Leadership Series: Carry a Big Stick

On Thanksgiving Day, TheFundamentals expressed its appreciation to those who fight and die for our freedom in distant lands. As our readers know, we are quite critical of the military leadership in choosing its strategies for battle locations and plans as well as strategic balance of power issues. For example, how does it help the United States to invade Iraq which was a power balance against Iran? The US now is an occupier of Iraq; completely stretched in terms of finances and personnel and unable to provide the same balance against Iran that Iraq provided both geographically and politically. It makes no sense. In Afghanistan, all one need do is study, briefly, its history. We now fight the very same folk that we armed in their successful battle with the Soviet invaders. These successful warriors, who eat sand for lunch, will tell you that they were the ones who brought down the Soviet empire. We don’t argue that position but we do question what the heck we think we are going to accomplish in that geography when we also must ultimately leave just as the Soviets did?

We would suggest a different approach including strong ties with India (which Mr. Obama is pursuing) and the Chinese (which means quit borrowing so much from them) and the Russians (who have their hands full with neighboring Muslims) and let them worry about Afghanistan and Pakistan, their neighbors, and the other Stan’s. In the meantime, it is just plain time to put an end to emigration and visitation from folks from those countries. If and when they decide to become tolerant societies with openness for other religious beliefs we would, of course, reconsider the restrictive policy on their citizens. Harsh? Hardly. More like common sense.

Listen to Lt. Colonel Allen B. West, brand new congressman from FL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu8dRfgNxGM&feature=related  

And, some simpler, basic logic from the Colonel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkGQmCZjJ0k&feature=related

Instead we invade their lands; kill some of their combatants of which they have an endless supply of recruits; kill many innocent civilians and thereby guarantee a building hatred for our country and couple those accomplishments with an open, welcome border policy for their angry citizens. Not a smart combination. Not a winning strategy. Not good tactics.

Americans are proud of their military. The men and women of the United States have a noble record of great accomplishments in fighting despots and tyrants and killers in many locations. But our civilian led military complex with its insatiable appetite for spending has also done some things that others have not. Four very significant military adventures in the last 65 years stand out:

• Monday, August 6, 1945 the atomic bombing of Hiroshima resulting in the immediate and subsequent death of an estimated 90,000 to 166,000 civilians
• Thursday, August 9, 1945 the atomic bombing of Nagasaki resulting in the immediate and subsequent death of an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 civilians
• Thursday, March 20, 2003 the invasion of Republic of Iraq, population: 31 million; a Muslim (97%) country (Shia 65% and Sunni 35%) resulting in the death of 100,000 Iraqi civilians with estimates of additional civilian deaths as high as 500,000
• Sunday, October 7, 2001 the invasion of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, population: 29 million; a Muslim (99%) country (85% Sunni and 15% Shia) resulting in the death of an estimated 34,000 Afghan civilians

The United States cannot plead innocence in the killing of foreign civilians. We go to great lengths to justify these acts but others do not forget.

There are many patient people in the world. The Muslamic peoples are not going to go away. They do not play a short term game. We must learn to match their long term strategy of perseverance with a winning long term strategy of our own. It will certainly not be easy but the combination of debt and invasions and civilian deaths are neither winning strategies nor winning tactics.