Where we better off when the USSR was our only alleged enemy? Now America seems to have enemies everywhere!?

Question

Sometimes I long for the days of the cold war, when we knew where we stood, and we spent lots of money on trips in space, instead of invading Iraq and other countries.

Answer 1

simple solution: get rid of bush, get rid of enemies. Not that im totaly againts bush. He's probally not the best president but the world hates him and he gives us the image of being stupid.

Answer 2

We have a lot of enemies now, but one thing that cannot be stated enough is that many of these enemies are leftovers from the Cold War. It would be nice to think that during the Cold War there really was only an issue between us and the Russians, however, that is not the case. No, it was during this period that many nations throughout the Middle East came to dislike us, and continue on not liking us to this day. Some of these include North Korea, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Iran. These nations developed a great deal of dislike for us clear back then. So more than anything they just lost their cover, they no longer have Russia as their front runner, so now they are coming after us piecemeal.

So while there was a great deal of progress made while we were in the Cold War, we must not forget that there were many occasions when you were not sure you were going to wake up the next morning. The threat was real back then, just as it is real today, so while we are not fighting one united Communist enemy, we are fighting multiple various ideological groups that still have the feelings they had during the Cold War, so really things have not changed that much for us. We still know where we stand. We would literally not be in Iraq right now if we had never fought the Cold War.

Answer 3

During the cold war, there was constant threat of Nuclear War and Holocaust. It may have been better in the belief that the US had "one focusable enemy". However, this is not entirely true, as some of the enemies that the US faces today were in fact around during the Cold War. As someone else noted above there are just as many now as there were then.

It is vital to note, that most of the enemies of 'terror' and what-not are created and formerly trained by the US and/or the US security agencies. During the cold war the US invaded countries with the hopes of bringing democracy and freedom and in some cases they did and did not. A history book will give you more details.

However please remember this, "Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."--Benjamin Franklin. If you wish to be "better off" ~ safe and secure, then it is important that you do your best to make a difference and voice your opinion on all issues not just the ones on war.

Answer 4

Those enemies were always there. You just couldnt see them because everything was overshadowed by Cold War. Terrorist were hijacking planes, taking hostages, suicide bombs were hitting the Middle East and Europe, etc. You didnt read a lot about it because it was either ignored in the media unless you specifically looked, or in some way it was connected (usually in a tangled weave of things) back to the Cold War.

So the bottom line is, it was was always there, it was just ignored until 9-11.

Answer 5

we don't have any more enemies now then we did back in the cold war days....it just seems like more because you're reading articles on the internet and media...the only current enemies are iran (as well as one or two other non-compliant arabic countries), n. korea, and venezuela. russia is NOT a current US enemy. that's all just media speculation. all of the maneuvers that you see russia doing is just because they want to balance the western and eastern powers. they see the western powers being a little stronger, so they are trying to create a "balance". they are NOT planning war with the west, nor do they want wwar with the US. they are just trying to protect themselves "just in case". that is no different that the US does on a daily basis....

Answer 6

I sense you have a case of selective memory here. Aren't you forgetting China, North Korea, Iran? Perhaps you are forgetting the Marine Barracks bombing in Beiruit & all the airliner hijackings in the early 80s? Nothing was simpler then. Same old paranoia.

Answer 7

You obvisouly havn't took a American History class, don't you know without the Cold War there would be no Space Race, therefore no Man on the Moon, therefore no space exploration. If General Patton and General Bradley never fought in WWII, there would be know Bradley Fighting Vechicles in Iraq. War brings about new technology.Always have, always will.

Answer 8

The Enemies Have Always Been There

Answer 9

We didn't have the Internet back then.