I have just about had it with the Apocalypse Now twins, Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain. These two guys are joined at the hip in their zeal for intruding our armed forces into additional wars even before we have extracted ourselves from the current ones. Haven’t we experienced this before? Is this déjà vu all over again?
Now the twins are just incensed that President Obama won’t jump the shark and plant a carrier group off Tripoli and begin running missions over the desert in a repeat of the no-fly zones in Iraq. Didn’t that work out really well? Not even the Secretary of Defense will provide cover. In a speech last week at West Point he pointedly stated that any Defense Secretary that would advise a President to engage in battle in Africa or Asia should have his head examined. How much plainer can one get?
Of course, Lieberman will jump at any opportunity to plant U.S. armed forces in any location that might be beneficial to Israel regardless of the cost to the United States. John McCain believes that the only thing wrong with the Vietnam War was that we didn’t burn the place down. Both of these guys would throw the entire might and fortune of the United States into that hellhole in Afghanistan until the last of us are slaughtered at the Khyber Pass like the British or broke and trickling home like the Russians.
One of the things that really burns me is that these guys are hawks on the deficits and debt but unflinchingly cascaded hundreds of billions of dollars into uninhabitable wastelands followed by thousands of lives of our best and brightest. All this in addition to the tens of thousands sent home wounded in body and spirit with little support from a grateful nation. Just exactly what is the deal with this? Can we not allow people to seek their own revolutions and governmental paths? Have we not learned that you can’t drop democracy fully formed into a people that have never even thought about it?
Both of these guys are passionate about Democracy and, while that is music to our ears, it is not as well received in Africa and Asia where they would like to have a little more say in the kind of government they can have. Our version of democracy is not universally appreciated even though we will wave the flag endlessly for it. Personally, I like our brand and I am unconvinced that our brand of democracy should go around the world trying to get people to swallow it like a dose of medicine. When they turn up their noses we are offended at their ignorance and disregard for our superior civilization.
What we have found is that wherever we insert our military might we inevitably end up becoming the aggressor and invader. People just don’t want us messing around in their country. Sure, they appreciate our helping them achieve their aims but then they want to show us the door. If we can’t make friends by using less aggressive and militaristic methods then perhaps we need to rethink our policy.
The Europeans, well, Germany and France, want us to establish the no-fly zone. I have to ask. Exactly what do they plan to contribute or do they want to use the tried and true method of leading from the rear and leaving us there to clean up the mess? In my opinion, the only way that we should get involved in a no-fly zone is through either NATO or the UN. And then only as a supporting force with the Europeans taking the lead. After all, this is in their back yard. Or is the front yard? Russian is in the back yard.
My point is this. Just like there are people running about saying we are broke and can’t afford to fund our government I think that our military is stretched to the limit and we can’t afford any further engagements right now.
We usually don’t like to see populations massacred but we have watched Biafra, Darfur, Congo and Sudan do the same thing without sending in the Marines. The difference? Oil. We can give a lot of support other than military to those who are seeking freedom from oppression and one of the first things we can do is stop supporting governments that oppress their people. We might be surprised how much friendlier the world would be.
That’s my rant on this take. How do you feel about engaging in another military action?
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