Monday, December 29, 2008
IS IT TOO EARLY?
Since we are going to have a new president in less than a month, and since even the “stay the course” president has signed an agreement to be out of urban Iraq in six months and the rest in another year, is it too soon to be planning on just how the heck we get out of Afghanistan? What is our exit strategy there?
We have spent one trillion dollars we did not have on the unnecessary misadventure in Iraq. We borrowed most of that from people who do not particularly like us, because the people who started that misbegotten war did not have the courage to tax their consenting friends to pay for it. Instead the republicans blew the money, and they left the debt for their war for all of us.
Some economists say that the rapidly rising national debt is a major reason for the current recession. That may or may not be true, but it is certainly true that the added one trillion dollar debt is making it difficult for us to afford the deficit expenditures deemed necessary for the stimulus to break out of the economic dumps.
Some are warning that very soon our dedicated funds, the military, plus interest on the national debt will leave practically no funding for other government services at present tax levels.
So, again we raise the question: “Is it too soon to be planning on how we exit Afghanistan, and cut our foreign expenditures?” During the campaign, Mr. Obama spoke quite frequently about the need to move troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, and he spoke also of the need to bring them home.
Does Mr. Obama have a plan? Let us hope so. There are indications that he does indeed have a plan. From what we can make out, its essence seems to be as follows:
(1) Put a stronger military force into Afghanistan to help pacify the area. (2) Organize and give logistical support to supportive tribal militias in the outlying regions. (3) Clean up the corruption in the Karzai government. (4) Prepare to negotiate with the more malleable Taliban leaders, if they give up notions of harboring terrorists. (5) Go after Bin Laden wherever he is and get him.
These would seem to be the logical steps in any plan, and from what has leaked out of the Obama and the military camps it is the kind of plan now being discussed. By now, we hope the plan is past the preliminary stage.
We will not have a normal life in America until we are at some level of peace in the world. We cannot hope to eradicate every nesting place for terrorists in the world. Nor can we occupy all the countries we think might be harboring terrorists.
We can nevertheless use our technology to strike at those terrorist planning and training camps wherever they exist. It is time for our military leadership to think in 21st century strategies. Massive military movements and military occupations require too much from our treasure and our people.
It is an era for good intelligence, quick strikes, and police actions – not for wars. We should stop using the term “war” for all our struggles.
We should stop getting involved with entangling alliances that call for foreign disputes to become America’s military problems. We need no longer have troops stationed in harm’s way all over the world, protecting nations who should pay to protect themselves.
No, it is not too soon to be planning to bring our troops home from hostile eastern lands.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
We have spent one trillion dollars we did not have on the unnecessary misadventure in Iraq. We borrowed most of that from people who do not particularly like us, because the people who started that misbegotten war did not have the courage to tax their consenting friends to pay for it. Instead the republicans blew the money, and they left the debt for their war for all of us.
Some economists say that the rapidly rising national debt is a major reason for the current recession. That may or may not be true, but it is certainly true that the added one trillion dollar debt is making it difficult for us to afford the deficit expenditures deemed necessary for the stimulus to break out of the economic dumps.
Some are warning that very soon our dedicated funds, the military, plus interest on the national debt will leave practically no funding for other government services at present tax levels.
So, again we raise the question: “Is it too soon to be planning on how we exit Afghanistan, and cut our foreign expenditures?” During the campaign, Mr. Obama spoke quite frequently about the need to move troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, and he spoke also of the need to bring them home.
Does Mr. Obama have a plan? Let us hope so. There are indications that he does indeed have a plan. From what we can make out, its essence seems to be as follows:
(1) Put a stronger military force into Afghanistan to help pacify the area. (2) Organize and give logistical support to supportive tribal militias in the outlying regions. (3) Clean up the corruption in the Karzai government. (4) Prepare to negotiate with the more malleable Taliban leaders, if they give up notions of harboring terrorists. (5) Go after Bin Laden wherever he is and get him.
These would seem to be the logical steps in any plan, and from what has leaked out of the Obama and the military camps it is the kind of plan now being discussed. By now, we hope the plan is past the preliminary stage.
We will not have a normal life in America until we are at some level of peace in the world. We cannot hope to eradicate every nesting place for terrorists in the world. Nor can we occupy all the countries we think might be harboring terrorists.
We can nevertheless use our technology to strike at those terrorist planning and training camps wherever they exist. It is time for our military leadership to think in 21st century strategies. Massive military movements and military occupations require too much from our treasure and our people.
It is an era for good intelligence, quick strikes, and police actions – not for wars. We should stop using the term “war” for all our struggles.
We should stop getting involved with entangling alliances that call for foreign disputes to become America’s military problems. We need no longer have troops stationed in harm’s way all over the world, protecting nations who should pay to protect themselves.
No, it is not too soon to be planning to bring our troops home from hostile eastern lands.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
