Congressman Murtha is making the rounds on the new bill to reduce troop numbers, cap spending, and set deadlines for the war in Iraq.
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, before his departure in 2005, noted that we’d fight them there or fight them here, a reference to the Iraqi conflict as the front line in the battle against terrorism.
On the NBC Today program, Rep. John Boehner echoed those terms, citing the Murtha bill as a precursor to all out war in the streets of America should we reduce troop levels prematurely.
Who doesn’t believe that if we pull out of Iraq and we see failure there, that those terrorists won’t follow our troops home and have those fights right here on the streets of America.
Well, I don’t, Congressman. I think its atrocious to threaten people with Hell to get them to church. I think its atrocious to try to garner votes and support with fear-mongering. [Edit: Explaining the possible dangers is one thing. Sharing our faith in Scripture with conviction and concern falls into that category. Playing on the fears of our neighbors is a completely differnt category.]
The trouble is, I think that Boehner is right on the issue, but wrong in his principles. I think Murtha is wrong, but I’m not going to make my case with threats and Chicken Little warnings that terrorists will bring the fight to the streets of America if they don’t have soldiers in Iraq to attack.
No one followed the troops home from Korea or Vietnam. But the conflict was lost and our efforts in that region were severely curtailed, resulting in decades of hardship for many of those we intended to aid.
We’re in Iraq for the wrong reasons. And war is deplorable and by its very nature contrary to the teachings of Christ. But the situation is what it is, and we should finish what we started. If we withdraw the troops at this point, we’ll be back in less than five years–perhaps as little as a year. And we’ll be fighting a pitched battle at every turn.
Now, for the first time, we have an active military leader, General David Petraeus, who is making the case for “more than military” solutions. The only nations that have ever espoused purely military solutions ended up building empires, subjugating nations, and engulfing entire cultures–and those were just the successful efforts. In many cases, this kind of approach has only resulted in generating backlash.
A balanced strategy of diplomacy and military action is our best bet to bring resolution to this situation. Seperate the two, and the effort to bring peace to Iraq in our lifetime will be condemned to a battle with one arm tied behind our collective back.
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