Moonage Political Webdream

Harry Reid tends to over-state almost everything he’s trying to discuss.  In the process, he almost always just proves how little he actually knows about anything.  His latest folly is stating:

"This war is a serious situation. It involves the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, told CNN’s "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

Several people have immediately taken Reid to task.  Each pretty much having their own opinion of the US worst foreign policy blunder.  Here’s a few:

• JFK’s Bay of Pigs ( Directly led to the Cuban Missile Crisis which in turn led to added financial support from Russia. )
• Carter supporting the Shah of Iran ( led to the hostage crisis, which has led to no relations with Iran since.  We are dealing with that now. )
• Carter cutting off Ethiopia to support Somalia.  Everyone complains about not doing anything for Mogadishu, Mogadishu was Carter’s creation.  When he switched sides, the US went from supporting the country being attacked to the country doing the attacking, and subsequently losing.  When Somalia fell into eternal civil war a decade later, Mogadishu became a calling card for activists screaming for US intervention due to the genocide that has occurred since 1978.  Millions have died as the result of the US support for a ruthless dictator.  Subsequently, in 2006, Ethiopia again teamed up with the US to attempt to weed out terrorists in Somalia that have thrived in the political and governmental void left behind by Carter’s decision. 
• Clinton shooting a $2 million dollar rocket at a $10 tent and hitting a camel’s butt.  During the height of the Lewinski Scandal, Clinton inexplicably fired a missile into Afghanistan ( a sort of ally at the time ) and Sudan, in an attempt to kill Osama Bin Laden, who had been associated with attacks in Kenya and Tanzania.  Clinton’s staff went to the airwaves to explain that there would be no safe haven for terrorists anywhere in the world.  After the missile strikes in 1998, nothing would be done about Bin Laden by Clinton again.  September 11, 2001, Bin Laden struck back.  The Taliban , who protested the missile strikes of 1998, refused to do anything about Bin Laden.  We’ve been at war since 2001.
• Clinton attacks Iraq.  In 1998, Clinton’s operation Desert Fox directly engages Hussein’s Elite Guard in order to enforce the UN weapons inspections.  Iraq would subsequently repeatedly provoke the US by shooting missiles at US Air Force. In 2002, Bush would authorize forces to remove Hussein.  We’ve been stuck there since.
• JFK orders more troops to Vietnam. Troop levels increased from 900 to 16000+ under Kennedy.
• Johnson orders bombing halt.  During the height of armed conflict in Vietnam, Johnson orders a bombing halt against North Vietnam in order to find a non-militaristic solution.  Five years later, the US withdraws and loses it’s first war.  The subsequent collapse of Cambodia and Laos led to the genocide of an estimated 3 million people.  In 2006, Jack Murtha, among others, wants to halt military activities in Iraq to find a non-militaristic solution.
• Of course, none of this would be an issue today if it weren’t for the biggest foreign policy blunder under the direction of Harry S. Truman who in 1948, agreed with the UN to establish the state of Israel.  Thereby, setting in motion all of the events leading up to Harry Reid’s proclamation of last week.  If Truman and the UN had decided to put Israel anywhere but the Middle East, we wouldn’t have been repeatedly attacked by extremist Muslims and reacting accordingly now would we?

So, one has to wonder what Harry Reid’s version of history truly is.  The last time we cut and ran, millions of people died.  It can be argued that was the worst single foreign policy blunder we’ve made.  Now, you can question whether I’m referring to Somalia or Vietnam.  It really doesn’t matter does it?  Cutting and running, which is what Reid, Pelosi, and Murtha are pushing now, has left millions dead both times in my lifetime.  That’s what they want now.  And, in order to prove their point, they’re willing to turn history upside down and dare you to check it.  Sure, we’ve got another Vietnam or Somalia on our hands now.  But, history has proven in both cases leaving a massive leadership void by cutting and running only makes things profoundly worse.  And, in the case of Vietnam, it was the bizarre cessation of aggression in 1968 that prolonged the War and led to it’s eventual collapse and subsequent death of millions.

That is exactly what Reid, Pelosi, and Murtha are doing again.

That, would be yet another item on the long chain of events that have been the the worst foreign policy mistakes in the history of this country.

Two notes:

1. I do NOT consider creating Israel a mistake.  SOME people have made the claim and there has been a lot of blood shed over that decision.  So, in the annals of history, both sides have to be considered.
2. There have been plenty of other foreign policy mistakes.  Listing them all here individually would be overwhelming and a distraction from the main point.  So, posting other mistakes as comments is not necessary and may not be tolerated.  I am simply putting Reid’s comment in perspective of history and why I think his political agenda is dangerous.  That’s all.

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Tags: National Security

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