RATING AMERICA'S ENEMIES!

RATING AMERICA'S ENEMIES!

(Gallup poll 2-12/Charles Jylha/Frazer Chronicle)

You know, I never thought about rating our countries enemies, I never figured it was that complicated of a subject.....but now, in this world of instant news, instant weather and pitch by pitch recall of a pitchers pitches to a particular batter, why not a rating system for our enemies, or as George W. Bush put it, "the bad guys."

In a Gallup poll taken during the early part of 2012, 30% of all respondents cited Iran as the biggest threat, with China coming in second at 23% and either North Korea or just plain old Korea coming in 3rd. with a score of 10%.

It was interesting....."At least to me," that 1% listed as a possible enemy of the United States, the United States itself. I thought the figure would be much higher, or not listed at all, at least some out there see a possible link between global war, America, and our attitude.

Iran, China, and Korea/North Korea were the only states to garner double digit votes as America's biggest threats for war. Afghanistan, 7%, Iraq, 5% and Russia and Pakistan with 2% each were the only real threats.....according to the poll. Saudi Arabia and Japan were also listed, but barley with 1% each. It seems as if the "House of the Rising Sun" needs to raise a hell-of-alot more before they can be considered any kind of threat.

Now there is a movement "afoot" to blame Israel for the September 11^th 2001 plane attacks in the twin towers and the Pentagon. Personally I could care less, pointing fingers, at this late stage, "10 years after the fact," seems a bit of a reach. I thought terrorists from Iraq and Afghanistan and the Muslim world were responsible.....now we have to attack somebody else.....wow, what a drag.

Look, the whole attack thing that took all those innocent lives that sunny September morning has left a huge scar on us all. We've been at war ever since.....and it really hasn't done any good. (The war.....I mean.)

Oh sure, we've killed thousands of bad guys, thousands more innocents and thousands of our own fighting men and women. During the same time frame, hundreds of thousands more have been injured, and the continuing care may break several smaller countries with the billions that ultimately need to be spent.

The military and politicians say that "we are safe" through the efforts of our intelligence gathering agencies and our military effort. We have to stay diligent and keep our wallets open (at all times) for future incurrence of expenses.

Some really profound smart guy coined the phrase "the long war" back in the early days of the war against terror. He was right.....the war in Afghanistan is the longest war in the history of the United States. It's a war that we aren't winning, and we can't win.

The Middle East is not our land, we don't belong there, the natural resources aren't ours, the people of the area don't want us there, and they hate us for being there. We are not viewed as the peace keepers, rather baby killers and killers of the innocent.

At this point it doesn't matter who did September 11^th 2001, most of the perpetrators are either dead or in prison, and it doesn't do much good to continue dragging up the past to keep the present going.

People talk about America's military might.....and it is true; America by far is the mightiest country with the biggest and baddest military weapons of all time. With each new military advent, someone, somewhere in the military wants to practice.....wants to use these "toys" to see how well they work, not in war games, but against real, living, breathing and when you hit them, bleeding enemies.

It's the next step in our military evolution, the guns, ships, planes and tanks just have to be tested.....in real combat. I'm sure the "powers that be" are hoping for a few casualties on our side so they can go after the evil bad guys.

We even have the USS New York, built with 24 ton of scrap steel that came from the World Trade Center. Tell me that that's not a rich one, the steel girders, melted down and re-cast as part of a military ship to chase the bad guys. I'm sure it would have made the people who lost their lives feel proud.

Rating our enemies huh, maybe our enemies are the military industrial complex, the people that run the Pentagon and a President who has not kept his campaign promises....."Get us the hell out of war.....and stop making these crazy war machines."