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A libertarian take

Reader comment on item: NRO Symposium: "Fatal Arab Spring"

Submitted by Roger McKinney (United States), Sep 16, 2012 at 12:12

Except for Brian Kennedy, the responses in the symposium were short on specific action that the US should have taken during the Arab uprisings. Do we really want to go to war and have our troops bogged down in a hostile nation where even the women and children are enemies with bombs? Sounds like a repeat of Afghanistan, which is a reincarnation of VietNam.

The quagmires that we created in Iraq and Afghanistan after very successful launches of military action demonstrate that no one in Washington has learned a thing from VietNam. We should have left both countries as soon as the opposing governments were overthrown. Instead, we had to stay ten years and try to win the hearts and minds of people who hate us and get thousands of boys killed for no reason.

During the early parts of the Iraq/Afghan wars I read the English language version of Al Ahram online. Almost every week it published horrible lies about the conduct of our troops and the US's intentions. Al Ahram is state owned and the largest newspaper in Egypt. Clearly, Mubarak was stirring up hatred of the US at home while proclaiming his friendship in public. He turned Egyptians into the most anti-American people on the planet.

If a casual reader could see this, why couldn't the CIA or state dept? They could see it but they had blinded themselves by ideology. I have lived in the Middle East twice and have seen that the state dept is the most anti-American group of people in the world.

As a libertarian I can't go along with the war mongering from conservatives. The greatest conservative since WWII, Ronald Reagan, had a different policy: support with arms and guidance those that we like, but keep American troops out of the Middle East. Yes, he did lose 300 Marines in Lebanon, but he learned from that. The US should remove all embassies, aid and any other contact with all Muslim countries. CIA work should be done only by natives we can recruit and help from Israel. If we find groups we can support, then arm them to the teeth covertly, but keep American boys out of the mess.

As for the straight of Hormuz, the US gets very little oil from that region. Leave it to Europe to defend if they want to. If not, why should we care? Most of our oil comes from the US, Canada and Mexico.

The exception will be Iran. Israel has no choice but to attack at some point. Our response should depend upon how Iran responds. If they respond with terror attacks, no problem. We can deal with those as they come. But if they launch missiles at Israel we will have to respond in kind.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (16) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Sadly this will never stop until . . [77 words]Phil GreeneSep 26, 2012 17:51199219
Good suggestion, but [155 words]Kepha HorSep 19, 2012 14:50198821
Romney is ahead [117 words]TheHatSep 25, 2012 13:51198821
I hope you're right and I'm wrong. [111 words]Kepha HorSep 28, 2012 16:24198821
1$ does more harm then good, the root why they hate us [205 words]David SSep 17, 2012 16:44198752
2A libertarian take [461 words]Roger McKinneySep 16, 2012 12:12198713
1the investigation into 9/11 2012 [82 words]jamesSep 16, 2012 03:05198710
2Israel is their target! [55 words]JuneSep 15, 2012 11:13198690
9religious tolerance Islamic style [310 words]Jules PostenSep 14, 2012 15:15198652
5re:Current problems [145 words]George TomkinSep 14, 2012 13:09198643
4DP: incisive and perceptive [70 words]Bryan BessnerSep 14, 2012 11:46198634
6We can learn from Japan [97 words]Michael Hanni MorcosSep 14, 2012 10:18198631
4muslim deception and violence [115 words]michael talSep 14, 2012 09:53198628
2Right On [72 words]JaneSep 14, 2012 09:20198624
4The US Becomes Venezuela [69 words]DaveSep 14, 2012 09:00198622
5media and Administration [44 words]Brenda RossiniSep 14, 2012 08:24198619

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