Friday, September 24, 2010
Barney has the right idea
At a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, Barney Frank asked a question that a lot of us have been asking ever since W started his own private war.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called on Friday for President Obama to bring the 50,000 troops remaining in Iraq back home to the United States, arguing that it's inappropriate to deploy troops trained for combat in a non-combat situation.Barney is off to a good start, but why stop with Okinawa? How about bringing home out troops in South Korea, Japan, Germany, England, Italy and all the rest. It sure would save us a pile of money, probably enough to start rebuilding America.
"What are they there for, if it's not combat? To monitor elections? To mediate religious disputes? Let's get them home," Frank said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "What the hell are they there for?"
Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that designating the troops "non-combat" does not persuade insurgents not to shoot at them. Frank made his remarks as part of a broader critique of the U.S. military's presence across the globe.
He rejected the notion that America is "the indispensable nation," that it must be a global cop that responds to trouble all across the globe. "People've gotta learn to dispense with us," he said, adding that if it could be shown that U.S. involvement across the globe is beneficial, he would reconsider the position, but, in general, he said, U.S. intervention only backfires.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
Post a Comment