In response to "Chris" who wrote. "My point is that the conflict in the region was not created by the US and will not stop when the US leaves, making "US out now" demands kind of irrelevant, if what you care about is people not dying (rather than, say, attacking Obama, which is a frequent sport of the US left".
1. As a leftist, I "attacked" Obama - many months before he was elected. In that "attack" I pointed out that he would do precisely what some liberals now find so disturbing.
2. Read:
* Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East, by Rishid Khalidi.
* All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Kinzer (can't remember his name at the mo) 3. There is some truth in your assertion that the US did not create the crisis in the region, but the US did not emerge from the planet of innocence in 2003. The fact of the matter is that the US is the aggressor/invader/occupier in the conflict(s) and in violation of the sovereignty of the people in Iraq and Afghanistan. While I don't speak for the left; being leftist means constant vigilance against dominance, abuse of dominance, oppression and violence, the slaughter of innocents - and in my personal case, the reproduction of false beliefs as orthodoxy, exposing insoluble contradictions and antinomies in propaganda, discursive practices, policies, behaviour, conduct and states of affairs in general.
NB: Apologies in advance if I am out of line. I have not followed the entire debate.
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