unastronaut*

If you doubt that Iraq is like Vietnam, in both cases:

• deception provoked Congress to allow the President to move us into war.
• leadership and the general American public have little understanding about the culture or daily life in the country/region.
• there is no definable “win” scenario.

The third one is there because the quagmire in Iraq is not too different from Afghanistan in the early-1980s or Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia in the late-1960s. The situation isn’t ours yet to solve. The problem of people not seeing that is ours to solve.International jurisdiction, through bodies like the International Criminal Court and the United Nations, allows for this “spread of democracy” encounter that defined Cold War politics and rhetoric to be conducted by a legitimate, international authority. The United States, specifically the people, should take this opportunity to bow out of the role of “global policeman”. They don’t want us there.Part of the problem is the corrupt nature of American politics and the general, yet curious opposition to the National Initiative. Why wouldn’t ‘We the People’ want the ability to legislate for ourselves? Here is a golden opportunity to better utilize this timeless document that is the Constitution. Leave it up to cronyistic, pork-barrel spenders who are sworn to uphold the law we so often find them violating.I don’t believe it begins with pointing fingers, just in stopping the leak. This is why I support the National Initiative, universal jurisdiction, and a US foreign policy of modeling and participating, rather than controlling and policing the world.