Mom and I had a conversation the other day about Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan...
It's obviously a particularly charged subject for both of us, since both my brothers are in the military, they've served a combined 5 tours already and could conceivably serve more, and one has already been wounded over there once.
The particular trigger was a piece in the news about the possible decision to do a "surge" of troops into Afghanistan. There are a lot of places you can go to get a reasonable (or unreasonable) perspective on that, but here's mine:
The only actual threat to our physical security comes from terrorist cells, which are highly decentralized and aren't tied to any particular country. The only way to combat a threat like that is with absolutely superb intelligence. I argue that what we need is not 20,000 more soldiers in Afghanistan; what we need is 20,000 people who speak Arabic/Urdu/Pashto etc., who would be willing to do deep cover assignments in every major city in the Middle East, plus the major mosques in Western Europe and the U.S. That, plus better integration of efforts between existing U.S. intelligence/law enforcement agencies- don't forget that a couple different people in intelligence services flagged a couple of the 9/11 hijackers before 9/11, but the dots did not get connected, with the obvious tragic results. Note also that this intelligence was gathered just fine without a Patriot Act in existence to blithely gut our constitutional rights.
So, what's needed is not more military; it's more intelligence and better use of the information we have. Which brings me to:
Get the military the hell out of the Middle East.
If I were President, right now I would pressure the current Afghan and Iraqi governments to lease us land in a relatively removed part of each country for the next 99 years, a la Guantanamo. I would build serious bases in both places, and I would staff those bases with a couples of strike teams each. Then I would make the following international address:
"People of the world- listen up. First, to Iraqis: if you want to chop each other up based on something as trivial as whether you are Sunnis, Shias, or Kurds, fine. That's your business. Personally, I don't think it's a great idea, but whatever. Also, if you really would rather have a autocratic loon run your country, because life was just so awesome under Saddam and you just miss that life, fine. Also your choice. Personally, I recommend capitalism and democracy, because that seems to be working out a lot better than the alternatives pretty much everywhere, but we're not spending another goddamned dime trying to force either one on you. Do what you want.
What we're going to do instead is hang out here on our base, and we'll shoot anyone who comes near it. What we'll be doing on this base is closely monitoring your entire frickin' country for anything that looks like it might have even the tiniest little possibility of being a terrorist training camp or terrorist cell. Anytime we find such a thing, we'll go and totally destroy it. We will do this whenever we bloody well feel like it, and without any prior notice delivered to you.
Second, to you folks in Afghanistan- the same goes for you. We're going to hang out on the base here, and shoot anyone who comes near it. The moment we withdraw from the rest of your country, the Taliban are going to come flooding back. And if life under the Taliban is so goddamned awesome, then welcome them with open arms. Otherwise, I again recommend considering capitalism and democracy. In the meantime, we'll also be monitoring your country from our base, and anything that even hints of being terrorist-related will be destroyed. Again, we will do this whenever we want, with no notice given to whatever circus act you're calling a government at the time.
Finally, to the rest of the world- we're expanding our intelligence activities everywhere. Anytime we find a terrorist cell, we're taking it out, and then we'll let you know we did it. And frankly my dears, I don't give a damn about "national sovereignty". Believe me, if we take a terrorist cell out on your soil, we just did you a favor. Pakistan, that especially applies to you. Everybody clear? Great. God bless."
In the end, if people in places like Afghanistan and Iraq want to have shitty, oppressive, corrupt governments, they will. And life will suck for them as a result. People will die, immense quantities of human potential will be squandered, etc. But eventually they'll realize that life sucks, and that life doesn't suck in a lot of other places, and at that point they'll make progress toward better governance. But you can't do it for them, and the billions of dollars we're spending trying is just a tragic waste of money that would be better spent on jobs and infrastructure here, plus sensible assistance to countries that are actually making an effort not to be basket cases.
And don't even get me started on the wasted lives. I've more than once considered running for office solely because the prospect of losing a brother in one of these retarded wars makes me sick to my stomach. But so far, I've resisted the temptation.
Besides, this blog ensures my unelectability anyway...
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