[elfman2]

”Perhaps before we start having delusions of grandeur in Iraq, we should clean up the mess up in Afghanistan first! ”

I suspect Afghanistan could not be secured enough to meet your criteria so you’re really just promoting a near total withdraw from world affairs.

But to want that, you’d have to believe that malevolent forces wouldn’t fill the vacuum of our absence and we wouldn’t be facing them strengthened at our boarders or within our borders soon. That argument failed to win support in the cold war for the same reason it would fail here. Being the unofficial policemen of the world has some benefits, but it’s also a large burden as you recognize. Then again, evil only exists when good men do nothing.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Okay, let's use your standard. Do *you* think Afghanistan is "secure?"

[Austin Willard Wright]

P.S. Is is ironic that you chose to quote from Lord Acton to justify a campaign for Wilsonian social engineering. Acion was a great advocate of prudence and restraint in foreign policy. Perhaps the new conservative social engineers should re-read Acton's quotation on the corrupting influence of power and what could be *more* corrupting that a futile effort to police the entire planet!