I love animals. I especially love dogs. There's a reason they're called "man's best friend". And because I'm an animal lover, I really, really hate to beat a dead horse. I don't mean that in a literal sense.
What I'm referring to is my distaste for United States foreign policy in the past decade. The combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has devastated the American economy, further jeopardized national security, and worst of all, cost many lives. Fortunately, our government executed a full withdrawal from Iraq this past December (at least that's what we're told). As for Afghanistan, we're still there. It's been over a decade and there seems to be no end in sight.
I'm a firm believer that if we do utilize our military, we need to have a clear purpose and exit plan. In other words, get the job done and then leave. Don't "overstay our welcome". At first, I supported the invasion of Iraq because I believed our action would remove a benevolent, murderous dictator from power -- a dictator who was put in power by our government. The mission was accomplished. Saddam was defeated and captured. We stayed to provide security while a democratic government could be formed. Once that happened, our mission was over... or was it? No. We were told that there were insurgents still inside the country and also spilling over from Iran to oppose our military. I didn't buy it. As far as I was concerned, it was time to leave. But we stayed eight more years... eight more years!
Combat operations in Afghanistan were completely unnecessary, as were the lives lost in its campaign. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan had admitted to harboring the Al Qaeda masterminds, including Osama bin Laden, behind 9/11. Although the Taliban didn't have a navy or an air force, we still found it necessary to invade the desolate country in the name of "justice". Not only that, but we didn't stop to think that we are on their territory, patrolling through mountainous ravines which the enemy knows better than anyone else. Also, historically, every country that has invaded Afghanistan has never succeeded. That includes the former Soviet Union. So why would it be any different? I mean, we've been there for over 10 years now! If we're still talking about "not leaving until we win", that tells me these last 10 years was a complete waste of time, money, and resources, as well as the lives of our soldiers.
We need to learn to keep our noses out of every one's business and quit insisting we build military bases all over the world. That's called imperialism. The Roman Empire did that as well, and look what happened to them. We will meet the same fate if we don't change something soon.
What fired me up this time? Well, a relative had posted a picture message on Facebook which read as follows:
"Please click 'Share' if you would pause for a moment to pray for the men and women in our army that is fighting to keep us safe."
*sigh* -- Our men and women in the military are not fighting to keep us safe. They can't keep us safe if they're over 10,000 miles away. And yes, a prayer is most definitely needed. Our government is asking our troops to maintain their empire. Their spilling their blood, not to preserve our freedoms, but our government's desire for world domination.
Look at this way. We have a problem with illegal immigration, right? We have over 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Everyday, the come over by the thousands. Now, if our troops are in Afghanistan hunting for terrorists on the Pakistani border, how can they keep us safe when terrorists can sneak in across our borders which are inadequately guarded. It's not logical.
Plus, if you take the example of the Palestinian man who shot and killed seven Jewish school children in France as a protest against France's foreign intervention in the Middle East. Hmm, maybe our intervention is pissing off a lot of radical Muslim extremists as well? In fact, I would say that's a good bet. We've been involved in the dirty business of planting puppet governments in Iran, Iraq, and Egypt. In fact, the United States, along with Great Britain, deposed of popular prime minister Mohammad Mossaddegh because he nationalized Iran's oil industry. When this happened, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's took control and practically destroyed all political opposition. That's when Ayotollah Ruhollah Khomeini denounced the Pahlavi regime. He was arrested, and once released in 1964, he blamed the U.S. government for replacing a great leader with an autocratic one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran#Pahlavi_dynasty_.281925.E2.80.931979.29
So did we piss some people off? Hell yeah we did! But all you hear from the media and the politicians is the terrorists are just evil people. We did nothing to provoke any attacks. We need to continue to fight the war in Afghanistan to ensure the safety of our citizens. Also, we need to implement a Patriot Act which allows us to spy on anyone in the country without a warrant. Don't worry about if it's constitutional. It's for the safety of our citizens.
This is just war propaganda. The sad thing is, there are many people out there who buy this lie and believe we are the only good guys. Yes, they attacked us and there needs to be justice. The terrorists are not innocent by any means, but we shouldn't invade countries who are not a legitimate threat to us. Afghanistan does not have a navy or an air force and is over 10,000 miles away.
It's perfectly OK to support our troops. They're just doing their job. I just don't support our government's policy of pre-emptive attacks. It's wrong and makes us the bad guys just as much as the terrorists.
Don't buy into the propaganda people. Our troops are not defending our freedoms; they're not keeping us safe. On the contrary, we are putting their lives in danger, as well as ours. If we truly want to feel safe, remove all of our troops from foreign soil and place them on our borders where they can truly keep us safe from the terrorists who are trying to enter our country.
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