Cap, what are your views on the following:
- Socialist states (eg. Cuba, Venezuela)
- Global Warming
- Iraq
Also, what religion, if any, do you follow?
Socialist states are more of a threat than we also a general populace give them credit. Cuba is pretty docile as Castro dies but I honestly think that leaving him in power has actually prevented worse things from happening. That being said, had we done something very early about him the people in Cuba would have been better off. It will be interesting to see how things turn out when he croaks. Chavez on the other hand is terrible for us and for his own country. If you still believe in Manifest Destiny then this dude needs to go. We need the CIA to organize a resistence against him. A President (and please save your Bush comments) should not be an outright dictator and oppress his people. Additionally, I think him having oil and us needing it puts him in a good position to mess with us and we would have to proceed in an intelligent manner to avoid another all out war. A smarter "Bay of Pigs" would work if executed correctly.
Global warming, based off information I have seen and been taught tells me we are half the problem. I had a recent class with a professor that said this is a cycle that the Earth goes through. I believe that to be true because of extreme heats and colds that happen all the time. Everything is cyclical. Sure we have different technology that exacerbates the problem but we still do sustain. It's been pretty cool this winter for me so I'm not sure about how the summer will be. I've experienced highs and lows all the time so I would imagine the Earth can manage. Blaming the oil companies does not take away the responsibility of the consumer. If everybody cared as much about global warming as they say they do, we'd all ride busses and bikes but we don't. My prof said that there have been times in history where this has happened before, without the aid of fossil fuels burning.
Iraq is always a fun topic. I think we need to secure our interests and finish the mission. It is heading towards a Vietnam execution and that is bad. Securing oil. Fine. Setting up a regime of democracy or close to it is good for the people. They have been under a dictatorship so long they don't know how to function in a system like ours. Give it time. Six years isn't enough time. As far as strategy, less conventional forces. Better trained conventional forces. More Spec OPs and Mercs. Mercs cost money but training and sending troops overseas is more costly in the long run. Replacing dead soldiers costs money. Mercs don't care about dying and won't cause as much of a public outrage, the same for Spec Ops. Nobody hears of their deaths. Replace Marines with Rangers or SEALs to execute the missions, prefereably Rangers. Rangers are the best for for going in and blowing up everything and killing everyone in their path. SF and Delta are the best for gathering intel with little loss of life on either side. The right people get killed. they need to focus on getting more of these guys into action. I'll say it again, 18 year old Marines are causing problems and aren't trained for an unconventional mission.
Roman Catholic.