What if we had dropped aide instead of bombs?

[silverlib]

Humanitarian aid: winning the terror war
Peaceful military missions are curbing anti-US feelings in the Muslim world.
By Kenneth Ballen

WASHINGTON – The flagship for the war on terror could well be the US Navy ship Mercy. But this Navy vessel is not armed for battle. Just the opposite: It is fitted for peace.

The Mercy is a fully equipped, 1,000-bed floating hospital, which returned in September from giving medical care and training to the people of Indonesia, Bangladesh, East Timor, and the Philippines. The US Navy, Project HOPE, and other volunteer medical personnel provided free medical care, including major surgeries, for nearly 61,000 needy patients.

Amid the uncertainty about the best strategy in Iraq and how to answer the growing threat of terrorism and extremism in the world, there is one American policy of the past two years that has proven successful time and again: humanitarian missions by the US military. This policy is pro-military, pro-American, pro-humanitarian, and antiterrorist. Most important, it is actually curbing anti-American feelings in Muslim countries.

In global public-opinion surveys, Terror Free Tomorrow, the nonprofit organization I lead, found that the US military's humanitarian missions to the broader Muslim world have directly caused a dramatic drop in popular support of terrorism and extremism.

The surveys also showed a corresponding rise in favorable public opinion of the United States.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1220/p09s01-coop.html?s=hns

[Solly Mack]

1. Yeah - what if America had opted for helping people instead of

waterboarding them


What if....

but - Thanks to Bush and his enablers

Anger can and does infect generations.

[Kagemusha]

2. To the broader Muslim world = Indonesia, Bangladesh

It's not helping much in the Middle East.

Not saying it isn't a good thing in abstract but, it's not exactly helping where the need is greatest.

[countmyvote4real]

3. That's a BIG "what if?"

It should have happened instead of the * neocon policies and it may be far too late to be of any affect now.

* and Cheney are monsters that must be impeached now.

[Bigmack]

4. Seriously...

Imagine precision food-drops with big American flags printed on the bags?

Planeloads of jeans and blankets dropped into disaster zones. Same flags.

US Medical teams curing disgusting diseases with simple treatments.

Clean water decent shelter for the poor in the 3rd world with cheap US technology.

Want to shoot somebody... how about a few A-Teams surprising the Janjaweed?

Now that's winning hearts and minds.

All for less than we're pissing away in Iraq.

[silverlib]

5. And with this

we may have not destroyed a nation and its people and not have lost our precious military. Great reply - thanks!

[Higans]

6. Make Love, not war.

[NJCher]

7. sure, but

It would be better to get the hell out of their affairs and let them have who they want in a government instead of propping up sadistic and brutal regimes.



Cher

[Vidar]

8. Third world starvation through WTO loan sharking.

[radfringe]

9. what if we just dropped

bush and cheney...

....

[Bigmack]

12. Have you no pity? They are WMD. nt

nt

[radfringe]

13. actually

I was thinking of dropping them out of a plane at 30,000 ft over an active volcano :evilgrin:

[sweetheart]

10. The military should defend the borders

I'm pissed off that the pentagon has lost touch with its essential mission, and is now galavanting
around the world offering free healthcare built on the back of working class persons who don't have
that very healthcare... sucked dry being taxed to pay for elites to lavish 'AID' around the world
as PR for the miltiary complex.

Give the taxes back and let the people give their own aid... military aid my foot.

[silverlib]

11. My thought is that this goes a long way in

protecting our borders. I don't think we should disengage, but simply change the way we engage.

[Javaman]

14. Have you ever been hit in the head with a frozen dessert?

It's a big time owie.

Like my grandmother would always say, "please don't argue, let's eat!!"

After-wards, everyone would be too full and too happy and will have forgotten what the issue was to begin with.