The problem with people, neocons and liberals and most mainstream sheep alike, is that they take history out of context, and do not look at the big picture, that all these issues are examples of statecraft at its finest, and we keep getting duped and continue to let history repeat itself. A great example is Al-Qaeda. We TRAINED the Wahabbists, we trained Bin Laden and his forces how to fight the communists, we gave them weapons, we backed them. Then they turn on us, naturally, and we claim we are being "attacked" and that we are somehow powerless over the islamic boogeyman unless we KILL SMASH DESTROY. T
he interventionism goes beyond just bases in Saudi Arabia - it goes so much deeper. As Alex Jones says (and i do not believe all of his claims, including about 9/11, but he does a very good job at analyzing just how government is able to grow itself), "problem, reaction, solution" - the state creates a problem through intervention of some sort- whether it be economic intervention or military intervention - then it "reacts" under the justification that it had to "do something" to stop the problem, then they propose a solution that always involves an increasein state power. US history is littered with these examples, yet people always confine themselves to debating specific events, such as WWII, the war in Iraq, etc, as standalone event, and do not attack the entire cycle of statecraft. We overthrew mossadegh and put in the shah, which increased tension with iran, which eventually boiled over and led to the hostage crisis, which made Iran our enemy, which led us to side with Iraq and give Saddam weapons during their war, which were then the justification for going into Iraq again. Noneof this would have happened had we minded our own business. Same goes with Al Qaeda, etc. The only real threat to our national security and survival in the past century was the Soviet Union, and it was diplomacy and sensibility that kept peace between the two super powers, not premptive war and intervention - it was the interventions that nearly led us TO war.
People need to take in the whole picture and learn about all the interconnecting pieces before they can have a respectable opinion on these matters. One of the biggest problems with mainstream American sentiment, both left and right, are these very real ignorances about the whole picture. It is this ignorance that allows statecraft through war and interventionism.
