Audacity Indeed...

Today, like most days presents ample opportunity to be outraged. Joe Biden's has begun to take credit for the success in Iraq! Indeed the audacity of this administration knows no bounds! Joe Biden claims that Iraq can be one of the "proudest achievements of this administration"!


Yet 5 minutes on You Tube or Google easily locates video of Joe Biden and his boss Barack Obama declaring that not only will Iraq be a complete failure but also that the "surge" will "never work." Barack Obama stated that he felt the surge would have the opposite effect. Since taking office and particularly of late as his image as commander in chief has suffered he has taken to claiming credit for Iraq.

It's interesting to recall the negative PR strategy over Iraq and the surge's fantastic results. First with absolute opposition to the very idea then as the surge began working (then Sen) Obama claimed this was simply "spin" and as the success continued it became an egregious act of willful denial . At this point Obama and his cadre of "progressives" simply started to ignore the questions and stop talking about it while simultaneously the news media simply stopped reporting about Iraq all together.


For a while Iraq (at least in its early phases) should not be used as a model for future actions the latter phases (post surge) are in terms of the military effort and nation building an unmitigated success.


Afghanistan of course remains a book whose conclusion is as yet unwritten. For while Iraq was a functioning society albeit a dysfunctional one replete with sons of the tyrannical dictator who routinely chose women from the street and had them kidnapped for a night of rape it still was a society with organizational structure, industry and institutions. Afghanistan remains an essentially 12 or 13 Century land of warring tribes and villagers whose primary export is opium. America can export Democracy... and it can be argued that this is in the interest of our national security. It can also be argued from the sound position of the founders that it is not our responsibility to ensure the enforcement of the unalienable rights that are the cornerstone of our own society. For this would lead us down many dangerous paths. George Washington warned of this in his farewell address to the Nation.


The proper goal of Government is the preservation and improvement of our United States - first and foremost. All else is necessarily second. America remains the last best hope for all those yearning to breathe the air of liberty. Excessive foreign entanglements will only serve to weaken our ability to remain that shining city on a hill.