What's the difference?

[JCSimon]

Yesterday, on Meet The Press, Senator John McCain was asked why he thinks it's so important to interfere militarily in Syria, when the Sudanese government has been systematically killing their own citizens for many years with no talk of intervention there. He brushed aside the question saying, "That's a different situation."

So, whet exactly is the difference? Only two things as far as I can see. 1. The Sudanese government hasn't stopped at killing their citizens...they've taped and tortured them, too. 2. Sudan isn't an oil-producing nation so we have no financial interest in keeping things settled there.

I'm not picking on Republicans, here. It's the government in general when it comes to interfering in other country's business. How can we say it's a "moral necessity" to interfere in Syria and not in Darfur. At least be honest. We have a huge financial incentive to keep Syria peaceful and on our side. In reality we (as a government) could care less about the humanitarian issues.

I understand it's how the world works. It just makes me sad.

[auddymay]

I agree, it's hypocritical. There is plenty of human rights abuses all over the world, yet when our government chooses to interfere, it is always an oil nation (with the exception of Vietnam...I'm still trying to figure out the human cost to our troops on that one, and for what?)

I find it distasteful when anyone questions why we are in a particular area the knee jerk reaction is to protect our Democracy! I think it insults the troops to waste their lives fighting conflicts we have no business interfering in and then invoking protecting our democracy. It upsets me everytime they talk about the body count of our troops. These are not limitless resources! And they are precious resources.

[JCSimon]

I'm even more discouraged and disgusted today. I just spent the evening with a 22 year old who has served two tours in Iraq. He's been shot twice and severely injured by ab IED. He's counting the days (49) until his commitment to the Marines is over. He's been told he'll (possibly) get 75% disability for his physical injuries, but that it will take at least a year to get through the paperwork. Scarier than that is his mental state. "Can you imagine what it feels like to see your best friend blown into so many pieces that his 'body' is shipped home in a baggie "? That's what he said to me. But he's also been told not to even bother applying for benefits based on PTSD, as his chances of getting it are close to nil. He told me he'd killed dozens of people with bombs and didn't care whether they were innocent or not. What the hell are we doing to our children??? He said they all are convinced that there's no way we can ever make Afghanistan stable; that they're just trying to kill off as many of the bad guys as we can before we leave. I'm sad and horrified and scared to death of the enemies we're creating.

[JCSimon]

Correction -- he's served two tours in Afghanistan.

[auddymay]

Exactly. What we are doing there (the Middle East) is beyond me. If we wanted to avenge the twin towers, why not just send in military drones like we did in Kuwait. Sure innocent lives would be lost, but what is happening now, anyway?

Don't get me started on the shabby treatment the soldiers get upon returning home. It's all so despicable. It's not a rep or dem short coming, it's both.