What wars would you stay out of?

Jim Powell

[Jim Powell]

To those who say we should use our military in an effort to overthrow tyrants and promote justice around the world, I would ask: which, if any, wars would you avoid?

There are always a lot of tyrants and much injustice in the world, so we're talking about a policy of perpetual war.

Are we to invade Iran? Try taking over Saudi Arabia from their incompetent, unjust rulers who have given us so many terrorists? Perhaps we ought to permanently station hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, or even a million American soldiers, in Africa, since during the past 40 years that bedeviled continent has had more dictatorships than any other. Presumably we should invade China with its laogai, as they call their gulag with millions of slave laborers. Surely, the United States has an "interest" in China that would justify an invasion. Don't forget all the corruption in South America -- surely we should invade some of those countries to set things right.

If this is going too far, then where do you draw the line to distinguish between countries we should invade and countries we shouldn't invade, wars we should pursue and wars we should stay out of?

How do you determine which wars we can win and which wars are likely to backfire on us?

Foreign policy experts haven't been able to answer these questions, or we wouldn't have gotten into the Korean anda Vietnam wars that squandered tens of thousands of American lives without enhancing our national security.

[advertisement removed]

We shouldn't be surprised that wars often backfire and have consequences very different than what was intended, because wars are the most volatile, dangerous and unpredictable human events. That's the nature of wars and why they should be avoided. If we're threatened or attacked, we must do what we have to do, but it's essential to conserve our defense resources and stay out of as many conflicts as possible.

Jim Powell

[Maceman]

I would definitely have stayed out of the Balkans. I think Clinton committed a war crime in Kosovo.

I would stay out of any war we do not have the resources to win, or where we cannot achieve our desired post-war objctives (such as invading mainland China).

I would stay out of any war that does not direcly aim to protect the security of the US.

I would support any war effort that would weaken or destroy Islamic terrorism, which means I MOST DEFINITELY support our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I would support a war against any Islamic government (provided, again, that we can win and manage the post war environment). I don't know enough about our military to know whether we could successfully invade Iran. If we could, I would be for it. But based on what I have read, I don't believe we could succeed there.