Thoughts on Foreign Policy

To the Editor: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.
This should be the motto for our country and the upcoming 2016 national election(s). Our politicians don’t even have the fortitude to admit that the Iraq war was not only wrong, but a disaster. Look at the results of this war (2003-10).
Eliminating Saddam Hussein, the linchpin of the Middle East, they say was a good thing to rid the world of him. We removed the balance of power from the Middle East. We gave it to Iran and now they try to blame Obama. They say it was faulty intelligence. Not so. They outright lied us into the war. Weapons of mass destruction (WMD)? A12 tubes? Do you want an example of outright hypocrisy from Cheney? He fed a story to a Judy Miller of the NY X. Then he turned around and said, “Look, even the NYZ has suggested WMD.” We had Bush on uranium from Africa. We had Condoleezza Rice on mushroom cloud. We had the CIA director on ‘piece of cake.’ We had other neo-cons on roses, cake walks and oil revenues. None of which ever materialized. We now have Republican (presidential) candidates saying they would do it again. This is outright insanity. We have a guy from Arkansas, who’s been in the Senate for 15 minutes, condemning the nuke talks. We have an old guy in the Senate who wants to bomb the whole world.
If one were to look at this picture, one would draw the conclusion that we are a nation of idiots. We must always recall the past and what happened to the great superpowers in Rome and the UK. Should you forget the past, you are doomed to repeat.
Unlike times gone by, we have outside interference more than ever supporting some of these outrageous decisions. Do you recall how the staff of Fox News had pimped the war in Iraq? There was a time when the media at least didn’t openly choose sides, yet we know that Fox is an open supporter of the Republican party. Fox created a platform for the neo-cons to direct their war plans. In reflection, let’s look exactly at who supported this war other than Fox. The church didn’t, most of Europe didn’t, the pope didn’t and as time moved on, the public didn’t. This war continued for 10 years, at a cost some say is $5 trillion. American lives lost about 5,000 and Iraq lives 50-100,000.
The only ones who got it right on foreign policy were Gen. Eisenhower and poppy Bush. Amen.