Did you happen to see Rumsfeld's announcement that the US would leave Iraq IF ASKED to do so by the Iraqi interim government when it is established.
Well, since we're the ones who'll ultimately approve the appointment of the people in the interim government, there may not be much of a risk. Still, I think it buttresses my view that we are failing and that we're looking for a way to declare victory and leave before our inability to use force to "establish freedom and democracy" in Iraq becomes painfully apparent.
It will be interesting, however, to see what happens if the Kurds "ask" us to set up bases and continue our presence in the north.
But with regard to Hitler, the minute he occupied the Rhineland, or even Austria or Czechoslovakia, we had ample cause to confront and force a showdown with him. And such an action might have saved the lives of millions of people and caused Hitler's downfall.
I would agree that the rest of Europe had such cause, had the capability and should have acted. I don't think we were on a sufficient war footing to have done much ourselves.
I view such actions to necessary to protect the sovereign rights of another country and as justified by international law. We, and the most of the world, stepped in when Iraq invaded Kuwait. If he had somehow been crazy enough to invade any other neighbor, the world would have stepped on him again. That is, however, a far different thing than invading Iraq itself when the major international organization and most of the world lined up against it and in favor of the sovereign rights of Iraq.
the willingness to retaliate in kind against the North, such as invading them or cutting the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos near the DMZ area, might just have stabilized the situation.
We've discussed this theory before. As I stated then, if you'd ever fought in a triple canopy jungle setting you'd understand the difference between the theory of "cutting supply lines" and the reality of controlling only that ground that you could people with soldiers at distances of less than 20 meters. But keep on thinking that if it makes you feel that we're Americans and we could have "won" that war. |
