see too many folks that were unhappy. Even civilians in Germany seemed pretty happy to have us there (in fact, if you read the accounts of American soldiers, German civilians treated them better than the French). Of course, they were happy not to be occupied by the Soviets.

Not that this is the same situation at all.

The USA has more of an independent streak than any country I can think of. We wouldn't take kindly to an occupying force at all, but other countries might tolerate it for a while.

Also: WOLVERINES!

[MinGator]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoM6IFiyRjE#noexternalembed#