- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 230
Its easy to chant "Out of Iraq now", but if you are paying attention to the news (not unheard of in Canada) then you might feel a little less like chanting "Out of Iraq now, and let them slaughter each other without outside interference" . Not only does it roll off the tongue a lot less well, but its a lot harder to feel all shiny happy about. The situation in Afghanistan is similar in its volatility. Democracy requires that you accept the views of those you disagree with fundamentally, even as they must do yours. Afghanistan, under both the local warlords and the Taliban has a long tradition of might makes right. If two dozen gun wielding killers believe women should go covered from nose to toenail, be beaten if found walking without their husband or father, and hundreds of women and any number of unarmed men disagree, too damn bad. The guns veto any and all votes their owners disagree with. Here in the west we accept the rule of law, and find Mao's saying that political power flows from the barrel of a gun, or Alexander's claim that all law is based on the sword to be trite. In Afghanistan both sayings have been accepted as gospel for generations. Having our troops there to support the building of a true nation, one founded on laws, and answering to an elected and responsible govt, means making sure that our troops are there to keep the "veto by gunfire" from undoing the attempts of the Afghans from impose order in their own land. In a land dominated by local strongmen, we have to be the hardest, coldest, and toughest thing around, if we expect to make the local strongmen swallow the orders of a govt founded on principles other than absolute tyranny.