Why Don't We Give Them What They Want?

This article by Ed Koch got me thinking. I wonder what would happen if the U.S. pulled out of Iraq and Afganistan. Heck, why don't we just pull out of every place where we have troops. Bring our troops home and fight our wars when we are attacked.

I know, the war in which the most Americans died and lost property was fought on our own soil (Civil War) . From that and World War I we learned that it is better to fight on someone else's soil and stop a threat before it makes it to our shores. Yeah, that's kind of self serving, but World War II would not have been won by the Allies if Americans had not been self serving.

In a way, it would almost be humorous to pull out of Iraq. Everyone gets angry at Americans for "being arrogant," and believing that other countries ought to mimic our form of government. Actually, we're only defending ourselves and the rest of the world from a threat that is very real. If the U.S. suddenly walked away from the powder keg brewing in the Middle East, what would happen to Europe?

I know, I'm stereotyping. What a typical, arrogant American thing to do! I believe that people who say they want to kill everyone actually do want to do that. This is a disclaimer, I am not talking about all of the Middle East. I refer only to Islamic terrorists and those who believe in jihad. I'm not indicting every Muslim out there. If you think that's my game, then I am sorry. I try to put the blame on those who ask for the blame. As far as I can tell, terrorists like al-Zarqawi mean what they say when they make threats. I would never blacklist all Islamics as terrorists. I would not say that Islamics are backward and need to be modernized. My words include a select group of Islamics. You know the ones who are out to kill us.

Back the important issue, what would happen to Europe? Better yet, does Europe really want us to pull out of Iraq and Afganistan? What would people think if we left? I bet that terrorism would suddenly be a much bigger issue in European countries and we would start seeing stronger leaders rise up or the ones who are already there would take a stronger stand against terrorism. Maybe only the reality of the U.S. pulling out will make people see the awful truth. The problem that we are fighting is not a problem that is just going to disappear when we leave. We did not cause people to become terrorists by fighting against terrorists. That's as logical as it would be to say that fighting Hitler caused him to kill more Jews. I despise the fact that the U.S. waited so long to get involved in World War II. I despise the fact that we allowed Hitler to do such terrible things. Forgive me, if I am proud of the fact that we are among the first to stand against atrocities against humanity this time around.

But then again, it might have been better to wait a little while until people believed that our country was needed in this fight. Maybe being a tad bit isolationist would have helped us gain allies instead of pushing them away. I suppose there is one problem with that idea: 9-11-2001. We could not ignore that. But we could have waited on Iraq, at least.