Posted by David Fischer on 09/29/09 09:24 AM Last updated 09/29/09 09:25 AM [Newer: A Big “Thumbs Down” for the Iowa Film Office] [Older: Des Moines Register Calls for Transparency at the Federal Reserve.]

A letter to the editor from today's Des Moines Register (available here):

Joel Brinkley's assertion that corrupt officials were the problem in Vietnam and are the problem in Afghanistan strikes at the root of America's foreign-policy mistakes (Sept. 13 column). The nations of Vietnam and Afghanistan never posed a threat to U.S. security.

The lesson we should have learned by now is that futile international adventurism is not worth one precious American life. The action warranted in response to the Sept. 11 attacks is plainly spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.  Article One, Section 8 states that Congress shall have the power to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal. This would offer a reward to individuals for bringing non-state enemies to justice.

Ron Paul, as a member of Congress, proposed this immediately after Sept. 11 and was ignored by his colleagues who were either ignorant of history or working for defense-industry lobbyists.

As the American empire rushes to a Soviet-style economy, the Afghan war could combine with socialist economics to bankrupt us as well. The lesson should not be to choose our foreign puppets more carefully, but to not choose them at all.

- Fritz Groszkruger, Dumont

Posted 09/29/09 11:28 AM jwfox1965 Las Vegas, NV

"The nations of Vietnam and Afghanistan never posed a threat to U.S. security." I agree with you when it comes to the question of Vietnam, however allow me to show you the giant hole in the middle of New York City and the corpses of 3,000 Americans created by members of an organization that were given safe harbor by the former government of Afghanistan as evidence that this isn't the case when it comes to that Nation. By giving aid & comfort to AQ, then refusing to turn over their leaders after 9/11 the Taliban effectively declared war on the United States. Let me also point out the significant risk of the Taliban regaining (or had we not gone in, retaining) control of Afghanistan and along with an emboldened AQ turning its sights on destabilizing an already embattled government in nuclear armed Pakistan... I'll leave it to your imagination as to the potential negative consequences of that scenario coming to pass. I do agree that it was our bone-headed interventionist foreign policy that got us into this mess in the first place, I just don't think its as simple as "well lets just stop it and start over from square one" at this point. It's unfortunate but the collectivists have put us in a position that in order to have any hope of returning to a sane and sustainable foreign policy we are forced to clean up the horrendous mess that we the people have allowed them to create on our behalf.

Posted 09/29/09 4:55 PM David Fischer Altoona, IA

We could argue the nuances of Fritz' letter...but you're basically saying: 1.Everything changed on 9/11. 2.We'd better fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. 3.Our past actions (i.e. previous administrations) got us into this mess and unfortunately we have to clean it up. These sound like talking points from the current administration...used to perpetuate the "war on terror" and diminish our freedom. Even if you're a fan of all this intervention and somehow believe it's making us more safe (while our borders remain unsecured) how are you going to pay for it?

Posted 09/30/09 11:17 AM mudhoney Cedar Falls, IA

What can we possibly do for Afghanistan now except make things worse? The best case scenario of us staying there is to create an illegitimate (in their eyes) government placed there by foreigners. If we want to somehow change their society and their country into something more friendly to America, if it's even possible, it will basically amount to sending massive amounts of resources to prop up a system they see as a continued foreign occupation. The failed idea of waging a global war on terror give us lessons for Afghanistan also. You can't wage a war on an angry ideology and win. You also can't win over the hearts of the Afghan people as long as you're an illegitimate foreign aggressor; a label we've received a long time ago and are stuck with. The fact is that the 9/11 plot was executed within plenty of countries other than Afghanistan, including many democracies. Anything short of bringing all our troops home and declaring a new, less intrusive, less nanny like presence around the world will only create more enemies for ourselves, and more expansion of government.