• Hell Has Frozen Over: Glenn Beck Admits Liberals Got Iraq Right
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[quote]Glenn Beck is admitting he was wrong and liberals were right for opposing the invasion of Iraq. “[Liberals] said we couldn’t force freedom on people,” Beck said at the start of his Tuesday radio show. “Let me lead with my mistakes. You were right. Liberals, you were right, we shouldn’t have.” [..] “From the beginning, most people on the left were against going to Iraq,” Beck said. “I wasn’t.” The talk show host explained that when a possible invasion of Iraq was being discussed, he believed Saddam Hussein was backing terror against the United States and that something had to be done. “In spite of the things I felt at the time when we went into war, liberals said, ‘We shouldn’t get involved, we shouldn’t nation-build and there was no indication the people of Iraq had the will to be free,’” Beck said. “I thought that was insulting at the time. Everybody wants to be free.” On Tuesday, Beck admitted, “You cannot force democracy on the Iraqis or anybody else, it doesn’t work. They don’t understand it or even really want it.” [/quote] [url]http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/glenn-beck-iraq-liberals-right-107981.html?hp=l7[/url]
Quite a surprise. Maybe he's been cutting back on this [thumb]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bESHfqJsJZM/TTeSSxWUX6I/AAAAAAAAAFM/rkx5-A0ZiTE/s1600/glenn-beck-800.png[/thumb]
[quote]They don’t understand it or even really want it.[/quote] I don't really agree with this particular statement, as it seems a little degrading to the intelligence and self-awareness of the Iraqi people, but he's right in that we can't force it on a nation. The people of a nation need to have the freedom to understand, and stand up against, the situation they're in. Annihilating their infrastructure doesn't exactly advertise the merits of a free society very well. :v:
[QUOTE=Kite_shugo;45145629]Quite a surprise. Maybe he's been cutting back on this [thumb]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bESHfqJsJZM/TTeSSxWUX6I/AAAAAAAAAFM/rkx5-A0ZiTE/s1600/glenn-beck-800.png[/thumb][/QUOTE] I'll be honest, I hear his radio show from time to time (my dad's a fan,) and he's gotten systematically less insane over the past few years. Of course, there was the time he wanted to build a theme park... But outside of that, not quite so crazy.
[QUOTE=Dalndox;45145770]I don't really agree with this particular statement, as it seems a little degrading to the intelligence and self-awareness of the Iraqi people, but he's right in that we can't force it on a nation. The people of a nation need to have the freedom to understand, and stand up against, the situation they're in. Annihilating their infrastructure doesn't exactly advertise the merits of a free society very well. :v:[/QUOTE] Culturally the middle east would rather just fuck off and have its tribes rather than these guys who no one really knows and are really corrupt.
Glenn Beck has had a cynical view of interventionism for a while now; it probably started with the attack on Libya, and reached it's head with the planned strike on Syria. In Beck's view the United States foreign policy has been revealed to be less about combating and suppressing Islamism, but rather advancing it by removing the secular leaders who keep it under control. In Beck's view the United States is facilitating the the spread of political Islam, which will eventually threaten the west and Israel. And Glenn Beck loves him some Israel. Basically Glenn Beck would like to see U.S. Mid-East policy revert to the "original formula": Muslim countries = bad, Israel = good.
[QUOTE=woolio1;45145903]I'll be honest, I hear his radio show from time to time (my dad's a fan,) and he's gotten systematically less insane over the past few years. Of course, there was the time he wanted to build a theme park... But outside of that, not quite so crazy.[/QUOTE] I suppose my greatet distaste for him stemmed from his show on Fox News
[QUOTE=Kite_shugo;45146017]I suppose my greatet distaste for him stemmed from his show on Fox News[/QUOTE] I can sort of tolerate his nationalist BS for a while. It's still not much better, but it is more tolerable.
[QUOTE=woolio1;45145903]I'll be honest, I hear his radio show from time to time (my dad's a fan,) and he's gotten systematically less insane over the past few years. Of course, there was the time he wanted to build a theme park... But outside of that, not quite so crazy.[/QUOTE] While "less insane" isn't saying much with ol' Beck, that's good to know I guess.
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;45146203]While "less insane" isn't saying much with ol' Beck, that's good to know I guess.[/QUOTE] Yeah... There really isn't much else to say, honestly. He did produce a series of reasonably accurate historical documentaries last year, but he hasn't done much outside of that.
[QUOTE=woolio1;45146253]Yeah... There really isn't much else to say, honestly. He did produce a series of reasonably accurate historical documentaries last year, but he hasn't done much outside of that.[/QUOTE] Trying to get a moderate base after his Conspiracy winger ones have been getting flakey.
Took him 11 years and he's probably doing it because he sees the coming storm on Iraq due to ISIS.
Not to fully diminish what he said, but it does seem funny that he would take this position now that it's his friend Obama who would be ordering any form of retaliations or escalations in Iraq.
Funny how the only thing it takes for Glenn Beck to admit liberals were right was an opportunity to call middle easterners stupid.
I find that he has been getting more sane recently. The Blaze, if you ignore the opinion parts, actually provides decent news coverage and articles.
[QUOTE=Dalndox;45145770]I don't really agree with this particular statement, as it seems a little degrading to the intelligence and self-awareness of the Iraqi people[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Paul McCartney;45145939]Culturally the middle east would rather just fuck off and have its tribes rather than these guys who no one really knows and are really corrupt.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Zeke129;45147480]Funny how the only thing it takes for Glenn Beck to admit liberals were right was an opportunity to call middle easterners stupid.[/QUOTE] I've spent some time in the Middle East, and something I've found a lot of Westerners don't understand is how different it is, culturally, from the US. It goes way beyond simple things like customs and language, just the whole cultural history and identity of many of the ethnic groups in the Middle East is very alien to Westerners. And the one big thing that I've seen come up again and again is this: [quote]“I thought that was insulting at the time. Everybody wants to be free.”[/quote] Where 'freedom', of course, generally means 'democracy'. There's more to it than that- liberating an oppressive regime was certainly beneficial to the people, especially groups like the Kurds. But the idea of democracy and individual autonomy in lieu of kings took centuries to take hold in Europe, and along the way it met stiff resistance. Most European nations have only had democratic societies for a couple hundred years at most. In many parts of the Muslim world, there is no cultural basis for democracy. You can depose a leader, and the people will say 'Great! Now, who's in charge?'. They genuinely prefer an authority, a leader who they feel represents the best of them, to make decisions for the people as a whole, and they see the democratic process as a clumsy, inefficient waste of time. If the people don't truly want democracy, it will not last, and forcing the political system on them works no more effectively than if an intervening government installed a dictatorial regime in Western Europe. It's not an insult. It's not that they're stupid. They just see the world a different way, and you can't force a perspective at gunpoint.
if they are alergic to freedom then why did millions turn out for every election under the threat of car bombs, attacks, and murder
[QUOTE=Dalndox;45145770]I don't really agree with this particular statement, as it seems a little degrading to the intelligence and self-awareness of the Iraqi people, but he's right in that we can't force it on a nation. The people of a nation need to have the freedom to understand, and stand up against, the situation they're in. Annihilating their infrastructure doesn't exactly advertise the merits of a free society very well. :v:[/QUOTE] he wasn't meant to say they're less civilized or politically backward thinkers (although it is easy to think that coming from a democratic country), some people just don't want democracy, they've known the way of their government for a long time and it's in their culture, they might not have wanted a new form of government just a new, nice dictator
Lets leave the part out where Obamas approval rating is at its lowest at an astonishing 41%
[QUOTE=Kondor;45149445]he wasn't meant to say they're less civilized or politically backward thinkers (although it is easy to think that coming from a democratic country), some people just don't want democracy, they've known the way of their government for a long time and it's in their culture, they might not have wanted a new form of government just a new, nice dictator[/QUOTE] I meant more along the lines of people suffering from oppression. If a country can function properly with a monarchy, all the power to them. What I meant is that it is up to the people living there to change their situation if they so desire it be changed. Forcing an alien system of government on to a country does nothing to showcase the merits of said system, whatever it may be.
[QUOTE=Jackald;45148869] Shouldn't conservatives want to, y'know, be conservative and not go to war?[/QUOTE] Conservatives are people who try and [B]conserve[/B] the status quo, generally in the form of trying to fall back on ye olde constitution whenever they can to prevent anyone else's agenda from gaining headway. Basically, they try to keep shit the way it is.
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;45145939]Culturally the middle east would rather just fuck off and have its tribes rather than these guys who no one really knows and are really corrupt.[/QUOTE] I think it's due to history. The US has a very short history, relative to the international community. Stuff going on in the Middle East is complicated, far too complicated for Americans to deal with because for us important 'history' basically starts at WWII. We tend to think that just dangling the opportunity to be 'free' will cause entire peoples to forget their histories so they can join us, as if they have no agendas of their own.
[QUOTE=Jackald;45148869] Shouldn't conservatives want to, y'know, be conservative and not go to war?[/QUOTE] Does that mean socialists want everyone to be social and have everyone talk all the time?
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;45151886]Conservatives are people who try and [B]conserve[/B] the status quo, generally in the form of trying to fall back on ye olde constitution whenever they can to prevent anyone else's agenda from gaining headway. Basically, they try to keep shit the way it is.[/QUOTE] They try to keep it the way it is... if they think the way it is is better than something else. For example, most conservatives want lower taxes instead of keeping the tax level what it is. In the end, both parties want to conserve some things and change other things. If anything, the name conservative would imply the desire to conserve traditional values, not the status quo.
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