The intellegence of might

Mark Dayton puts a different spin on our troops stay in Iraq. From the Duluth News Tribune:

"Our decision is, do we get out of Iraq in months or do we want to stay in Iraq for years?" Dayton said. "Right now the Bush administration's intention appears to be geared for years... but what if our staying longer will make things worse, for the Iraqis and for us? The world doesn't think we are weak. They don't question our will. They are wondering if we are wise. Getting out of Iraq in months, instead of years, is wise," he said.

I think that we can begin to judge the Bush doctrine of preemption as a bit of a failure. We cannot put the invasion of Afghanistan in this mix. It was our retaliation against the WTC bombings. We had to destroy someone, and unfortunately for the people of Afgahnistan, we chose them to bear the brunt of our force. This continues even today. Granted we have helped build schools, and improve roadways, but there is still widespread violence as warlords battle each other for territory and control of the now abundent opium poppy trade. This violence even now threatens the elections that are scheduled to occur.

We hardly talk about Afghanistan anymore. We forget that around fifteen thousand of our troops are still there, trying to root out Taliban members, and ultimately Osama Bin Laden. Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group, a research foundation, says security in Afghanistan "affects everything from elections to reconstruction. ... This is not a post-conflict situation; an unrelenting battle continues in Afghanistan."

Jon Stewart on The Daily Show often asks his politcal minded guest how indebted to freedom we would feel if France had removed Britain from the colocnies, set up our government, and remained on the soil as our policemen. I have a feeling in this modren world, we would resent them and wish for their swift exit as well. Perhaps what we should have done is gotten the people more involved in their own revolution. Encouraged their revolt and supported them along the way. Maybe if we had incited the excitement of freedom rather than doing all the work, the people of Afghanistan and especially Iraq would fell more connected to what we are trying to accomplish.

Instead, the longer we seem to remain in Iraq, the more irate they become. And the more opposition to the war slips here in America as well. Leaving now is not a matter of weakness. We demostrated by the actual war phases in Afghanistan and Iraqi how strong this country can be. We toppled two regimes in a matter of months, and we have been left with the unenviable task of putting two countries on their feet at once. With limited help from the world, and limited help from those we are there to aid. We can, by military force, impose our will upon anyone.

No one in the world views us as weakened nation. The open dialogue about prison abuse scandals and the eventually withdrawl of our troops do not make us weak, and deep down the American people know this. While we have put our worst foot forward, we continue to take action to make things better and account for those misteps. Through an open media, we kepp the pressure on those who would sweep this under the rug and forget about it.

The real issue that will soon face America in the world view (and I know the conservative view is to wonder why we care about the world) is how smart are we to stay in this country that doesn't want us there anymore? How wise are we to put our troops in the line of fire for people who are anxious to have us leave?

And even when we do leave the soil in Iraq, who here honestly thinks the insurgents won't take credit for it anyway? Are we seriously thinking that once our troops withdrawl, flowers and sunshine will be the rule of the day, and assassinations and car bombings will just cease to exist? These issues will not be resolved as we hand over power to any number of Iraqi led militias of presidents.

But now we are caught in a two front battle in the war on terror. One is the battle of premption, and with that the challenge to rebuild these nations that we in part brought down. Lest we forget, our funding of Osama and Sadaam when we needed them helped bring to them to the level of power they attained. Without us, there is no regimes to overthrow. No challenge to America and its way of life.

But due to our past actions, and now these reckless wars of President Bush, we are forced once again into a situation that in the past has met with a poor success rate.

The other is the battle right here on our soil, a battle that we seem to be gearing up for again this summer. I hope this is a peaceful summer. I, too sat in horror on September 11th. But September 12th was such a day of hope, of new horizons and new ideas. The world was with us, and with the world we could have more easily changed things for today. Now it seems the only difference is a color alert scheme and massive troop deployments. And God forbid they do succeed this summer, then how much furthur in the war on terror are we really?