In considering whether it's worth the lives of young Americans and $2 billion a week of our national treasure to be in Iraq and Afghanistan, please name for me a single nation in the Middle East, except Israel, that is democratized. You won't because you can't.
As someone who spent 22 years of my life in the military I believe I've earned the right to criticize our nation's foreign policy efforts. Having lived and worked in the Middle East I also believe I have a better than average insight into our future prospects in trying to aid and assist in promoting a democracy anywhere in the region.
In my previous blog entries, "Foreign Entanglements" and "George Bush, the Dems Best Friend", I argue against our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan; that the best we can hope for in Iraq and Afghanistan is an authoritarian theocracy that is more honest than the previous one. I would also argue that our presence in the Middle East does absolutely nothing to assure our national security.
The first thing the Western mind must grasp is that the Muslim culture is not conducive to a democracy. The most prominent consideration in the Muslim mind is the religion itself; follow the teachings of Mohammad, pray five times a day, follow the Koran's guidelines on the treatment of women, fast for the month of Ramadan, etc. (the pillars of Islam). The very idea that the "freedom of the individual" goes against the tenets of their religion!
So how is it that, after a decade of fighting, after a decade of spending over a trillion dollars, after a decade of seeing the new emergent leaders of both Iraq and Afghanistan as corrupt as any we've seen, after a decade of the populace of both countries feeling no trust in their leaders, after a decade of seeing our troops coming home dead or maimed, are we still there?
If one wishes to argue the national security issue, I would say let's bring our troops home and deploy some of them to beef up security at our airports and harbors and put a several thousand of them at our southern border to stop the illegal invasion. Sealing our borders would do more to augment our security posture than anything we can accomplish in the Middle East. It would also do a great deal to reduce the costs of feeding, educating, medicating and incarcerating 30 million people who don't belong here.
Should we need to respond to another terrorist attack in the future, we have staging areas all over the region that is more than capable of responding to a domestic attack and doing great damage to any terrorist organization. We don't need to keep 200,000 troops in the Middle East in a vain effort to "nation-build".
Finally, we must recognize that the Muslim culture is diametrically opposed to our western values; we can never impose "peace" where no peace is possible. This is well evidenced in our 60-year effort to bring peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Enough is Enough. Bring our boys home, concentrate on our own domestic security, allocate those hundreds of billions of dollars spent on Middle East war-fighting toward our own domestic needs.
God Bless America....and let the "rest of them" sort it all out!
7 comments:
Well, I wish I could argue something here but I totally agree. We need to stop meddling in foreign affairs where there is not a substantial threat to our country. Maybe one of the bonehead liberals will disagree for the fun of it. ;) jo
Thanks for your comments, Jo.
I like most of this until the end.
"God Bless America....and let the 'rest of them' sort it all out!"
Please don't use God's name inappropriately, and in such an arrogant and ethnocentric manner. I'm not religious, however this use of a religious term in such an absurd statement is why the crazy religious extremist in the US exist. The "if you're not one of of us, you're one of them" mindset displayed in this statement is absolutely unintelligent, ridiculous and severely immature.
-An uncommon atheist.
Pussy.
Ah. Beautifully said, Anon. A one-word indictment against me, a 22-year vet with three combat tours. Wonder if you're not one of those war-game playing computer nerds who are brave as hell with conroller in your hand but possess a bit fewer "cojones" when you're in combat. Or...are you one of those chicken hawks that love to send "others" to war. Either way, you're as sad sack indeed.
HOOOOAAA Just!!!! I have been arguing these facts since 9/12/01. I am a Military Intelligence vet,went to Grenada and dealt with Charlie Wilson's war,where I found out first hand about Afghanis,Islam,Mid East tribalism and theocracy. Unfortunately, the average American civilian puke(as in Anon!!) will never ever get it. BTW to the "uncommon atheist" if you are "not religious", who are you to say ANYTHING about the appropriatness of the use of God's name??? Just another numbnut!!
Thanks for your comments, Grenada vet. The day G.W. Bush invaded Iraq, with the intention of nation building, I said "what the hell?"..then I said, "nobody's this stupid...he'll get rid of Sadaam and sons, get rid of any WMD and leave..Even Powell who bought into the intelligence on WMD told Bush, "you invade and occupy, you own it" To show, stupidity has no party, Obama is doing the same damn thing in Afghanistan. Bring em home, beef up harbor and airport security, put some on the border to stop the illegal invasion and you'll still be lives and money ahead. You might be interested in next week's blog on force structure and the all volunteer force vs military draft. Thanks again.
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