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Welcome to my blog http://www.skegley.blogspot.com/ . CAVEAT LECTOR- Let the reader beware. This is a Christian Conservative blog. It is not meant to offend anyone. Please feel free to ignore this blog, but also feel free to browse and comment on my posts! You may also scroll down to respond to any post.

For Christian American readers of this blog:

I wish to incite all Christians to rise up and take back the United States of America with all of God's manifold blessings. We want the free allowance of the Bible and prayers allowed again in schools, halls of justice, and all governing bodies. We don't seek a theocracy until Jesus returns to earth because all men are weak and power corrupts the very best of them.
We want to be a kinder and gentler people without slavery or condescension to any.

The world seems to be in a time of discontent among the populace. Christians should not fear. God is Love, shown best through Jesus Christ. God is still in control. All Glory to our Creator and to our God!

A favorite quote from my good friend, Jack Plymale, which I appreciate:

"Wars are planned by old men,in council rooms apart. They plan for greater armament, they map the battle chart, but: where sightless eyes stare out, beyond life's vanished joys, I've noticed,somehow, all the dead and mamed are hardly more than boys(Grantland Rice per our mutual friend, Sarah Rapp)."

Thanks Jack!

I must admit that I do not check authenticity of my posts. If anyone can tell me of a non-biased arbitrator, I will attempt to do so more regularly. I know of no such arbitrator for the internet.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Any path taken in Middle East seems to end badly

Victor Davis Hanson says it as I believe. The question is which way to treat the Middle East for America or its few allies today.

For me, I believe the USA's best efforts are served first by voting this hypocritical president out of office in November. Then I believe in a cliche' by my friends, Rick Brizendine and Dave Kaelin if translated from the Latin means: "If you want peace, prepare for war." We must do things of war, God please forbid a coming war. But we must act to protect our warriors ans our homeland as best we can.

I believe God is in true control and the history will go as He plans. I believe in Christianity but we should not have a theocracy whereby the religion dictates the laws of the land. The checks and balances system of executive, judicial, and legislative of our system is good, but we should do without career politicians (term limits).

God's plan has been so right in that He created the earth and the Heavens and then sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of man. By the Christian plan any individual must only declare belief in that plan and accept Christ as their personal savior. It is by their own free will that they accept or reject, but Christians have a duty to proclaim the better way.

Sam

Any path taken in Middle East seems to end badly

ALSO IN OPINION

By Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Friday March 9, 2012 6:44 AM

Americans — left, right, Democrats and Republicans — are all sick of thankless nation-building in the Middle East. Yet democratization was not our first choice, but rather a last resort after prior failures.

The United States had long ago supplied Afghan insurgents, who expelled the Soviets after a decade of fighting. Then we left. The country descended into even worse medievalism under the Taliban. So after removing the Taliban, who had hosted the perpetrators of 9/11, we promised in 2001 to stay on.

We won the first Gulf War in 1991. Then most of our forces left the region. The result was the mass murder of the Iraqi Kurds and Shiites, 12 years of no-fly zones and a failed oil-for-food embargo of Saddam’s Iraq. So after removing Saddam in 2003, we tried to leave behind something better.

In the past 10 years, the United States has spent more than $1 trillion and has lost thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both places seem far better off than when ruled by the Taliban and Saddam Hussein — at least for a while longer.

Yet the Iraqis now bear Americans little good will. They seem friendlier to Iran and Syria than to their liberators. In Afghanistan, riots continue over the mistaken burning of some defaced Qurans, despite serial American apologies.

How about the choice of bombing the bad guys and then just staying clear? We just did that to the terrorist-friendly Gadhafi dictatorship in Libya. But now that Gadhafi is gone, there is chaos. Islamic gangs torture and execute black Africans who supported the deposed regime, according to press reports. British World War II cemeteries that were honored during 70 years of Libyan kings and dictators could not survive six months of a “free” Libya.

Not having boots on the ground may ensure that endless chaos will consume the hope of a calm post-Gadhafi Libya. That was also true of Somalia and Lebanon after American troops were attacked and abruptly left.

How about another option of aid and words of encouragement only? We have urged Egyptian reform, under both George W. Bush and now Barack Obama. When protestors forced the removal of dictator Hosni Mubarak, the United States approved. It even appears likely that we will keep sending Egypt significant annual subsidies of more than $1.5 billion, as we have for more than 30 years. Yet anti-American Islamists are now the dominant force in Egyptian politics. American aid workers were recently arrested and threatened with trial by new Egyptian reformers.

Still another choice would be not to nation-build, bomb or even get near a Middle Eastern country — as is the case with Iran and Syria. The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since the Shah left in 1979. Until the Obama administration desperately tried to re-establish contacts with the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria by appointing a new ambassador, there had been nearly six years of estrangement.

Yet Iran is nearing its goal of obtaining a nuclear weapon both to threaten Israel and to bully other oil-exporting regimes of the Persian Gulf. The Syrian government is now butchering thousands of its own citizens with impunity.

A final option would be to return to re-establishing friendly relationships with Middle East dictatorships regardless of their internal politics — and then keeping mum about their excesses. We did that with Pakistan, which has both received billions in U.S. aid and produced a nuclear bomb. Yet it is hard to imagine a more anti-American country than nuclear Pakistan, without which the Taliban could not kill Americans so easily in Afghanistan.

The United States once saved the Kuwaiti regime after it was swallowed up by Saddam Hussein. We have enjoyed strong ties with the Saudi monarchy, as well. Neither country seems especially friendly to the U.S. It is still a crime to publicly practice Christianity in Saudi Arabia. Fifteen of the 19 mass-murdering hijackers of 9/11 were Saudis. Oil in the Middle East costs less than $5 a barrel to produce; it now sells for over $100, largely due to the policies of our allies and OPEC members.

Let us review: Military assistance or punitive intervention without follow-up mostly failed. The verdict on far more costly nation-building is still out. Trying to help popular insurgents topple unpopular dictators does not guarantee anything better. Propping up dictators with military aid is both odious and counterproductive. Keeping clear of maniacal regimes leads to either nuclear acquisition or genocide — or 16 acres of rubble in Manhattan.

What have we learned? Tribalism, oil and Islamic fundamentalism are a bad mix that leaves Americans sick and tired of the Middle East — both when they get in it and when they try to stay out of it.

Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.