EDITORIAL

Should One More American Soldier Die in the Middle East?

It’s Time to Declare Victory and Get Out Now!

Jan. 9—The majority of Americans agree with 2016 Presidential Candidate Donald Trump that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was the worst mistake in American history—both among those who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and those who did not. They agree with him that nothing has been gained in these “forever wars,” these “no-win wars,” against which our greatest 20th Century General, Douglas MacArthur, warned us long ago.

The Afghan war has been going on for 19 years—America’s longest war. To what end? Recently released documents show that even top leaders in the Pentagon haven’t known what the objectives of that war were. And yet troops are fighting there today who weren’t yet born when it began. Make a list of all the reasons that have been given for staying in Afghanistan over the years. Did any of those things happen? And yet we fight on and on forever anyway.

Why Are We Still in Syria?

And what about Iraq? ISIS has been defeated—why are we staying? The recent nonbinding vote of the Iraqi parliament to ask that U.S. troops be removed, should be taken as the occasion to declare victory and finally part ways with the worst mistake in our history.

America is a country of vast unmet needs, especially in the “flyover country” between the East and West Coasts. Industry and agriculture were already in collapse before the 2009 crisis, and have not yet recovered from 2009. There is no one who doesn’t see the catastrophes of drug addiction, homelessness, and many others. No way can we afford to sacrifice the lives of our best young people and trillions of dollars in these forever wars.

President Trump knows all this—he campaigned and won on it. From the day he came down the escalator and declared his candidacy, if not before, he has fought the imperial forces, centered in the City of London and Wall Street, and now they are trying to trap him in the forever wars ignited by the Bushes, Barack Obama, and the British Foreign Office—and he continues to fight.

We have no stake here, and we have lost any influence we might have had in the disaster of the Iraq War and the Arab Spring uprisings. We should get out now. We should ask the Russians and the Chinese to join us in a campaign to ensure reconstruction and development of this war-ravaged area immediately. New long-term financing mechanisms are needed for that, a stable means of financing great projects. The private mercenary armies we have sponsored must be disarmed. These things should be on the agenda of the emergency summit between the U.S., Russia, and China called for by Helga Zepp-LaRouche. Get the shovels in the ground and start the tractors rolling!

It will free this President to fulfill his campaign promise to the American people—a national mission to explore the Moon and go to Mars, a national mission to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and decaying cities, a national mission to seize the future for and through our youth.