Lucille
04-24-2011, 02:38 PM
When the foreign interventionists have lost Peggy Noonan...
This column's more about the descent of American culture though.
What the World Sees in America (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704071704576277432098870832.html)
I want to talk a little more this holiday week about what I suppose is a growing theme in this column, and that is an increased skepticism toward U.S. military intervention, including nation building. Our republic is not now in a historical adventure period—that is not what is needed. We are or should be in a self-strengthening one. Our focus should not be on outward involvement but inner repair. Bad people are gunning for us, it is true. We should find them, dispatch them, and harden the target. (That would be, still and first, New York, though Washington too.) We should not occupy their lands, run their governments, or try to bribe them into bonhomie. We think in Afghanistan we're buying their love, but I have been there. We're not even renting it.
Our long wars have cost much in blood and treasure, and our military is overstretched. We're asking soldiers to be social workers, as Bing West notes in his book on Afghanistan, "The Wrong War." [...]
Imagine for a moment that you are a foreign visitor to America. You are a 40-year-old businessman from Afghanistan. You teach a class at Kabul University. You are relatively sophisticated. You're in pursuit of a business deal. It's your first time here. There is an America in your mind; it was formed in your childhood by old John Ford movies and involves cowboy hats and gangsters in fedoras. You know this no longer applies—you're not a fool—but you're not sure what does. You land at JFK, walking past a TSA installation where they're patting the genital areas of various travelers. Americans sure have a funny way of saying hello!
More columns here (http://peggynoonan.com/archive.php?archive=2), like:
Would Ike Have Gone to Libya?
American foreign policy has come to favor action over moderation.
From Disraeli to ‘the Bang-Bang’
TV needs action and drama. Foreign policy needs less of both.
The Speech Obama Hasn’t Given
What are we doing in Libya? Americans deserve an explanation.
You Can’t Go Home Again
Lesson from the front: It’s easier to start a war than to finish one.
"He's catching on, I'm telling ya!"
This column's more about the descent of American culture though.
What the World Sees in America (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704071704576277432098870832.html)
I want to talk a little more this holiday week about what I suppose is a growing theme in this column, and that is an increased skepticism toward U.S. military intervention, including nation building. Our republic is not now in a historical adventure period—that is not what is needed. We are or should be in a self-strengthening one. Our focus should not be on outward involvement but inner repair. Bad people are gunning for us, it is true. We should find them, dispatch them, and harden the target. (That would be, still and first, New York, though Washington too.) We should not occupy their lands, run their governments, or try to bribe them into bonhomie. We think in Afghanistan we're buying their love, but I have been there. We're not even renting it.
Our long wars have cost much in blood and treasure, and our military is overstretched. We're asking soldiers to be social workers, as Bing West notes in his book on Afghanistan, "The Wrong War." [...]
Imagine for a moment that you are a foreign visitor to America. You are a 40-year-old businessman from Afghanistan. You teach a class at Kabul University. You are relatively sophisticated. You're in pursuit of a business deal. It's your first time here. There is an America in your mind; it was formed in your childhood by old John Ford movies and involves cowboy hats and gangsters in fedoras. You know this no longer applies—you're not a fool—but you're not sure what does. You land at JFK, walking past a TSA installation where they're patting the genital areas of various travelers. Americans sure have a funny way of saying hello!
More columns here (http://peggynoonan.com/archive.php?archive=2), like:
Would Ike Have Gone to Libya?
American foreign policy has come to favor action over moderation.
From Disraeli to ‘the Bang-Bang’
TV needs action and drama. Foreign policy needs less of both.
The Speech Obama Hasn’t Given
What are we doing in Libya? Americans deserve an explanation.
You Can’t Go Home Again
Lesson from the front: It’s easier to start a war than to finish one.
"He's catching on, I'm telling ya!"