And this is why pulling out is an awful idea.

Inogenius

Just because we didn't have troops there before Pearl Harbor, hardly means we weren't involved. We were HEAVILY involved prior to Pearl Harbor, financing and supplying the UK with guns, bullets ... etc.

Blitzkrieg

Exactly, Terry. I also find it hard to believe that we were going to sit it out unless something like Pear Harbor occurred. Germany was going to be a threat eventually, either on our soil, or from a trade standpoint..

CrasH - X

Remember the Spyda, dude ..

Inogenius

Lets also keep in mind, that it wasn't until Germany started to fall that people began to realize there was a serious ethnic cleansing going on. We obviously didn't have the spy satellites now that would reveal the information in an instant -- even now, we can't do it. Myanmar has been going through a HUGE ethnic cleansing; entire towns have disappeared in a few years. We know this because of satellites, but we don't know how they were killed, or even who was targeted in the mass killing spree. So to say the Canada joined because of a moral obligation is hardly true. Canada, just like the USA, and the rest of world hardly had a clue that 6 million people the Third Reich deemed 'unfit' would be brutally massacred.

With that said, the USA hardly deserves the credit of saving Europe from Nazi-Germany. Don't get me wrong, the USA contributed a lot, but there were so many things that needed to fall into place. The USA's biggest contribution were simply supplies, men, and the cracking of the U-Boat encryption technology. The U-Boat army of Germany was an unstoppable force up until the USA cracked the technology, and could identify where every U-Boat was stationed. Had this not happened though, the USA would very likely be speaking German. There were many U-Boats stationed off the coast of the United States. One was just found a few years ago right off the coast of New Jersey! Want to guess what the target there was? And that's not the only boat. There's numerous U-Boats that are sunk off the coast of Florida, the Carolinas and numerous other ones along the New Jersey, Massachusetts coast. If Japan didn't want to fight us, Germany was going to.

For those curious, the U-Boat encryption technology is extremely similar to WEP encryption that was released to the public through Wireless routing technology. It's horribly insecure; don't use it. The fact that we cracked it in the '40's speaks for it's technological capability.

But if anyone deserves praise for stopping Germany, it's that gal known as Mother Nature. She pulled a horribly under-supplied Germany army into the freezing Russian tundra. Russia was well prepared for the weather; practically any Russian citizen was better prepared than the German army.

For those curious, here's a map of sunken U-Boats on the US coast - uboat.net - The U-boat War in Maps - US East Coast

Blitzkrieg

You also cannot underestimate Great Britain's importance in this war. If they had just rolled over and died, everything would have been a lot easier for Germany, but for such a small country, Britain played ball far longer than anyone of similar size could have ever done.

Lynch

The life of ONE American soldier is not worth losing to a country that doesn't seem to want the democracy we are suppossedly helping them build. Do anyone really think a shift in govt. and a new constitution will undo thousands of years of religious war? You can't force freedom on them. Pretend Iraq conquered the U.S. and say next week we'll all adopt their way of living. Do you think there'd be chaos, resistance and violence? Absolutely, and Iraq is much more religiously dominated than America is, u can't talk to zealots.

If you could gurantee that in a few years that Iraq would be like a European country in the Middle East, and it would sustain itself, then yes, we should stay and create that. Of course we'd get oil much cheaper, say free. But it won't, it'll devolve back into 3 warring tribes of crazy people. So let them do what they want as long as they stay out of our shit. Baghdad is crime ridden? Ever read any stories about L.A? Should we send troops there?

Just remember, staying could be indefinite, so it could be you or your kids getting shot at for someones pipe dream.

"What the hell is an aluminum falcon??!!"