Americans have a difficult time imagining ways of solving problems that don't involve bombing. That is why many countries question whether our intentions are truly to promote liberty, human rights, and women's rights, or whether our motivations are imperialistic in nature. If we are occupying Afghanistan to liberate women, for example, how do we explain our close alliance with the Saudi Arabian government, which oppresses women? Other countries notice that when governments cooperate with us and give us access to their oil, we couldn't care less about their human-rights records, and that makes us look like hypocrites. Saddam Hussein was executed for crimes he committed while he was our ally. We actually increased our support for him after he committed those crimes. The only way our actions appear consistent is if you assume our foreign policy is about protecting our own economic interests.
--Paul Chappell from an interview in The Sun magazine
2 comments:
Thank you! I think it's a brilliant quote.
that's a brilliant argument. Now I have to google Paul chappell
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