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The only thing that matters

A Pre-war "America First" campaign button. Yes, the way to avoid war is to make sure ships dont sail in convoys. You dont want to make the Uboats mad...

Both campaigns are now busily trying to out do each other on timelines for leaving Iraq. In my mind, this is not the question to ask or answer. Truth is, both candidates and the crrent President all want to leave Iraq. The question is not when to leave but how to leave.

If you leave Iraq in chaos and disarray, you guarantee we will have to come back. On the other hand if you leave Iraq in good shape, you best assure that we will not be coming back.

The question that needs to be asked and answered by each candidate is "What are you doing to ensure that American troops will not be needed in the region during your Presidency?"

Americans left Europe to the Europeans after World War I and found themselves 20 yaers later back in Europe in a wider more deadly war. The instincts of the politicians after the First World War was to leave and never look back. It was the next generation that was forced by circumstances that were created by that decision to go back into Europe. After the war, they knew it would be irresponsible to follow the same action because if we had to go back a third time that there wouldnt be much left to liberate. The words you hear over and over again by any World War II veteran about why they fought so hard is this:

"...So my kids wouldnt have to come over and go through this"

And to that I say - Amen.

After a long and deadly war, Americans collectively decided the best course of action to take to ensure that another generation would not have to die on the beaches of France, would be to stay and act as a force of stability on the continent. It was a long debate with the two arguments coming into the "Morgenthau plan" and the "Marshall plan", but in the end, Marshall won the debate. The result of wishful thinking after World War I was World War II and the deaths of 52 million people. The result of our long costly effort in Europe after World War II is a continent populated by a generation that has no experience in war, which given the long bloody history of that region is quite remarkable. While wars in other regions of the world are still very likely, war in Europe is not very likely at all. No American, and no European leader plan for a war with each other on any level at any time. It is simply unthinkable. I caution the reader that there are many of you out there who say that the middle east can never be peaceful. Rest assured, I am not one of those people. If the Germans can be shown to live peacefully and if the Japanese can turn away from war then any nation on earth can be shown a better way to live with the rest of us.

I watch this election closely because besides just being a good citizen, I have a very good personal reason. My son is 14, and the next President will, through his direct action or inaction as President, determine if my son will spend some part of his late teens not just in the military, but in an active, hard fought and costly war.

As a student of human history I know that wars are often started by well meaning, peace loving folks who intended to do just the opposite. Rest assured, that to me the intentions of the next President will make no difference at all if in 6 years time, my son is called into service to fight to liberate Iraq for a third time because of a desire to leave hastily and in chaos just to meet a campaign promise. Those of you who think we can ignore Iraq and the middle east in the future, need only look at your reaction to the reality of $140+ a barrel of oil. The one thing I have enjoyed about $5.00 a gallon gas is that it shows everyone everywhere that our economy and way of life runs on oil and not pixie dust or compressed hamster pellets.

Let us all agree that even if it takes another 10 years to work out the issues in Iraq and the middle east, that 10 years spent in the region is not the worst thing that could happen. Let's not to spend the hours bickering over whether there was a need to go there in the first place but rather, we should all agree that the best policy to follow in the future is the policy that insures that we never have to go back and fight and that with the right course of action, the middle east might someday be as quiet and peaceful as Europe. This is possible, but only if we do the right thing and not the thing that makes us "feel good".

We left Europe in haste in 1918, It felt good. We embargoed Japans oil in 1940, and it felt good too. We did both those things beliving it would result in peace but 52 million people around the world paid the true price for wishful thinking.

Posted @ July 21, 2008 09:11 AM | Current Affairs

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