A common idea among many think tanks today is that America should leave the world alone and stay out of world affairs.
Isolationist thinking has come to the surface especially after U.S. forces invaded Iraq. I heard people utter this sentiment many times with expressions such as, "Why is America such a bully?" or "Everybody hates us now after we have gone into Iraq!" and finally, "bring the troops home!"
First of all, the United States is the most powerful, influential and wealthy superpower on earth. This gives us considerable clout to pursue our interests and our greatest concern is the safety of our country and its citizens. America has many vicious enemies that would like nothing more than to see our great experiment with freedom fail.
Thus, we must protect our country against those enemies.We do this with our armed forces. The armed forces do much more than sit around at bases in the United States and look at a radar screen all day. Many troops are strategically stationed overseas near potential hotspots so that if and when hostilities arise, the soldiers are close at hand.
South Korea is an excellent example. In this country we have stationed thousands of troops behind a demilitarized zone of barbed wire and land mines to protect the people of East Asia against a hostile North Korean threat.
Behind the demilitarized zone, the threat of Kim Jong Il's million man army is contained and its nuclear arsenal, which Bill Clinton provided funding for, is closely monitored.
If Kim attacks our ally South Korea or tries to launch an attack on the United States our troops would be ready to defend over there, not here. America becomes involved in global affairs not to bully people but to protect the safety and interests of its citizens and to allies around the world.
The same can be said about Iraq. We now see all types of terrorists coming out of the woodwork from neighboring countries to attack the United States and coalition troops. This is the war on terror. Our troops are fighting the terrorists overseas and not on the streets of Chicago, Philadelphia or New York. Troops are being lost and that is dreadful, but their mission must not be forgotten. Our brave men and women are defeating the terrorists and bringing democracy and human dignity to a region of the world that has none.
The United States is facing opposition on many fronts. France, Germany, Russia, and China have supported very few U.S. foreign policies although they pretend to be open minded.
The idea that everyone hates America more in 2003 is ridiculous and irrelevant. France, for example, has been anti-American for half of a century. Even so, we should be worrying about the consequences of our actions rather than what other countries and the United Nations bureaucrats will think of us.
Furthermore, the United States has its own interests but so does every country in the world. If it were in France's or the United Nations' best interest to support the United States they would do so. It's not that they are more "progressive" or care more about human rights.
Most liberals love crazy conspiracy stories about Bush and Cheney, but here is one that is actually true.
France wanted to stop the war to protect its own oil interests in Iraq and the United Nations wished to cover up the billions of dollars it skimmed off the corrupt "Oil for Food" program. These countries oppose our every action now, but who will they run crying to for support at the first sign of trouble? The United States.
It is apparent that our troops cannot return home now even if a couple of outraged liberal mothers want them back. If we pull out now, Iraq would lose all sense of law and order and probably revert to the former Baathist controlled state.
All of the lives lost and the resources spent would be in vain. Iraqi children will never have a future, Iraqi women will once again live in terror of Saddam's rape rooms and men will fear speaking up in public or running for office.
Americans have to get their heads out of the sand and realize that no war lasts a week. This will be a long drawn out struggle, but we will win.
