Posted by Congressman John Campbell at 11:49 am on Aug 12, 2014 Comments Off on Lessons Learned from Afghanistan
The world is an unstable place. If this seemed at doubt even a
few years ago, it certainly is no longer. Some instability is a
result of violence fueled by radical religious views or by
aggression born of extremist ideology. Some of it is caused by
long-standing ethnic conflicts or, as we are seeing in Ukraine, by
the centuries-old desire of some to conquer neighboring countries
simply because they are more powerful and want to expand their
territorial footprint for any number of reasons.
In Washington, it seems as though there are only two reactions
to all of this. One choice is to intervene everywhere. The other is
to intervene nowhere. I think both of these strategic frameworks
are equally flawed. To intervene everywhere will overwhelm both our
military and financial resources, not to mention potentially lead
to unrest at home as a result of the inabilty to accomplish our
desired goals. To intervene nowhere assumes that the conflict and
violence across the globe will never reach a point where it
directly threatens us, which the lessons of history belie.
The great question, of course, is when do we intervene and when
don’t we? And, how far should we go… Read More