JINSA Report #558 The President told the truth

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March 20, 2006

JINSA Report #558

The President told the truth

He was just a radio sports jock (RSJ), but he was on a political rant so
it's fair to comment on what he said. Paraphrased, it was on the order
of: "People want America's goods and services, but they don't
necessarily want to be like us. Iraq is about 2,000 years old – a lot
older than we are – and they've always been governed, sadly, by
dictators who oppress them. Not only Iraq, but also the broader Middle
East. That's just the way it happens. So when America, well meaning as
we are, tries to "spread democracy" like Johnny Appleseed, why should we
think it will work? Now, three years into the Iraq war, the President
says we will be there at least until 2009, so that is the end, the very
end of the idea of a quick and complete withdrawal."

Disregard, for a moment, that while Baghdad is old, Iraq has only been a
country since 1932, and disregard the fact that no one in a responsible
position has said there would be a quick or complete withdrawal (as
opposed to John Murtha or Michael Moore). The RSJ seems to have two
actual problems: that the President told the truth about the length of
the required American military commitment to Iraq; and that because
certain people have been governed through oppression in the past it is,
therefore, their future.

The RSJ might consider Korea.

Dictators and/or occupiers had "always" governed Korea, as they did
every Asian country. In 1950, the U.S. committed to a war on the
peninsula that lasted three years, killed 33,651 American soldiers and
injured 103,284. If, at the time of the armistice in 1953, President
Truman had told the American people that we would commit our forces to
the protection of Korea for at least 53 years in order that the Koreans
have an opportunity for political development leading to a first-rate
economy and an open democratic system, it is likely the RSJ would have
said, "How long?? What makes you think Asian people can have democracy?
It's not in their history; not in their nature."

This was eight years after a three-and-a-half year (for us) war in which
more than 407,000 American soldiers died and nearly 700,000 were
wounded. If, in 1945, President Truman had said we would be in Okinawa
for at least 66 years and provide the ruins of Imperial Japan the
opportunity to develop a first-rate economy and democratic system; or
that American troops would stay in Europe for the rest of the century to
guard against the shadowy threats of the Cold War and provide cover
while the ruins of Nazi Germany created a democratic system, no doubt
our RSJ would have said, "How long?? Japan has no prior democratic
impulses and Germany's history is dictatorial kings and fascist parties."

There are pitfalls galore in Iraq, both for the Iraqis and for us. But
in the three years since the fall of Saddam, the majority of the people
have moved in a fairly straight line through local and national
elections and the construction of a consensual government and a capable
police and security force (that protects the people, not some dictator)
– even as homegrown and foreign terrorists do their best to foment
civil war. The President told the truth about the need for patience in
Iraq, and maybe the RSJ should stick to sports where they the clock
winds down to 0 and the game is over. Real life isn't that neat.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3363

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