Speaker Geeks! discussion

If it's a little help yes . But not the whole fight

It depends on whether or not a) the war involves an ally and/or b) one side desperately needs help, and the latter kind of depends on the former. If you see two people in the hall at school fighting, are you responsible for stopping them? Do you step in when they're both complete strangers? How about if one of your friends is the one being attacked? Or do you let them fight their fight?

I think that, too, the citizens of the country that is considering stepping in need to be in relative agreement that this is a war that we need to fight. Take the Vietnam War for example. This is a sore spot for many people, especially with veterans of the war. This was not a war that, to the best of my memory, the US was obliged to "help" in. Thousands of drafted young men went on to be killed for a cause that they didn't believe in, whether or not the government believed it was a worthy one.

I think in order for an intervention to be just it should have an unambiguiously just cause e.g. to repell aggression, to help a country gain independence, or to overthrow a repressive government & replace it with a democratic one that respects basic human rights, and there should be enough evidence that the potential benefit of the intervention would likely be greater than its potentional harm in the long run, and ppl of both the intervened country & the intervening country should support such a move. So even if one side of the conflict is an ally, I don't think the country should intervene if said ally is the aggressor or is on the wrong side of history, or if an intervention will make little difference to the outcome of the war and will be costly in terms of military & civilian lives.

I think and see often that countries that do intervene do it at their governments order. You rarely see the public voting to intervene in a war. Then when the war is there it affects everyone.

War should be fought only in a "Jus ad Bellum" system. Right authority, right intention, reasonable hope, proportionality and last hope. These are the processes by which war could be justified. Often it is not the case and there is just a way in.

I do not wish for war and I cannot stop it. I don't even think that countries should supply the other side in a war let alone fight with them and for them.

I think that a country could intervene in a war if they were
A) asked to,
B) offered help first,
C) the country intervening is an ally of one of the countries/owes one of the countries, or
D) both other countries were going way way way to far and just killing every chance possible or about to blow each other up/the world!

If any of these are not the case...I dont see a reason to involve another country in a war and risk my lives being lost. It is best to stay out of it.

Kaylee wrote: "This now kind of applies to Syria? Thoughts on that?"

I definately do NOT think we should attack Syria!
A) we are putting ourselves in danger
B) we are potentially putting inoccent Syrian citizens in danger
C) it will most likely lead to a chain reaction

Britians government has already decided against it, and we (the USA) are strong allies with them and should follow that decision not to attack. I think that we try to hard to fix other peoples government and make it like ours. (See other rant below...) But some people dont like being told they are wrong and having big powerful America coming in to bully them and tell them what is right. Maybe what the other country is doing IS wrong and they cannot see it, but bombing a country isnt gonna change their opinion, if anything, it'll piss 'em off even more! And honestly, we have pissed of A LOT of countries in the last 10 years! (Sorry excuse my language)

(...from above) I think our government (the USA) is good, and honestly, better than many other countrys'. But there are so many things wrong! The branches of government are supposed to be equal, but the Legislative branch definately LOOKS like it has more. I think the president is just the face of the US, the one who goes to the meetings and press conferences, and who gets pampered in the White House. Well Congress makes all the laws, and usually sits in confrence and debates over stupid laws while the important stuff is going up in flames because they can't act right away and make a decision!!! Arrrrg! I have our govt! I also think the voting is *pshd! Like, why do we need to stinkin' vote anyway?! Its not like it counts! The Electoral College (a group of "reperesentatives" from each stare that should be voting for their state but dont have to, theu can vote for what they want!) is who decides our country's leader. I think we should ship the Ekectoral College and vote the elections based on popular vote! Then its more what the ENTIRE country wants!!!!

I don't think the US should intervene in Syria. Despite some spillovers the war there is not really a major threaten to US or its key allies, and a US intervention there is very unlikely to be successful in stopping the killings because pro-democracy or pro-US forces there are weak, poorly organized & mostly unarmed, while both Baathist & al Qaeda are well-organized & have the backings of major powers.

It will make the intervening countries a target, sooner or later; only people will suffer; it's always the general innocent people who suffer, not the scums and rich ones, no. Bad for both the sides. There are enough problem in the developed countries anyways; why wasting time, power and respect bullying around in others! Do those firearms, drones, nukes have an expiry date! Should save it for world war z...

Som wrote: "It will make the intervening countries a target, sooner or later; only people will suffer; it's always the general innocent people who suffer, not the scums and rich ones, no. Bad for both the side..."

I agree. I think instead of waging unpopular foreign wars the US government should spend those money on development projects & providing free, quality education & health care to the poor & the underprivileged.

This bothers me so much! The US intercedes in foreign countries to "help the citizens" but mostly they simply want oil!
The US spends exorbitant amounts of money or wars, considering that we often make matters worse.

Yes!
The aid we do give often goes misused by the counties leaders rather than helping the people.
At home we are "to far in debt" to fix this country, but I think we're spending something close to a billion a day on war.
Intervening in another country tears it apart and destroys much of the country, and the new regime is the same as the old one (like Animal Farm)

Nicely put :)

AMEN!!!! US does not have to be the world's policemen...

Kate wrote: "

Military expenses of US vs the world.

Note: This is from 2011. Also, it's from huffington post, so I'm assuming it's accurate for the most part."

That's such a sad graph sometimes I really hate this contry

I don't really mind how much Americans decide to spend on their military, as long as they're not waging senseless & often devastating wars in other countries. c.f. e.g.the blog "Baghdad burning"