The Price That Was Paid... And the Chances Lost

Pat Buchanan asks some very good questions in his recent op-ed.

And so it came to pass. And as 90 months of war in Iraq come to an end for America, what was won? And what was lost?

That's a good question. And Pat enumerates a lot of statistics (go read the article for all of them).

What does the secretary of defense think?
``It really requires a historian's perspective in terms of what happens here in the long run,'' says Robert Gates. ``How it all weighs in the balance over time remains to be seen.''
A seven-year war, and our minister of defense cannot declare that it was all worth it.

A very good question - one that needs to be asked of the prior Pentagon staff as well.

And as America was tied down in the Long War, China emerged as the world's No. 1 auto producer, No. 1 manufacturer, No. 1 exporter and No. 2 economy.
Meanwhile, The Washington Times reports, ``The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state.''
What does it profit America if we save Anbar and lose Arizona?

It shouldn't be an issue of "profit" in a monetary sense, and I hope Buchanan wasn't leaning that way. However, his point is taken: if we can't defend our own borders, we've got no business defending anyone else's.

By: Brant