Beckham,
You didn't lose friends. Especially after this post. If anything, you let your real feelings show through. Not the hostility some of us sensed in your first post on another thread. That goes further towards cementing friendships than anything else I have ever known.
Of course we understand that nobody wants to be dragged into a world war. But to stomp out terrorism, it takes a united world's involvement. Nations must choose whether they support the efforts of one side or the other.
This isn't America's war. We could never win it alone. Without the coalition of Islamic states behind the resolve of the UN and NATO we'd be lost. Saudi Arabia today announced they were breaking all diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, in light of their failure to cooperate with the world community, and their harboring of terrorists.
As a person, I must support my country, and at the same time demand that our government work with other nations in what lies ahead. As a citizen of America, and the world, I owe both of these obligations to my fellow man.
Please! Don't let the "false bravado" that some Americans use be something you judge us by. For every American who'd say things like, "Nuke 'em all!", there's dozens of Americans who understand the real role America plays in the balance of world unity. All too often the news media picks up on these stupid statements by overly macho Americans to indicate it's how we feel, when nothing could be further from the truth. What more can we expect from the media than to create more problems?
We do feel the pain of each bombing in Belfast, we feel the anguish of mothers who watch as their children die of starvation in a war torn nation of Africa, and we sense the frustration and fears of people, when their lives are helplessly manipulated by leaders whose only goal is to wage war against the civilized world. Even though it may appear we are de-sensitized by the violence around the world, nothing could be further from the truth. If we didn't care, why would the U.S. invest so much into helping nations where even the governments are totally opposed to everything we say or do?
Wolf