For The Good of Our Country

It’s really difficult for me when I see what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. Do you realize our troops have been over there now for 10 years? For those of us old enough to remember the demise of the Soviet Union do you remember what the Soviet leadership was doing just before that momentous event? They were squandering their nation’s people and wealth in a long civil war struggle in Afghanistan. Our leader at that time, President Reagan supported the Afghan rebels with weapons and money. Little did we know at the time these freedom fighters would turn out to ultimately be the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The real problem being that once the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan, our leaders withdrew America’s influence from the region as well. Then came Sadam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and the first gulf war.

Our forces spearheaded the effort against the Iraqis and once again our leaders pulled out of the region without finishing the job. It’s hard to say where we would be today if we had stayed the course over there and helped those people. Maybe we might have never heard of the Taliban or Al Qaeda and there certainly wouldn’t have been a second gulf war. There are so many maybes when you consider it, but those aren’t the cards we’ve been dealt.

Today, with our country’s economy on life-support, we continue to maintain armies of our fine young men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently we’ve supported a multi-nation effort to aid the rebels in Libya’s civil war while we continue to maintain a military presence all over the world at an astronomical cost to our citizens.

So, the question comes to mind: What exactly is our strategy? What would we face down the road if we withdrew from the Iraqi and Afghanistan killing fields? And, conversely, what could happen if we attempt to maintain our presence in those countries? There are two scenarios that recent history points to. If we continue our military presence in the Middle East, there’s the Soviet model of a collapsed economy leading to civil unrest within our country that in turn could change how we govern ourselves. On the other hand there’s the alternative of pulling out our forces, attempting to heal our economic woes at home and risk the rise of an even greater threat possibly led by Iran’s fundamentalist leaders or some other radical Muslim government or sect. Looking at our situation, I’ve got to believe there’s only one course to follow and that’s the military withdrawal from the Middle East. Let’s face it; if our country totally falls apart economically we won’t be in a position to maintain our military presence anywhere, let alone in the Middle East. Withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan at least gives us a fighting chance to get our own house in order. Whether our current President would attempt to get our economy rolling is another question as he seems intent on overseeing the demise of our nation for whatever his reasons may be.

The terrible news of 30 U.S. special force personnel being killed in Afghanistan has brought these questions to the forefront. For the good of our country, take our forces out of the Middle East and pray that a greater threat doesn’t come about. We simply must get our economy on the road to recovery. If we can do that, then we will be better prepared to face what may come next…