Every once in a while, I think of the ongoing sacrifice being made by our troops today... I wonder if Iraq and Afghanistan aren't just being used as a live-fire exercise to train the military.
We have discovered... like so many others before us… this region remains a total loss. Mistakes have been made to be sure, but the reality is clear: you cannot liberate a people who do not want you to liberate them.
We cannot go around handing out democracy on the end of an American bayonet. Corruption runs rampant. Seventh century ideology is not compatible with our time. Short of killing everyone in the region (which I am NOT advocating), there is no foreseeable way to "pacify" that area.
It's long since time to leave.
These regions are, I believe, a threat to the West to be sure, but how is that threat reduced by sitting there like targets and getting killed?
If we will not fully commit all of our resources to taking these people out, then there is no point in remaining. There is not only no light at the end of the tunnel… there is no tunnel.
Chalk it up to experience. Of course our departure will result in these places sinking further into the abyss, but our half-stepping insanity has only slowed their descent… it by no means has stopped it.
We should gather up all of those who served us and bring them here. We should flatten every facility we built, destroy every weapon and vehicle… we should do now what we should have done from the start and destroy their ability to manufacture any illegal drugs (Afghan poppy fields appear to be under US protection) and come home.
Other countries who think they can tame the region are welcome to give it a shot. We can keep it quarantined and let them blow each other to hell. This time, however, we cannot abandon those who put their lives on the line because they believed in us. We cannot afford another Vietnam-style outcome where those who believed us were abandoned… and in many instances, slaughtered.
If that becomes our permanent track record, soon, we’ll be running out of allies.
But it’s time to put an end to this. Staying to prop up these corrupt, drug-producing mini-empires makes no sense.
End it now. If there's terrorists to kill, then quit screwing around and kill them.
But it's time to come home.
We have discovered... like so many others before us… this region remains a total loss. Mistakes have been made to be sure, but the reality is clear: you cannot liberate a people who do not want you to liberate them.
We cannot go around handing out democracy on the end of an American bayonet. Corruption runs rampant. Seventh century ideology is not compatible with our time. Short of killing everyone in the region (which I am NOT advocating), there is no foreseeable way to "pacify" that area.
It's long since time to leave.
These regions are, I believe, a threat to the West to be sure, but how is that threat reduced by sitting there like targets and getting killed?
If we will not fully commit all of our resources to taking these people out, then there is no point in remaining. There is not only no light at the end of the tunnel… there is no tunnel.
Chalk it up to experience. Of course our departure will result in these places sinking further into the abyss, but our half-stepping insanity has only slowed their descent… it by no means has stopped it.
We should gather up all of those who served us and bring them here. We should flatten every facility we built, destroy every weapon and vehicle… we should do now what we should have done from the start and destroy their ability to manufacture any illegal drugs (Afghan poppy fields appear to be under US protection) and come home.
Other countries who think they can tame the region are welcome to give it a shot. We can keep it quarantined and let them blow each other to hell. This time, however, we cannot abandon those who put their lives on the line because they believed in us. We cannot afford another Vietnam-style outcome where those who believed us were abandoned… and in many instances, slaughtered.
If that becomes our permanent track record, soon, we’ll be running out of allies.
But it’s time to put an end to this. Staying to prop up these corrupt, drug-producing mini-empires makes no sense.
End it now. If there's terrorists to kill, then quit screwing around and kill them.
But it's time to come home.
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