When a nation takes on a project as deadly dangerous as waging a war, that undertaking must be grounded on an objective which is worthy, attainable at acceptable cost, and with the prospect that victory will serve the nation's essential interests. Do our Iraq and Afghanistan wars fit those parameters?
The stated objectives in both were primarily to change the controlling regimes.
Our interests were to be served by replacing autocratic rulers with some
form of democracy in each country. The hope was based on the assumption that democracies practice peaceful foreign relations. Little attention was payed to the qualifying conditions: worthiness, acceptable attainability, and the best interests of the United States.
We have arrived at the denouement of our war efforts as total
failure. The internal political and social structures in both those countries are
tribal, infertile ground in which to plant democracy. No surge, no expenditure of lives and treasure, can change those facts. Only evolution offers a possibility,
and evolution occurs over eons, beyond the life spans of our crusading politicians.
How many more of our heroes must be killed or maimed, how much more of our shrinking
treasure must be wasted, before our legislators recognize the futility of our efforts? There are some objectives which even the mighty United States cannot attain.
Can't we come to grips with that and stop these tragic foreign adventures?
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This past Monday President Obama declared the Iraq war is coming to an end "as promised and on schedule." Aren't we fortunate to have such a brilliant tactician leading our nation?
Not only was he able to predict when the war would end but delivered on the promise!
If we had only known that it would take nothing more than his patting himself on the back we might have demanded as much when he began his term.
It must be very comforting for our 50,000 troops in Iraq to know they will no longer need to die as warriors. They will still be there getting killed but not as warriors.
We have become weary of the same news about Iraq day after day so we just stop listening. Will this be our attitude in Afghanistan, also?
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