Bring the troops home, all of them

The California Democratic Party approved a resolution to get out of Afghanistan. "Overwhelmingly approved on Sunday by the California Democratic Party's 300-member statewide executive board, the resolution is titled "End the U.S. Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan."

The resolution supports "a timetable for withdrawal of our military personnel" and calls for "an end to the use of mercenary contractors as well as an end to air strikes that cause heavy civilian casualties."

I have been against our foreign invasions. I was against the Iraq invasion. I think we should bring all of our troops home from all the foreign countries. This will reduce the number of dead and wounded.

The best way to treat our veterans is to create fewer veterans! The current budget would then provide more money per veteran to the current veterans and their dependents. More military personnel survive battlefield wounds because of body armor, helicopter evacuations, and good medicine. These increasing numbers of surviving vets, and their dependents are a growing cost of these unnecessary wars.

The Military Industrial Nation does not want to withdraw from all the unnecessary foreign bases and missions. They want the promotions and power that goes with war.

We try to use force to change a country and culture. This procedure will fail. It always does. We used force on the American Indians and they are still angry. Even after more than 100 years of defeat, some Indian tribes are asking for their own nation. Mexican natives still resent Cortez, 500 years after his use of force.

The use of force on others only creates obedience and resentment.

How much force will it take to win over the native cultures of Islam? More than we are willing to use. It will require so much force the rest of the world will hate us for using so much force. They already think we use too much force.

And what will victory look like if we ever win? Will the Afghans all like us, or will they always play the victim role and want more from us in the form of blackmail, guilt blackmail that will make us feel better.

Our use of unnecessary force works against us. Power allows us hubris and arrogance, which will do us harm.

Time and technology will change the Islamic culture like it changed the Christian culture. Cell phones, the birth control pill, and the Internet will destroy the tribal power in Islam the way it destroyed the family in America.

"A 23-year-old woman from Bahrain says the complexity of who she is as a Muslim is being distorted by extremists and the media coverage of them.
Channeling her frustration, she started Mideastyouth.com, a Web site she describes as a place for young people in the region to "show a different side of our religion" and discuss topics big and small, taboo and not.

She represents a generation of Muslims who are using technology to express themselves, connect with others, challenge traditional power structures and create an identity in an era when Islamic extremists often grab the headlines."

Charles Tolleson