Here is a letter from a listener, with my response below. If you have any agreements, disagreements, comments or questions, please email me at cspangle@newstalk1430.com. I’d love to have an argument with you. 🙂
Chris,
Thank you for the great work you do and your commentary on the show. I am sure you have your hands full and a guy writing in to semi challenge you on something is the last thing you need. I promise this isn’t Larry.
This morning you mentioned and I apologize for not having the text on this. I believe you were asked if we pulled out of the Middle East or Iraq that “they”, radical Islam would stop hating us. Your answer was yes.
The United States has been hated by this group for our support of Israel. Additionally they don’t like us, as you correctly stated, because of our involvement in their world. However, as long as we support and recognize Israel, as I feel we should, radical Islam will continue to target us even if we removed ourselves 100% from any Arab country. I do agree with you that foreign policy present and past has stirred the pot, could it be or have done better, hind sight is always 20/20.
Unfortunately it is difficult to rationalize with those that are irrational.
Thank you again for the work you do, you make my commute from Greenwood to Carmel enjoyable every morning.
Best Wishes,
Brent
My Response:
Brent,
While I was once firmly for the war, I have changed my views on our foreign policy. I don’t believe that we should have invaded Iraq. We invaded a sovereign for nothing. It was clearly not a war for oil, as the left said. Some Libertarian-minded thinkers see this as an imperialistic war. Other than debt and the loss of our service men and women, what have we really gained? We didn’t get new lands to tax. We aren’t directly in control of their government. They have no resources to trade at the moment. (Oil production can’t really be counted yet.)
This was a sovereign nation not invading another for its land or bounty, but for security. The Bush doctrine is essentially that if we go in to Iraq and confront al Qaeda directly, their “soldiers” will rush to Iraq to fight us there. That is precisely what has happened.
But what the right, and the Bush Administration, seem to think is that the Islamic Radicals will run out of men to send in to fight. There are a billion Muslim men to fight. The Germans ran out of men, and had to invade other countries to supply the army ranks. The terrorists can always recruit more men to fight. And the more involved we become in Middle Eastern affairs, the angrier the populations in those countries become.
They never hated us because of our freedom. They probably don’t hate us because of our culture. They DEFINITELY hate us because we meddle in their governments for our own purposes. And now their hatred is deeper because we are killing their countrymen, their brothers, their sisters, their fathers, and their friends. Yes, our support of Israel puts us on their radar screens, but it is not the reason for 9/11. Bin Laden is angry that we have military bases in Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca and Medina. He believes our presence in his holy land profane.
The more countries we invade, the worse the terror threat will become. The answer is not more militarism in the Middle East, it is less. They will not stop hating us if we leave the Middle East. It is not a cure-all. But it would stop the inflammation. Radical Islam and terrorism is not a disease America can cure. It will now be with us always. Unfortunately, the more we try to treat this disease, the more aggressive the disease will become.
Thanks for listening,
Chris
