Today marks eight years since the invasion of Afghanistan after the attack on September 11, 2001.
For a brief while, President Bush’s decision to invade united the American people, and it seemed as if we would find Osama Bin Laden and overcome Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Then we messed up big time and were further diverted by deciding to go to war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq, and that war dragged on and took our eye off the ball.
Now after eight years, longer than any war in US History a month from now, we have had 865 Americans killed and 570 of our NATO allies, and we are no closer to victory, whatever that is.
The belief is that the war will drag on for years, with heavier losses and with mounting national debt, and without any guarantee or likelihood of victory. Can we continue to throw our money and our youth down the chute in what is basically an impossible terrain with a corrupt government which has never been able to unite the tribesmen of the area, a country which Alexander the Great, the British, and the Russians could not conquer?
The answer is NO, that it it time to cut our losses, simply use aerial bombing and drones and intelligence gathering to keep Al Qaeda and the Taliban at bay, but we cannot be the world’s savior, and at this time, many NATO allies are planning to scale back, and that is what this nation needs to do.
We can promote the defense of our nation without sacrificing courageous young men and women in a hell hole that no one can possibly expect to win. In fact, we have to ask: What would be a win anyway? Enough is enough! President Obama: Have the courage to say NO MORE and bring our troops home!