East - West Perspective

[nightdriver]

Hi everybody...
I'n new in this Forum. I got my Euro Accord 2.0 last month and was looking for an active and dynamic site related to TSX/Euro Accord...and finally I'm here

I'm from Turkey and living in Istanbul...
Wondering how you react to Iraq War and opinions for American Foreign Politics from first mouth regarding election coming next year (am I right).

We are neighbours to Middle East, but how is Bush's politics seen from your own point of view? I appreciate if you write objectively rather than in nationality moods.

Thanks in advance...

[larchmont]

Well, I don't know how much "objective" stuff you'll get, but..... :D

Actually this has been discussed on various threads here. In fact, I see you know about the "Politics & Religion" forum, because you put this thead on that forum. If you click onto that forum and look at the list of threads, I think you will easily recognize which threads talk about this. (Really it's MOST of the threads on this forum.)

By the way....the election is this year, not next year. (First week of November.)

And I'll take a swing at an "objective" opinion.

During the period leading up to the war, the great majority of people in the U.S. supported the war effort -- because we believed what we were being told. Yes, there were some people who argued against invading Iraq, including (for example) Howard Dean, who was trying to become the Democratic nominee for president.

And this remained true during the early stages of the war, certainly for the first few weeks, probably for a few months. But then, gradually, more and more of us starting having doubts. Most of us at least became ambivalent. We hated Saddam Hussein and we were glad that he was out of power and that he was captured, and we thought maybe there really is a possibility that the war will lead to a better Iraq and a better Middle East. But we questioned whether it was right and whether it was worth it for us to have gone in. And it didn't help that our administration didn't seem to be knowing what it was doing, and that it was doing a bad job. Within about the last 2-3 months, we have gotten to the point where the majority of people weren't in favor of the war any more. Some polls have shown a slight majority against it, and all polls have shown us to be at least very divided on it.

I can't wait for our "conservatives" to come in and start saying how I'm full of s***. :D
I think they always do.

[nightdriver]

Thanks larchmont...
I read those threads...
Actually I just wanted to discuss same situtation from two sides of world...Regardless of news on TV or newspapers...some may be suppoters of politicians...at least here they are...

Anyway I appreciate if any additional posts come...

[pocketkiller]

I heard something like 90% of citizens of Turkey are against the invasion of IRAQ. Is this true? Where do you stand?

I think Larch's assessment was pretty objective, however he only described the mood of the nation. Again there is a complete opposite view for his statements...we are still a very divided country over Iraq. You could say 50/50. People still praise Bush for his decisions and support him to this day.

Americans see Turkey as one of their greatest allies today, and were saddened by the lack of support from Turkey in the Iraq conflict. We don't always understand the lack of support, as we see Iraq as a necessary step in the global war on terrorism. Also, the fact that Iraq was given 17 United Nations resolutions the past 20 years gives even more question to why there was such a strong opposition to our stance on Iraq.

[nightdriver]

Actually we need to focus on the real reason of Iraq war. Is it against terrorism or a dictator? Americans was supporting Iraq war coz you faced with the 9/11 and it seems that it's one of the biggest attacts occurred in the US by foreign power. It should have been so shocking and scary...And the Government should have found the responsible...

I don't think that this war is about terrorism. It's about the power. Middle East is located somewhere which is the source of power actually. This is Petrolium. This territory holds most of the reserve. And a dictator is threat for this power.

Turkish people are against Iraq war coz we are so close to this war, it affects economy and tourism...But the biggest problem here is that the lack of domination in Iraq results seperation of minority groups. It causes establishment of Kurdistan which is unacceptable. It is like redskins in the US requesting Michigan to establish their own country. However your country and our country has been established on this mosaic...

I can say that we are much more sensitive in this situation. Coz we gave 30,000 dead for PKK (Kurdish terrorism group)terrorism whose aim was spliting the country.

Typical democracy doesn't work in Iraq. It's not an Hollywood movie in which a hero comes and gives freedom to a nation to govern their country. Those minority groups are against each other. They don't know what democracy is, they know their rifles which gives them power to govern.

This is exactly what I'm afraid of...Chaos

Time will teach them democracy, but this is not a short time...believe me

[larchmont]

.....Typical democracy doesn't work in Iraq. It's not an Hollywood movie in which a hero comes and gives freedom to a nation to govern their country. Those minority groups are against each other. They don't know what democracy is, they know their rifles which gives them power to govern.

This is exactly what I'm afraid of...Chaos

Time will teach them democracy, but this is not a short time...believe me
I'm pretty sure this is at least 90% true, and I'm afraid it's 100% true.

And one of the things that has worried me about the Bush administration -- I mean ALL of those folk -- is that they seemed clearly not to realize this -- not before the war, and not after it started.

It's possible they've started realizing it more recently although they haven't shown any sign of it.