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| Yes | 50% | 77 votes | Total: 154 votes | |
| No | 50% | 77 votes |
Yes
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"With great power comes great responsibility." A quote in itself greatly debated in its origin seems a fitting place to begin. We, in the United States do indeed have a great power. Actually, we have several. The greatest of these powers lie in our Freedom, and in our Hope for the future.
We Americans take our freedoms for granted. We assume we can speak our minds. We assume we have a right to work. We assume we live in a land where our loved ones can leave for work in the morning and return alive because suicide bombers don't threaten our daily lives. For the most part, we're right. But, in this world of terrorists, government sanctions, nuclear proliferation, etc. we are the exception, not the rule.
I have read many times, and it disturbs me greatly, that there is a unified belief that genocide of these people is the only way to win, and that our government lacks the backbone to do what must be done to win. Are we that far removed as a generation from WWII? Have we forgotten we fought to end genocide? Have we forgotten not every German was a Nazi?
We are making some dangerous assumptions here. Not every person in Afghanistan is a jihadist. Not every person in Afghanistan hates Americans and wants us all dead. Just like the Nazi's were a segment of German society, so are the jihadists. "Killing them all, and letting God sort them out" actually makes us the perpetrators of genocide. I hope we're all better than this.
This is not a war strategy, this is a chapter straight out of hell. Most of these people want what we want. Peace, security, to know their loved ones are safe, that their children will have a better life than they have. Don't forget, these are human beings just like us. The same hopes, fears, and desires.
So, the war's gonna bankrupt us? Okay. Then let's surge NOW. End it NOW with the US victorious, not running away like a dog with its tail between its legs. Why wait for the money to all be gone, which of course as we all know, already is. Personally, I don't count wars by dollar signs. I count wars on the loss of American soldiers.
The men and women of our country who put themselves on the line, body and soul everyday so we can continue to enjoy our freedoms we take for granted. Freedoms they fight for in countries that don't have them. In the hopes of making a better world. Isn't that what we all want?
Learn more about this author, Shelly Estill.
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No
There are many reasons why we should not continue the fighting in Afghanistan. Before even considering American foreign policy, we need to look at the county of Afghanistan itself. History, by way of Russia, has shown that it is an impenetrable fortress. No matter how much our troops train to fight a war in this terrain, they will never know where caves are, where enemy troops may be hiding, where true danger lurks.
Therefore, they will always be at a disadvantage. It seems we have been looking for Bin Laden for eight years with no progress. If there were any lessons learned from our involvement in Viet Nam, this should be it. We cannot win a war there.
Of course, we have to decide about which issues we are fighting. Is a war with Afghanistan a sincere attempt to defend the United States from terrorist attacks? Is it retaliation? With one glaring exception, our intelligence agencies have done a remarkable job of protecting our shores.
The constant news of potential terrorists being arrested here in the United States is proof that these efforts have not been abandoned and are working.
On-going hostilities in Afghanistan are not going to improve this and may make it more difficult.
Are we fighting to spread freedom and the American way around the globe? President Lincoln has been a hero to many of our presidents who proceeded him, not because he kept the country together or freed the slaves. He has been their hero because he found a way to erode the rights and freedoms of our citizenry.
Since his presidency, the executive branch has used his example as an excuse to slowly remove the citizenry's ability to govern itself. In fact, the so-called Patriot Act did not have too many new directives: it listed freedoms that had long been gone.
Is the war in Afghanistan, along with the United States military operations in other middle eastern countries, a deceitful way to try and fix our economy? Eventually, we will have to pay for these wars. That can only make things worse.
The possibility even probability, that the violence the United States has felt justified in perpetrating on so many cultures has a religious agenda is the most disturbing of possibilities, when so many or our initial citizens arrived here looking to be free of religious persecution in their native countries.
Violence begets violence.
Staying the course in Afghanistan will bring peace to no one.
Learn more about this author, henigan.
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