I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
US Combat in Iraq Ends
How many people remember what Presidential contender George W. Bush had to say about nation building before his election?
Let me tell you what else I'm worried about: I'm worried about an opponent who uses nation building and the military in the same sentence. See, our view of the military is for our military to be properly prepared to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place.There was this conviction that Clinton's foreign agenda, including the Balkans, Somalia, and Haiti, had strayed from the core mission of the US military and left us dangerously vulnerable and exposed. We cannot eliminate potential risks and threats, we cannot impose governments more to our liking, say, in Russia and China, and there are other national leaders whom will declare war or otherwise kill innocent people. We have a limited budget and subsidizing the defense of billions of other people competing against us in a tough global economy is not in our best interest. I'm also skeptical of attempts to rationalize military intervention on ancillary grounds, e.g., to spread democracy around the world and to bring equal rights to women.
I am patriotic but I'm neither an isolationist nor a jingoist. I think George W. Bush, in the aftermath of 9/11, made a mistake, in part due to bad intelligence. The first MBA President, however, clearly did not plan for the administration of Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and failed to pull the plug soon enough on a post-invasion military strategy that clearly was not working. But I also believed that once we intervened, we had a responsibility to the people of Iraq not to abandon the country to a civil war, almost certainly resulting in a regional war.
As the remaining combat troops, the Army's 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, left today, I pause to give thanks for hundreds of thousands of combat and support personnel whom have sacrificed to leave Iraqis with a reasonably stable country and government. In particular, I am grateful for the leadership and genius of Gen. Petraeus, whose counterinsurgency plans worked, and the political leaders whom bought Petraeus the time he needed for the plan to work.
I hope in the future if and when we ask young men to risk their lives and health in the service of their country, it won't involve small nations whose military threat to the US is dubious at best. We need to learn to pick our battles smarter and better and know our limitations, and we cannot get involved to such an extent that we are vulnerable to attack from larger adversaries.
Was it worth it? In large part, the answer to that is beyond our control: will Iraqis build on the progress that's been made since 2007? I am more confident in the professionalism and performance of our veterans. We'll continue to have another 50,000 troops in non-combat (e.g., training) roles over the near future.
The White House Commission and Social Security
I read an interesting column in the Wall Street Journal today reviewing the current battle lines on social security. One fact that's discussed in Laura Meckler's column is the fact that administration economists now believe that we will start drawing down on the reserve within 4 years. That means that progressives can no longer count on today's workers being forced to subsidize Washington superspending in reserves; actually the administration will have to sell Treasury bills just to finance payments.
I suspect what all is said and done, we'll see some compromises: conservative will probably agree to some modest tax increases, an increase in the eligible income ceiling, and freezing or limited payouts to the well-to-do; in turn, they probably expect that liberals will agree to some increase in the eligibility age and more modest benefit increases.
Political Humor
"President Obama was in Hollywood for a star-studded fundraiser. They raised a million dollars and converted him to Scientology." –Jimmy Kimmel
[That's a relief to the 18% of Americans whom think he's Muslim....But Barack Obama was quite firm in talking to his godfather Tom Cruise. You see, Oprah had a prior conversation with Barack about Tom. So when Tom visits the White House and stays in the Lincoln bedroom, he's not allowed to jump on the furniture...]
"The Obama economy utilizes a system of carefully monitored checks and balances. He writes the checks, you pay the balance." [Found on the web.]
I am amused by this political ad, spoofing JetBlue flight attendant Steve Slater's plane escape. [I also am a mark for any cameo reprising the famous Howard Dean scream...]
Musical Interlude: The American Songbook Series
Dinah Washington*, "I Could Write a Book"
(* My collection features Carmen McRae on vocals. I hope the reader finds Dinah Washington a worthy substitute.)
