On Force

I'm not usually a fan of foreign adventurism - life is usually sufficiently fouled up that sending our troops into harms way abroad is seldom required to relieve the tedium.

I did, however, support the invasion of Afghanistan, though it was a substantially less vigorous remonstration than I would have chosen. When a group or nation chooses to attack the United States, particularly and especially when civilians are targeted on our home soil, I tend to favor a grimly vindictive response of sufficient vigor to ensure that two or three generations down the road anyone bringing up the suggestion of reprising such things be spontaneously strangled by their co-conspirators.

I was less enthused about Iraq, though I regarded Hussein as a pustulent boil upon the buttocks of humanity. The tipping point, for me, was the notion of Saddam and his merry band of homicidal goons possessed of WMD's and an utter absence of morals. I remain of the view that our military did an exemplary job in the invasion, and has continued to do so to the extent they are permitted in the subsequent occupation.

I observe, however, that our political leadership of both the left and the right seem to have forgotten the lessons of Vietnam and by all appearances are micro-managing the war for political gain rather than pursuing victory and stabilization...and subsequently making things far worse for our troops and for the Iraqi people than they actually need to be.

Now we happen upon the Burmese Junta and the torment of the Burmese people - were we as a nation stretched less thin, I'd favor a polite inquiry of "Would you prefer your aid delivered with or without bombing of everything looking vaguely governmental?" of the Burmese Dictatorship. Since we are stretched sufficiently thin that we might run low on munitions with that approach...may I suggest combat air drops of food and other aid supplies, each package to contain 15-20 Liberator style pistols?

It couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of tyrants. There's a special place in hell for those who obstruct aid to disaster victims for political gain and simultaneously create epidemic generating conditions.