At this writing, President Obama is in the midst of dramatic meetings foreshadowing major decisions about troop deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. The situation with Iran is also escalating, and the real possibility exists that America alone, Israel alone, or America and Israel together will conduct some sort of military strike to destroy Iran's embryonic nuclear capacity. There is the hope that a wider coalition involving China and/or Russia could be brought into being, but that is still a long shot, at least in the immediate short term.
No one seems to know what the President will decide. He is getting a diverse spectrum of advice from Joe Biden, HIllary Clinton, John Kerry, and the military.
If he wants my advice, here it is:
Get out of both Iraq and Afghanistan right now. Today. Don't spend another thin dime or another drop of blood on either effort. Don't go into Iran. Immediately begin a top-to-bottom review of every single agreement, contract, treaty, and "entangling alliance" with each and every nation on the planet. Other than Marines guarding American Embassies, start with the assumption that the presence of one American soldier, sailor, marine or airman on soil other than American has to be rejustified on some grounds other than mere inertia. If it can be justified on grounds of genuine national interest, let them be there. If it can't be so justified, bring them home in a Chicago minute.
Since the end of World War II, we have all been educated to accept as normal the deployment of American troops, bases, missions, ad infinitum hither and yon. Foreign aid in the hundreds of billions has been lavished upon the world. All the hot spots of the world have become accustomed to high-profile American dignitaries endlessly seeking a dialogue, agreement, common ground. All this has been based upon the supposition that American power and wealth were boundless and endless.
But the farther into the past is the end of WW2, the more diminished the returns and the less sense this makes. The peace and progress of the world cannot depend on the US policing all the possibilities of conflict on Earth forever and ever. It is madness and folly to think it can. We have hundred if not thousands of bases over the globe. We protect lots of friendly regimes. We are holding down a lid on lots of incipient violence. But inevitably there is another side. This looks and feels a lot like an empire; it certainly costs as much as an empire would. We have made friends, we have done a lot of good, and at the same time we have found ourselves involved a lot of conflicts alien to our national interest. We have hollowed out our economy to spare trade competitors the expense of managing their own protection and we are approaching the point where the end of the money is in sight. We have courted resentment, quagmire and penury. Increasingly, this is futile, counterproductive, and self-destructive. This is not good for anyone, in particular us.
What are we doing, in 2009, with our huge complex of bases throughout Europe? South Korea? Japan? Must this really go one for another 60 years? 100? 200? We are borrowing money to keep this going, and we are neglecting our own pressing needs.
Mr. President, if you brought the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan tomorrow, I would say that is a real good start, but only a start.
No comments:
Post a Comment