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Originally Posted by Pragnosis
Obviously the US will eventually be concerned about China because China is predicted to be a ruled by a democratic government by the year 2015 and will probably end up being the worlds second superpower (or third if you count the European Union).
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I am curious as to where you read this prediction, as I have never heard this. However, accepting this prediction prima faccia, this is the dream of the current US administration. The whole premise of democracy in the Middle East is the "democratic peace" theory, which finds its roots in Kant's
Perpetual Peace, and has been forwarded by several scholars in the recent decades. Under these theory, democracies don't fight one another.
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Originally Posted by Pragnosis
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These numbers are based on a flawed study. Look up the thread "Debunking the Lancet Report" in this same forum to read about why it is flawed.
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Originally Posted by Pragnosis
I don't particularly agree with your notion that soldiers are too concerned about the welfare of the Iraqi civillians. The soldiers are very well indoctrinated and totally believe that they are 'helping' the civillians. I personally believe that they are of average intelligence and are unable to see the big picture of how much of a disaster this is.
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Actually, the demographics of the US military indicates that it is of above average intelligence based on the fact that it holds a higher rate of high school degrees than the general population. Not a perfect proxy, but certainly one that is useful.
In terms of indoctrination, this is a load of BS. While you are trained to follow orders, every soldier has a conscience (outside of a troubled few who somehow pass through all the filters) and the ability to determine whether they are doing good or not. They can see the looks on the faces of the adults and kids that they interact with and form an opinion based on something solid. They may not have the whole picture, as you term it, but the reality is that the whole picture is made up of thousands of little micro pictures, and the soldiers have a solid grasp on this.