Fearless Truth
columnist: Fearless Citizen

Topic: Foreign Policy
Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy vs. Fear-Based Foreign Policy

---

The case for a non-interventionist foreign policy is made against our current failing fear-based policy.

---

by Fearless Citizen
(Libertarian)
Sunday, January 6, 2008

So, you may be asking how economic prosperity has anything to do with foreign policy.  Let me give it to you simply.  Wars cost a lot of money…and at this point in our history our military activities in foreign lands cost us much more money than we can afford.  As our debt increases, our chance at prosperity slips through our fingers as does the quality of life we want for our children.  We need to bring our soldiers home from around the world and allow OUR money to be used to assure a prosperous future for coming generations. 

Now, this is the point in the conversation were people throw their arms in the air in anger and say, "We’ve got to kill those terrorists in their country!"  Let me be very clear that this response is the instinctual reaction of someone that allows FEAR to guide their decisions in life.  I will not deny that terrorists committed a horrible crime on September 11, 2001.  Those responsible for that crime must be brought to justice but in six long years we have not had that justice delivered to us.  Why have we lost our focus?  It’s FEAR.  This is one reason why I strongly agree with the analysis presented by Congressman Paul.  He has seen through the fog created by fear and has determined the true root cause of the terrorist attacks. The true root cause is occupation.  When we occupy a foreign country and pose a very real physical treat to its people the natural reaction is to fight back.  I certainly would not want any foreign country occupying the USA.  I would fight back.

Fear played a huge role in the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq.  Bush went after Iraq because he thought they had weapons of mass destruction and we all know now that none were found and the so-called intelligence was very shaky at best. We need to be asking ourselves, "Why are we in Iraq?"  Our occupation of Iraq is fueling the growth in terrorist organizations.  Our occupation of many other countries is fueling additional resentment towards us.  We are viewed by many foreigners as the bully of the world.  We as a nation need to understand these simple truths and determine if our recent actions will ever secure a prosperous life for our children.

It comes down to these two points for me:

1. If we don’t bring our troops home, we won’t win the war because you can’t be victorious against an idea (terrorism), and
2. If we don’t stop spending on military operations the way we are now, the terrorists will defeat us economically.

We must get our focus back.  We need to have justice but we must not let FEAR force us into irrational actions that divert us from the desired goal.  From my viewpoint, the desired goal is to get Osama bin Laden.  It is a goal that can be accomplished by a precise military strike at the heart of Al Qaeda backed by trustworthy intelligence and close diplomatic cooperation with the affected foreign nations.  Get it done. Come home.

The invasion of Iraq, the nation building in Afghanistan, our pressuring of Iran; these are all irrational actions driven by fear. In closing, I would ask all Americans to reflect on what has happened over the last six years and ask themselves this question:  "Why am I so afraid?"

Did you like this article?
If you did, Thumb It!
11 thumbs so far

2008 Fearless Citizen, all rights reserved.
Published: Sunday, January 6, 2008
Last modified: Sunday, January 6, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of Fearless Citizen only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Fearless Citizen is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

Report violation by Fearless Citizen of Nolan Chart LLC's terms of use policy.