"Never again."

    Okay, here's the deal.  The U.S. has NEVER been very good at stopping genocide.  Everyone likes to bring up WWII and show how we beat Hitler and stopped the horrors of the holocaust.  True, our military was the key to victory in Europe.  The British and the Russians would have been overrun if we hadn't joined in.

    But, we forget whose side we took.  Stalin is probably the most murderous dictator of all time and clearly is of the 20th Century.  Before we ever really knew what was happening to the Jews in Germany and Eastern Europe (which is another one of the greatest horrors in human history... please don't misunderstand me on that), we knew massive amounts of people were being killed in Russia (Stalin was a rabid anti-Semite as well).  But we joined forces with him during WWII and we love to pat ourselves on the back for it.  Was Hitler evil... you bet!  Was Stalin just as evil if not more... you bet!  

    The point is that genocide has NEVER been our motivation to go to war.  Even the outcries over Spanish atrocities in Cuba in the 1890s did not cause America's entry into its first foreign intervention.  We saw the opportunity to kick one of the last colonial powers out of our side of the Atlantic and took it.  Read the speeches of William Jennings Bryan and you will see how humanitarian issues were presented in the beginning and it was quickly evident that the government had their own version of colonialism in mind (sounds familiar).

    If we were so committed to stopping genocide in Iraq, why did we not invade in 1987-88 when Saddam was gassing the Kurds?  Because it was not in our "National Interest."  That is the true reason America ever goes to war.  So, for McCain's spokesman to insinuate that Obama doesn't really care about possible genocide in Iraq is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black (why do I feel like people won't like the use of that phrase in this election?). 

    When will America give up its Messiah Complex?  We are not, and never will be, the answer to the world's problems.  Why, because we are selfish bastards just like everyone else.  I do hope that Obama was right in his speech at the Holocaust Museum when he said, "Never again."  The only thing I see a problem with is that America cannot be the only one committed to that for it to be true.  We also must really mean it and not only intervene when it is in line with our "National Interest."  Can anyone say Rwanda or Sudan?