Posted by Hogryder on December 18, 2001 at 04:26:53:
In Reply to: Oh, Ken... posted by Peter the blacksmith on December 16, 2001 at 19:50:13:
Don't blame me, Peter, you brought it up.
The people presently inhabiting Afganistan have been at war with each other for centuries, not decades.
During the recent short peaceful period from the 1940's until the Russian invasion, Afganistan not only managed to grow enough food for all it's people, they exported food. Now their only crop of any consequence is poppies.
If you want an example of a poor country racked by civil war, look at Korea. The people of North Korea don't have enough food and education is almost unknown. A huge portion of their economy is devoted to making war. It is one of the poorest nations on the earth. South Korea is more or less a democracy (more so than many European nations today). Their people are well fed, they have very good universities, they export many manufactured products as well as food.
It's not having a civil war that makes a country poor, it's the attitude of the people. If the people are too lazy or too afraid to stand up for themselves they get the government they deserve. If you allow fanatics of any sort to take over your country, you have no one to blame but yourselves. And if your government, which you allowed to take power, attacks another nation or supports the people who launch such an attack, you have to be prepared to face the consequences.
By the way, the United States of America did have a civil war. It didn't destroy our country.
I close with questions. If, as you say above, "if soldiers would not be ignorant, how could they be soldiers ? (I have been in the aramy for 6 years)" does that make YOU ignorant? Have you only been ignorant for the last six years, while you have been a soldier or were you ignorant prior to that time?
All good things. ;-)