I had not planned on doing an entire Heat on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but recent events require me to do so. Let me simply say that if Obama follows the lead of General McChrystal, in sending thousand of more troops to Afghanistan, he will be placing himself in the same company as Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon.

Despite those who argue to the contrary, President Bush had ample reason to attack Saddam Husein. The man was evil, his regime was evil, and we were, in part, responsible for his power. That said, the man has been dealt with, and we should be withdrawing from Iraq and allowing the politics of that nation to do what it will do. Nation building is not a priority for the U.S. today. We have enough problems at home. Besides, if our State Department had any idea about the politics of that region, it would understand that, in the end, we shall have little if any effect on the outcome of what the Iraqis and Kurds do with their future.

In addition, President Bush had ample reason to attack the Taliban, after 9-11, in their home lairs in Afghanistan. That said, we have weakened the enemy enough to consider leaving as victors. The U.S. forces should be withdrawn, and the politics of that nation also should be allowed to take over its future. We shall never succeed in killing or destroying the last Taliban, as there are too many places and nations for the enemy to hide. Rather, we struck back and did what had to be done in the wake of 9-11. If we continue, we shall be dragged into another Vietnam.

As far as Afghanistan is concerned, we apparently learned nothing from the stalemated Korean Conflict, the French Colonial debacle Vietnam in 1945, and from our own ten years of misery, in that nation, from 1965 forward. Afghanistan is now Mr. Obama’s Vietnam. His administration and his party can no longer blame the previous administration for future mistakes and U.S. fatalities. Additional forces, sent to that nation, will result in nothing more than greater American troop losses, and in the end, we shall leave that nation no different than we found it.

Yes, the Taliban have been weakened, but as with any solid body cancer, you either cut it out completely, while destroying its metastases, or it is bound to recur. We have not even killed the solid body yet, and never shall. Afghanistan is a nation of tribal people who want nothing to do with American democracy, nor do they care about our pain and suffering from the attacks on the World Trade Center buildings. The Afghan culture is not going to change because we send more forces to that cesspool of Islamic Hate, and the only result of McChrystal’s troop requests will be more markers in Arlington Cemetery.

Rather, it is best to allow the countries neighboring Afghanistan to deal with the radical islamists, rather than fight an endless war 6000 miles from home. Remember, radical islam, as hateful as it is, is not the same as Naziism. The Nazi party ruled the nation of Germany, and thus, conquering Germany would bring an end to the Nazis. We cannot conquer Afghanistan because Afghanistan, in and of itself, is not the enemy. Thus, unless we were to use nuclear weapons to turn Afghanistan, and its neighbors, who allow the enemy sanctuary, into a no man’s land, the metastases will always survive. Therein lies the major problem with going to war. When a nation makes that decision, it must also decide to be as ruthless as its enemy, and to use every weapon in its arsenal to win the war. The U.S., both in Vietnam and in Afghanistan, has restricted its troops from winning at any cost. When one fights an enemy, such as the Taliban, those restrictions only lead to casualties on our side.

Rather that fight that type of war, we are better off bringing our troops home, fortifying our own borders to protect the homeland, and let the rest of the world worry about their own borders. The United States cannot be everyone else’s keeper and protector. Those days are long gone. We have enough problems right here at home. If Obama does not wish to go down in history, as did his predecessors in Korea and Vietnam, he would just say NO and bring the troops home.

JLK