September 19, 2003 - Like it or not the United States is engaged an ongoing two front war against dedicated and determined enemies. One front is in Afghanistan, the other in Iraq. In neither theatre has there been a victory, though the premature and politically mandated declarations of victory have been made. Our President pledges to “stay the course”; no matter what the cost in money, social dislocation and lives; no matter how long it takes. While it is important that we examine and evaluate the blunders that brought us into this situation so that the mistakes and miscarriages of judgment that brought us to this may not be repeated; it is equally important that the United States deliver on its commitment to repair the damage that war has wrought and deliver to the people of the sovereign nations it now occupies viable and responsive political systems.

Immediate withdrawal from the chaos that exists in both countries is not a viable alternative for America she to deliver on her implicit promise and maintain credibility with the world. But neither is it viable that we “stay” the present course on which we embarked with out either a plan or a clear vision of what it was that we are trying to achieve beyond enriching Halliburton and controlling the oilfields. We need a new vision, a new direction and a new appreciation of the proud and undefeated people in whose midst we have been thrust. America and her allies must develop and implement a comprehensive plan to provide our newly conquered colonies with an operating economy, meaningful security and a responsive political structure all independent of American interference.

Until Iraq and Afghanistan have adopted a political structure designed be their people, implemented by their people and accepted by their people we will be seen as an occupying force as brutal and oppressive as the SS regiments who occupied France. If we permit our military to continue the policy of nightly raids and indiscriminate detentions we will have earned that reputation and engendered by our own actions an increasingly effective resistance movement organized against us.

America’s role must become that of assisting but not controlling the economic and political reconstruction of the conquered countries. We must recognize and accept that they are not conquered provinces of a New American Empire, but sovereign peoples who have a right to direct their own destiny. Reconstruction of their countries must be planned by the Iraqi and Afghan people; directed by the Iraqi and Afghan people; and implemented by the Iraqi and Afghan people. We must withdraw Halliburton and Bechtel before it will become possible to withdraw the 101st Airborne or the 4th Infantry.

If we are to emerge from this passage to land at a more secure and prosperous world we must be willing to trust the instinct of people everywhere to strive for liberty. We can help; we can advise; we can guide; but we cannot impose liberty and freedom at gunpoint. It must come from within or it will not come at all.