Political Crossfire Forums

[Richard Owl Mirror]

President's Radio Address ~ November 25, 2006

insert feel good rhetoric here ...

Quote: Americans believe that every person has the right to live, work, and worship in freedom.
And we're thankful to the men and women of our Nation's armed forces who risk their lives to protect those rights. This Thanksgiving, we are mindful that many of our finest citizens are spending the holiday far from their homes and loved ones, and we know that their service makes it possible for us to live in freedom.

insert feel good rhetoric here ...

~@~

Although "Americans believe that every person has the right to live, work, and worship in freedom"
does that mean we must finance this effort around the entire planet with our personal blood and treasure?
I'm uncertain how "their service makes it possible for us to live in freedom" .

Is the President asserting that America must interject it's will and force in all corners of this Globe
if WE in America are to remain Free and Prosperous?

Do you feel this assertion is valid ?
Would Americans lose their freedom and prosperity
if we did not send our military forces into many nations around the globe?

Today the Vice-President went hat in hand to make a deal with one of the most repressive regimes in the Middle East asking for assistance.
This would seem to indicate that our Military projection inside Iraq had something to do with 'making it possible for us to live in freedom' yet, has not accomplished that task.

What is wrong with standing firm on principles, speaking words of truth and justice and defending our freedoms when they are assailed ?
This idea that Our Freedom depends upon our interests being assailed half-way around the world seems hollow.

[kohadril]

Well said, Richard Owl Mirror.

I would answer your question about interventionism by saying that there are situations in which America ought to intervene. America ought to intervene against genocide, for instance, at least where such intervention can do any good.

I would add that the opportunity-cost of invading Iraq is our inability to intervene in other locations around the world, to stop oppression much more horrific and dire. The overstretch of our military resources has prevented us from aiding the victims of the Sudanese genocide.

As bad as Saddam was, and as terrible as his atrocities were, he was not the worst. He was contained, he was disarmed, and all he had to threaten us with was empty bluster. Now we're stuck there, and humanitarian intervention is impossible. The cost of this war isn't just the lives of those lost fighting in it. You must also add the lives we could have saved elsewhere to the body count, when deciding whether it was worth it.

I wish I could support a withdrawal. I hate that I cannot.