Originally Posted by kr1963

If you want another viewpoint of someone who was apart of the development of US control of the Middle East try reading John Perkins CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN, (Books : John Perkins Official Web Site )

Believe me KR, I mean no disrespect to you when I say that quotes like this one really bug me. Soooo many people will say stuff like this and reference a book. What if I reference Bush's book? You will say that your book is telling the truth and Bush is lying. Neither of us have any proof except what we choose to believe and what we choose to weed out. I haven't read the book you referenced, but I find it insulting that some anonymous book is what you refer to in making your case. I have refered to actual events in history that have been documented. I will check out the book, I promise. But if it turns out to be a conspiracy theory from someone who lost his job or something like that, then I will have to discredit it. But, that is just my opinion. I am about to google the book now.

Believe me, a book is not the only source of my opinions. They are based upon personal experience as well as things I have read & seen.

I worked for my grandfather for years & he had a International Shipping business. We shipped publications to places like Tokyo, Amsterdam, Athens, Sao Paolo, Bueno Aires & Karachi. We shipped books to colleges & universities in Cairo, Amman, Beirut, Haifa & Riyadh. I watched the head of the Jewish mafia pull a gun on him & threatened his life unless he started hiring Teamsters & Longshoremen. That's a bit different then what those organizations what you to believe. That's just SOME of the $hit I was around.

I myself, lived in Vienna & Hong Kong for a few years as well as having traveled in or lived in 30 different countries including the USSR, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates & the People's Republic of China. I learned a lot of stuff living there. Stuff I am not about to put on the net, in public.

Perkins was not someone who lost their job or who manufactured some alternate reality. He was a highly educated engineer who developed models for large construction firms to secure huge funds for them via the World Bank. He saw what happened. He knew the threats he brought to those 3rd world countries & their leaders, some of whom were assassinated. He woke up one day & realized he couldn't keep contributing to the "Empire."

My point is that the companies that make the scanning machines & security equipment are all running parallel to the Defense contractors. And they go hand in hand with the laws & policies. It is a slow erosion of liberties which we apparently all agree with because of this supposed threat. Our policies in the middle east have been calculated to grab control of those countries resources whether they agree to or not.

And when Bush or Obama tells everyone we are exporting Democracy, the truth is, is that our governments' actions have been subverting Democracy there for the past century, thusly turning the people of those countries into freedom fighters. Just ask any Iranian about the Savak or any Saudi about human rights. The American people don't realize that much of the world looks upon us as hypocrites due to the fact that we don't really know what our government is doing in those foreign lands.

Originally Posted by quinn14

It wasn't just a US plan. There were UN sanctions for years that were first put in place when Bush 1 was President. He ignored them throughout the Clinton administration and all Clinton did was try to talk. That didn't work. Iraq paid suicide bombers and harbored terrorists. The UN held a unanimous vote when Bush 2 was President that if Iraq failed to comply with the sanctions again, that military force would be used. To imply that this was just the US is false. The implication that we just wanted their resources is also false.

The information that the WORLD had, indicated that Iraq had WMD's. In a unanimous vote they all agreed to take him out if need be. Let us all not forget that it freed millions of Arabs and Muslims, too. If we wanted their resources, can you show me how it is benefitting us? I am really asking because I don't see any benefit of their resources at the gas pumps or anywhere else.

Hussein was assisted greatly by the Reagan administration & the Thatcher government. His weapons programs, computer systems & electronics were all provided for by the USA & UK companies. All defense contractors. As long as he played ball he would stay in power. He didn't. He wanted to reclaim Kuwait back to it's rightful place in the Iraqi nation. The people who were being surprised & killed under his regime was done so with the blessing of the CIA & MI6.

Originally a socialist & Soviet ally, the American government looked to grab control over Hussein in order to not only get control of those natural resources but also counter the new Iranian government. The endless border war between Iraq & Iran was brutal beyond imagination & nearly censored out of the American media. The weapons & deaths were all created with American support. The US government already knew he had WMDs as we helped to create them & we taught them how to hide them.

The US & UK lost control of the Iranian oil fields with the election of Mossadegh in 1952 & were very quickly to orchestrate an overthrown of that government. They replaced him with the Shah who then made sure that the control of the oil fields returned to the UK & US. So when the Ayatollah came to power, so then did the US & UK control of the Iranian oil fields come to an end....enter US & UK interest in Hussein....

KR, quinn and banbasketball, what do you think should be done in regards security at airports? I may not agree with all the actions of past or current governments but I still don't want my plane to be hijacked. The terror threat may be overblown by the media as you allege, but there are still some people who try to smuggle weapons into aircraft and history proves that it doesn't take a whole lot of weaponry to crash a plane. What do you think should be done to keep passengers safe?

I certainly don't have the answers to all questions, but why not have dogs sniffing people for explosives and have armed agents on each plane, along with regular metal detectors and pat downs? Like I have said earlier, other countries don't use the same tactics, yet we all have to fly home from these countries. Why do Americans seem okay to board a plane in Europe without being felt up on their return flight, but do think they need to go through it here?