Thankee, Doug.
LH, you are confusing companies based in America with American companies. There are companies like the one run by my friend, Doran. You've probably heard of it: Sabine. They make tuners, the first feedback eliminator, pedals, and, lately, a really good wireless mike. The plant is local and provides around 100 jobs. Doran is part of the community and gives back to it. It's called "enlightened self-interest" and he practices it.It's an American Company.
The companies based in America have no loyalty but to the bottom line. The Corporate offices may be here, but the plants are in Indonesia and Thailand and if a cheaper place suggests itself, they'll pull up stakes and go there.
This will continue to happen until laws are passed that make it unprofitable. As Thomas Jefferson said, merchants owe alliegence to no country.
R.R., I disagree, but it's differences of opinion that makes horse races. The sad fact is that the UNwould not do anything but dither; witness Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo. The sanctions were devised by men who naively assumed that Saddam actually cared about his people. The US must bear the blame for the sanctions lasting as long as they did. It was criminally shortsighted but that's the nature of the politician I fear; once you've committed, go with it al the way.
As an interesting sidelight, there have been some 28 international (more than one country involved) armed conflicts since the founding of the UN. In only three of those was the approval of the UNSC sought. Those three were Korea, Gulf War I, and Afghanistan. In all three cases, it was the US who asked for and got UNSC approval.

troll

troll