Sowell: A Bitter After-taste

Creators Syndicate ^ | June 17, 2014 | Thomas Sowell

[jazusamo]

The news from Iraq that Islamic terrorists have now taken over cities that American troops liberated during the Iraq war must have left an especially bitter after-taste to Americans who lost a loved one who died taking one of those cities, or to a survivor who came back without an arm or leg, or with other traumas to body or mind.

Surely we need to learn something from a tragedy of this magnitude.

Some say that we should never have gone into Iraq in the first place. Others say we should never have pulled our troops out when we did, leaving behind a weak and irresponsible government in charge.

At a minimum, Iraq should put an end to the notion of "nation-building," especially nation-building on the cheap, and to the glib and heady talk of "national greatness" interventionists who were prepared to put other people's lives on the line from the safety of their editorial offices.

Those who are ready to blame President George W. Bush for everything bad that has happened since he left office should at least acknowledge that he was a patriotic American president who did what he did for the good of the country — an assumption that we can no longer safely make about the current occupant of the White House.

If President Bush's gamble that we could create a thriving democracy in the Middle East — one of the least likely places for a democracy to thrive — had paid off, it could have been the beginning of a world-changing benefit to this generation and to generations yet unborn.

[Elsie]

We have ALWAYS been at war with EastAsia.

[Elsie]

Yet, even if the sects had their own countries, they would fight over the boundaries instead of within them.

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Genesis 16:7-12

⁷ The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ 

The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”

¹⁰ The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”

¹¹ And the angel of the Lord said to her,

“Behold, you are pregnant
    and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
    because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
¹² He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
    his hand against everyone
    and everyone's hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

 

 

 

[Smokin' Joe]

Yet, even if the sects had their own countries, they would fight over the boundaries instead of within them.

Likely. But the boundaries give them the excuse of seeking to dominate a particular piece of turf, and the way it was divided ensures conflict.