Jan 3rd, 2007, 03:44 PM
Max, the only way we'd ever go into Iran would be with the rest of the West behind us, and I honestly don't see that happening any time soon, even were Iran to build and test a nuclear bomb. I think arguing that we should keep troops in reserve just in case something happens when we have something happening that actually might require troops we have is a little silly... A surge in Iraq should help to disrupt supply lines from Iran and Syria, which would be a good thing. More troops could be utilized at checkpoints between the slums and the more peaceful areas in Baghdad, which might also be helpful.
If you believe we are wasting our time in Iraq in a general sense, then of course you would think adding more troops would be just a bigger waste of time. Personally, I don't see it that way. Like Kevin, I have a bit more positive of an outlook on Iraq because I take the time to go look for positive news. In the process of doing that, I'm also seeing some positive news in the larger region. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iran, Egypt and Afghanistan, both the political and the spiritual ones, are waking up to a trend with very serious implications to the future of the region and their people.
It's no secret that the people of the core Western nations are not reproducing at self-sustaining rates, just as we have all heard talk of the population explosion across the board in the third-world regions where we find most of our security issues: Sub-Saharan Africa, the former Republics of south-western USSR, the Middle-East, Indonesia and the South Pacific and most of South, Central and Meso-America... Here's the new news: that trend is being compounded by yet another trend. More young women are living freer, working, eating better and voting and thus waiting to have children.
I'm not saying the the population explosion in the Middle-East is being followed by a birth-rate decrease that's anywhere close to that being seen among Westerners (and Japan,) but it's much closer to the decrease seen among Middle-Eastern immigrants living in Western nations than it was just ten years ago. this is a pivotal development because the faith certain jihadists had that their cause would eventually succeed no matter what relied heavily on demographics and trends that no longer exist exactly as they did.
Another thing that changed is the methods with which the West is dealing with problems in the Middle-East. Instead of applying sanctions and dropping bombs from 15,000 feet, we are now directly involved... some might say knee-deep... and more development money is pouring into the region than ever before. Foreign Direct Investment is at an all time high, and that's not just limited to Iraq and Afghanistan. Saudi, Syria and Egypt especially are having to struggle with some hard choices right now, as their work-force needs are increasing faster than their ability to bring in foreign workers and the supply of skilled native workers is in direct competition with Al Quaeda's recruiting department.
A lot of things are changing, but you have to want to see it. Nobody's going to force sunshine and lollipops up your ass because the most liberal humanist effort in the history of the world has been politicized by hypocrites and liars in the government and the press that seek nothing but power and prestige
Osama bin Laden hoped to cordon us out of the third-world by disrupting our systems with 9/11. He thought that bringing some of the hell of the Middle-East to New York and Washington would cause us to abandon the region altogether. Fortunately, our response was to further disrupt the region under the tenuous control of people like him. The disruption that is happening BELONGS there, not here, and it needs people like us driving it, not people like them. We are bringing concepts of freedom and liberty and abundance to an area familiarized only with dearth and repression.
So yeah, if we need more troops to increase the disruption as our current efforts are bearing such sweet fruit, then I say go for it. It's just too damn bad those that like to call themselves "liberals" can't get their heads out of their asses and offer their support to what's really happening here. That would do more to make this effort successful than anything the Bush administration could ever hope to achieve without them. Like it or not, the War on Terror, even as it is now so clumsily being fought, will be won by us. I think it's a crying shame the Democrat Party will have to lie to sign their names on that victory.
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