What's a Hero?

Some of my readers will hate me for saying this: Let's stop calling every soldier a hero! We are offending those who really deserve the name, those who risked everything to save their friends, those who survived and those who didn't. As a veteran who has never felt bullets flying overhead except in basic training, I can recall some heroic tales by those who were in WWII and in Korea. None of them thought that he was a hero for doing what a soldier does, his duty.

As we fortunately near the end of combat troops in both theaters of war, Afghanistan and Iraq, we must recognize our volunteer-soldiers, those who served honorably; others, the abusers and killers of innocent civilians, must be tried in an American court and sent to prison for a long time. An Iraqi life is just as precious as an American one, and we, as soldiers, carry the great responsibility of representing our country's ideals of freedom and democracy.

I remember vividly the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas; I was walking the streets of a German town where my unit was stationed, when I suddenly ran across locals, men and women, openly weeping at the fatidic news. I ran back to my quarters to listen to the military channel on the radio and heard the sad confirmation that our commander-in-chief had not survived. We were immediately placed on alert, thinking that the 50 armored Soviet divisions might cross the border between East and West Germany. Luckily, they didn't and WW III was avoided. But I knew that the Germans respected the American G.I. because of what we represented.

We had no choice during the Cold War; we had to demonstrate our military power lest the hotheads in the Kremlin thought they could destroy us easily. Today, we have a choice. Our troops no longer have a good reason to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan. To those who say that President Obama is wrong in announcing the date of our pull-out, I say:"Are they threatening our country's shores and borders?" No, the Taliban are a rag-tag army that only wants us out of Afghanistan. Let them have it! On the other hand, Iraq is stable enough to fight its own wars without our help. They have a government that has asked us to, no, told us to get out this year. Let them have it and stop repeating the same political sing-song of sacrifice made in vain. We got rid of Sadam Hussein and his murderous sons, didn't we?


We have to recognize two important concepts: We still have the best military in the world, but we can no longer afford to play the policeman of this Earth. We have urgent problems at home, such as making sure that every returning soldier gets all the help he or she deserves. So far, we have failed in that mission. Going back to civilian life after facing death during years, after losing your buddies to IED's, and after killing human beings who also had loving families, is no easy task. Let's remember that when we interview veterans for a job they urgently need.

STRANGE BED FELLOWS

Our foreign policy is strange indeed. We have cuddled up to dictators, only to drop the support when a popular revolt takes place; except, of course, for Iran, where we were dear friends with the Shah and his beautiful young wife. In that country, Iran, the mullahs simply would have nothing to do with the Great Satan (that's us, by the way). We welcomed the fugitive ruler with open arms and gave him the best medical care until he died of cancer. When Batista, the cruel despot of Cuba, whom we loved to do business with even though he persecuted political opponents and was rotten to the core, finally saw the writing on the wall, we dropped him like a hot potato and initially embraced Fidel Castro as the new tyrant. We all know what happened...Examples abound but they all have one thing in common: Our foreign policy seems, since the end of the Cold War, mostly focused on whether or not we can do business with that country. There are other important considerations of a political nature as is the case with Pakistan.



President Carter welcomes the Shah in 1977

We no longer invade countries to increase the size of the American Empire; the war with Mexico and with Spain allowed us to expand the Southwest considerably in the 19th century. We now invade sovereign nations because we, officially speaking, believe that they pose a threat to our peaceful existence. The fact that some have oil (Iraq) and/or fabulous reserves of rare minerals (Afghanistan) is simply icing on the cake. We waste billions of depreciated dollars in aiding Pakistan, an "ally" that has spread nuclear technology to other rogue nations and that keeps sending (informally of course) thousands of religious combatants to Afghanistan. With friends like these, who needs...?

"The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials."    

By JAMES RISEN Published: June 13, 2010 The New York Times 

We reluctantly helped the revolution in Lybia (more oil anybody?) amid the popular (in the U.S.) rejection of more billions spent on foreign wars and in the midst of a new potential recession. Oh, I forgot! We have a complete embargo of the Cuban island after more than 50 years, a fact which is not only stupid (just to please a few Cuban refugees) but constitutes an act of war. Why don't we do  that with North Korea, a country that has been pulling our chain ever since the end of the Korean War. Could it be because China looms in the background?

It is high time to reject the concept of Real Politik of our former Secretary of State Kissinger; it might have been expedient during the Cold War, but it has no place in the modern world. I am beginning to sympathize with the presidential candidate Ron Paul, who advocates a type of isolationism.




Let's stop playing the role of policeman of the world and start focusing on the numerous ailments that afflict this beautiful country.