Here related is the story of the Eagle and the Arrow:
An Eagle was soaring through the air when suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt itself wounded to death. Slowly it fluttered down to the earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it. Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced, it found that the shaft of the Arrow had been feathered with one of its own plumes. "Alas!" it cried, as it died,
"We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction."
As reader Bryan pointed out, this fable is a perfect illustration of how the West has been acting recently, in terms of foreign policy. From 1980 to 1988, the United States sent money and materials (including weapons) to Iraq, aiding them in their war with Iran. Also in the 1980's, the United States sent a couple of billion dollars in aid to Afghanistan in order to fund their operations against Soviet Russia. This is the same Soviet Russia that the United States kept alive during both World Wars, sending food, money, and weapons over. All three turned out to be enemies of the US, and two of the three have fought a war against the US.
The moral, then, is obvious. An enemy of your enemy is not your friend. A friend is only one who agrees with you on a moral level. It was not wrong in World War 2 for the United States to send aid over to Great Britain. It was wrong to send aid to the Soviet Union. It is not wrong today for the US to send aid over to Israel. It is wrong to send aid to nations such as Saudi Arabia.
What we need is a return to a Foreign Policy of Self-Interest. Actions should be made on principle, and that principle is clear: love thy ally almost as thyself, and kick the hell out of thy enemy.
---Jason Roberts
A lazy poster you are, hrmmhrmmpphh!
Posted by: Yoda | September 05, 2005 at 11:47 PM