-By Vince Johnson
If I were on the President’s advisory staff I’d tell him to go to the United Nations and make a short speech as written below:
The United States entered Iraq to rid the world of a dangerous tyrant and help them establish a government of self-determination. After four years in this effort, we have come to realize the following:
- World support for our efforts to bring Saddam to justice and help the people of Iraq has been marginal while criticism has been abundant and severe.
- The United States of America can no longer afford to continue this effort in Iraq and therefore we are recalling our troops on an expedited schedule.
- If our absence results in escalated violence, our support for any decisions made by the United Nations will be conditional as determined by the citizens of the United States.
- In future instances where innocent nations are invaded, or innocent citizens are slaughtered by their own government, the United States will not initiate any action in defense of any nation nor their people. We regard this as the responsibility of all member nations and the United States will abide by that rule.
- In any instance where Americans are harmed or killed by terrorist action, we will retaliate in a manner to be determined without the advice or consent of any organization or entity other than our own citizens.
The speech should be short, to the point and when finished the exit should be prompt. No smiling and waving of the hands. Just turn around and move out. Period!
On the next day, the President should address the American People in an honest and concise manner:
I will accept full responsibility for the decision to withdraw our troops and realize there is a terrible sense of betrayal among those who lost members of their family in Iraq. To those who believe this decision is one of betrayal, I say this: Yes, this is betrayal and it was a matter of choice. I had to decide who to betray. Those killed in Iraq and their families, or those who will be killed in the future if we remain.
Before I made this decision, I tried to understand history. We betrayed those killed in Korea did we not? We sent our troops into a war with conditions that made it impossible to win.
We betrayed those killed in Vietnam, did we not? Same kind of political war. Impossible to win. And I emphasize this: We knew they were fighting the war under conditions that made it impossible to win.
It is time to draw the line. Our troops are coming home. To those terrorists who are surely listening I say this: My order to bring our troops back home is not a sign of weakness and I can assure you that if ever attacked, we stand ready to prove this in a forceful manner you cannot even imagine. And I tell you this: Leave the United States alone. Leave the world alone. Live in peace and let the whole world live in peace.
I shall close by speaking of those hundreds of thousands buried at Arlington and at American Military Graves all around the world. They were from all political persuasions. From all ethnic groups. Some didn’t believe in God and others were from a wide range of religions. All of them fought and died for America and not a single one of them could possibly understand why political affiliations have become more important in our Government than the well being of the United States of America. It is time for all public servants to revise their priorities to closer match those who gave their lives for America. Think about that.
Think long and hard about that.
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Vince Johnson welcomes comments. Please send them to,Vince Johnson(vjadtrak@wvi.com)
See Vince in the new book Americans on Politics. Policy, and Pop-Culture.