An empire bulit on more of whatever...

Uh, Gus, you miss the point. Are you actually in favor of supporting the continued rule of the regimes in Iran and North Korea? If so, please explain why. Do you want to re-install the Taliban and Saddam, too? If so, please explain.

No I am not supporting "regeemes" like Iran and North Korea or even China for that matter... Nor the return of Saddam. The point here that "our" (that is the US's) policy of "regime-change" is ill-conceived and diplomatically fraught with accidents and eventually will bring more grief... It's easier to make heat than make cool... It's a bit like a forest where we're doing a bit a back burning. The season must be right... conditions need to be right. A wind change in summer and the whole place is on fire... Attack Iran for whatever fabricated reasons and this fire most likely happens. Attack North Korea and shit most likely happens... much less if China attacks Taiwan. The US is sweating on that one. Afghanistan and Iraq were very small potatoes... Any lie of convenience did it in the end in Iraq... The reality is that more than 70 per cent of the entire population of Iraq. although many are grateful for being "liberated", are waiting more and more impatiently for the US to go home... But the US policy is to be in Iraq for another 25 years from today... So things are not going to improve... The US has a policy of imperialism which is more subtle that that of the roman empire. Whether we approve of this domination or not, it is a fact. The US has 729 official large army bases around the world (outside the US), four more are being added in Iraq for a "permanent" presence in that country. These bases are not tents and barracks, they are fully fledged hard core to-some-extend-missile-proof buildings in the countryside. The main tool of imperialist US is money including subsidies and also to a great extend corruption. Corruption in the form of preferential treatment and under the table payments. Buying votes at the UN for example. The financial clout is ten times more what any other country can afford... as all countries are doing it. But the added huge US military presence is a clincher in bending the knees at the right time on the right command. It has benefits but it does offend many beliefs. The US has 2.7 million personel in its army... Only 150,000 are in Iraq. They keep the number low in Iraq for two reasons: increased number of US troops would exacerbate a tenuous position and second, they want other countries to do some of the work while they rip the assets in daylight robbery.