Eagles we were, eagles we will be again

Let’s not remember that it was the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence that, with American backing, organized the Taliban in the brutal Afghani civil war that followed Soviet withdrawal from the region. And, if we are going to maintain our simple image of the people we are fighting in the Middle East as “bad” and ourselves as “good,” then it is certainly important not to remember that the Taliban was receiving US foreign aid up to the very moment that American forces were crossing into their territory.

So yes, Mr. Qualtere, if you forget this entire history of American involvement in the Middle East, cite 9/11 as the beginning of our war in the region, and simplify your enemy as “bad guys” and yourself as the “good guy,” I suppose your argument makes sense.

However, suppose that young American don’t forget our nation’s history in this tumultuous region. Suppose that young Americans look to facts instead of political opportunists basing their arguments in false presuppositions and scare tactics.

Here’s a radical idea: suppose that young Americans consider the fact that the people of the Middle East are human beings just like us, and that the majority of them want nothing more than to live according to their own values. Suppose that a constant American military presence in the Middle East is recruitment fuel for Islamic extremists. Suppose that consistently killing exponentially more civilians than militants in Afghanistan makes the Afghani people increasingly hostile towards the United States. Suppose rigging elections and calling them free and democratic damages the United States’ credibility as a bastion of freedom.

However, does my rhetoric not prove Qualtere’s analysis of libertarians to be correct?  He writes that his concern is “capital-L ‘Libertarians’ – the anti-government, anti-war, ‘we provoked 9/11,’ ‘Lincoln was a tyrant,’ conspiracy-minded squad of ideologues who’ve gotten louder, prouder, and increasingly self-righteous over the past several years.”