What did we do wrong in the Middle East?

Question

A lot of people, including Ron Paul for instance, like to say we caused 9/11 by "meddling" in the middle east. What did we do wrong there? Was it wrong to encourage freedom? Was it wrong to help them build medical schools and a public education system? Was it wrong to assist them with their public water and sewage systems? We're we wrong in opposing extremist that want life as it was in the 700 AD period of history? Are we wrong to support people who oppose stoning women to death because they went outside with out a man or a burkha? What extactly was it that we did wrong that justified their attack on the United States?

PS. Were we wrong in paying fair market rates for oil or should have just taken it at whatever price we dictated to them?

Answer 1

Civilian Liberals aren't supporting the Troops. They're trying to relive Vietnam again. I will do everything in my power to stop them!

Support the Troops, say thank you, and I love you to them, or more of them die.

Vietnam is the proof of that!

God Bless America, and our Troops!

Answer 2

Iraq was not responsible for 9/11. The solution to the problems of the Middle East... is to settle the Palestinian question, not waging war on another front. If somehow we can fix that problem... everthing else would fall into place. You talk of freedom...building medical schools, public education, public water, sewage systems etc. There's nothing wrong with that...but my friend the reality is...carnage is all over that place. We don't need to "meddle" but we add to the problem by not being fully and directly involved in the peace process.

Answer 3

We did not do any research into their culture and lifestyle. Knowing who and what you are dealing with is key to any venture. Besides it really was none of our business. You seem to think we went in as liberators. The fact is we went in to tear Iraq down to the bare bones. The goal is to give ourselves a military strategic position in the Middle East. Building schools and hospitals was to replace what we destroyed. This was supposed to make them like us. And you may want to do some research as to the type of people we installed to intiate these programs. One of the biggest mistakes they made was to underestimate them. The uneducated and uninformed saw these people as barbarians. When in reality they are thinking people. Israel is the reason for their attack. Iraq did not attack us. It was Saudis. Afghanistan is a whole other subject.

Answer 4

I myself am Jewish, so I am not a Jew hater. The problem started when the western part of the world wanted to compensate the Jewish people for the holocaust. They did this by displacing an entire country of Palestine and inviting the Jewish survivors to start a new life in Israel. One of the biggest supporters of this was the U.S. America did this not only because of compassion for Jewish people (they had little as evidenced by turning an entire boat load of jews back to Germany of which few survived) but because they were afraid of a communist spread in the Middle East and wanted to plant a democratic seed. Israel flourished and created an economic boom out of what used to be only desert and camels. Unrighfully, the government of Israel did not include any muslims in its government (it does now) and sort of created an unfair environment. However, that is the least of their worries; the religions of Judaism and Islam are incompatible in that part of the world. Literally, they are sworn enemies. Thus, despite what the western world thought was a fair deal, the Muslim nations wanted no part of it. Thus, the military and economic support of the U.S. towards a nation that is absolutely abhored in the region is what began the tension between the radicals of Islam and the U.S.

Answer 5

We have tried to steal from the middle east since the beginning of time........ but this could be one of the things we did wrong. Of course you can add to this the times we put people into office to suit our own needs.

Oil found in 1927
TPC obtained a concession to explore for oil in 1925, in return for a promise that the Iraqi government would receive a royalty for every ton of oil extracted, but linked to the oil companies' profits and not payable for the first 20 years. Drilling started immediately, and on October 15, 1927 oil was discovered at Baba Gurgur just north of Kirkuk. Many tons of oil were spilled before the gushing well was brought under control, and this sign of a large, valuable field soon proved to be true.

The discovery hastened the negotiations over the composition of TPC, and in July 1928 the shareholders signed a formal agreement: the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (which in 1935 became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and in 1954 BP), Royal Dutch/Shell, the Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP, which in 1991 became Total), and the Near East Development Corporation (a consortium of five large US oil companies, among them Standard Oil) each received 23.7% of the shares, and Calouste Gulbenkian the remaining 5%. TPC was to be organized as a nonprofit company, registered in Britain, that produced crude oil for a fee for its parent companies, based on their shares. The company was only allowed to refine and sell to Iraq's internal market, in order to prevent any competition with the parent companies.

The big loser was Iraq. The San Remo conference had stipulated that Iraqis should be allowed 20% of the company if they wanted to invest in it, but the oil companies successfully resisted Iraqi efforts to participate, despite pressure by the British government to accept Iraqi shareholders. In 1929 the TPC was renamed the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).

Answer 6

At the end of WW2 we have been acting as the de-facto heir to the British empire; we installed friendly regimes in Iraq and Iran. We sell tons of weapons to our "friend" Saudi Arabia, one of the most oppressive regimes in the region, and source of most of the 9-11 attackers.

We attempted to suppress a Democratic Revolution in Iran, and when the attempt failed, we funded and armed Saddam Hussein. When Iran and Iraq went to war, we carefully aided each side to ensure the fight wouldn't end quickly.

When we were done using Saddam, we bombed Iraq into oblivion (1992sh) and implemented some of the harshest economic sanctions of the modern world. Perhaps some 1,000,000 Iraqis died in the period between Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom.

I mean, why could they possibly be upset at us? 50 years ago we were seen as the liberator of the region, sent to save them from British colonization. Now, we just act like the colonizer.

Answer 7

Well you bring up a good point, but we also overthrew a democratically elected leader in Iran because he was going to nationalize the oil industry.... and so its important to keep in mind that while we often times do things for the right reasons we are also prone to doing things in our own self interest and the rest of the world is not stupid, it creates a lot of resentment.

Answer 8

We've never tried to foster democracy or freedom in the Middle East. We were only concerned with propping up dictatorships that ensured that their oil would keep coming to the US in order to power our economy. Many of the dictators that we've supported have been just as bad, if not worse, than any Sharia government would be. And many of the democracy movements that we've helped suppress there were actually made up of Islamist parties. I.E. there are no truly freedom seeking democratic parties there, only dictators and extremist religious movements. But we sure do love their oil!

Answer 9

Jimmy Carter contributed to much of the trouble in the middle east today during his presidency. GWB is the first president to take the issue head on and change the status quo. GWB is the man.

Answer 10

We should have never put troops on the ground in an area that hates Americans. Iraq never attacked America, for the 1 billionth time.