In This Corner

By Gerry Garrison

As you know, my readers, there has been a mass killing in Afghanistan, in which an American soldier is accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians, including women and children. Earlier this month, there was the burning of Korans because they were defaced by terrorist prisoners. Islam law states they needed to be burned and we did what we thought was the right thing.

The results of all this? Massive rioting by the Afghan population. Just last month one of our Marines was killed by an Afghan soldier, marking the seventh killing of an American military by Afghan military personnel. Afghan President Karzai wants all NATO military out of Afghanistan and the U.S. Military out by the end of next year, a year earlier than planned by President Obama.

On top of all of this, when Panetta went to visit Afghanistan, the Marines were ordered to disarm.  This is unprecedented. At no other time has this happed.  There have been visits by Presidents, members of congress and other dignitaries, and this never happened.

It is very obvious to me that this administration has no stomach to continue this conflict in Afghanistan.  All actions by them concerning the “war” in Afghanistan suggest they believe they cannot wait to leave.

My answer to this? Let’s leave now.  We have been there over 10 years and it is about time we left.  The Afghans don’t want us there and their military will continue to try and kill our soldiers and marines.  The Taliban has pulled out of all peace talks and the Taliban has threatened to behead any American soldier they capture.

We have spilled so much of the precious blood of our armed forces there and in Iraq.  We caught Sadam Hussein and the new government put him to death by hanging. Bin Laden was killed by Seal Team Six just last year. We now longer have a reason to be in Iraq or Afghanistan.

So what else is there to do? Train forces who no longer want us there and who are killing our armed forces personnel? Even if we leave in two years, nothing is going to change.

History has told us that now one can control this country.  Alexander the Great tried, the British tried, the Russians tried, and now we are trying.  It is time for everyone concerned that nothing we or NATO does is going to change reality.  The people are stuck in the Middle Ages. The Afghan people don’t want foreign forces there and never have.

A nd now, President Obama is thinking about getting involved in the crisis in Syria.  Why?  Does he really think we can make a change there?  Did we accomplish anything when we got involved in the crisis in Egypt or Libya?  A dictator was removed and another killed. 

The question is, did we improve the plight of the people in either country? Do you think the Muslim Brotherhood is going to be our allies in Egypt?  The Libyan government is no being taken over by radicals, who  are very anti-U.S.

My answer to all of this is let the Muslims take care of the issues in Syria.  Let Saudi Arabians, the Jordanians and other Muslim governments solve the issues of these countries, not us.  The Saudis have already pulled their Ambassador out of Syria.

The Arab league should be getting together and take care of Syrian President Assad, even though his government has rejected any plan by the Arab League to end the violence there. This is an Arab problem. Let the Arabs figure it out.

 A recent poll shows that over 75% of voters in American oppose sending troops to Syria. I oppose any involvement at all. I feel for the thousands that have died there. But shedding any more of our precious American blood in a conflict we wouldn’t solve would be worse.

Many may think that I am beginning to think like Ron Paul. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I believe we should keep up our pressure on Iran to prevent them from creating a nuclear weapon. If it takes an air strike by us (or the Israelis), using bunker busting bombs, then so be it. But no troops on the ground.

We should continue our sanctions against them. If the Iranians try to block the Straits of Hormuz, the US Navy can take them out. Any attempt by that government to use force to stop us would end in the destruction of their Navy.  Any attempt by their Air Force to stop us would have the same results.

So let’s stop kidding ourselves. Let’s pull our troops out of countries that no longer want nor need us. Just think of all the money we would save if we pulled out Europe or the majority of the Middle East. 

We would still need a naval presence in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. But troops on the ground? I don’t think so.

But what do I know.  Just sayin . . . # # #

Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile.

COTA for Cullen Steele

http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforCullenS/