Trouble Free Internationalism

Many in our current debate over Iraq seem to believe in trouble free internationalism. Our position in the world should guarantee us peace with no interruption. They forget that in order to have peace, we must work with other countries, which means occasionally working against violent countries. Take the Korean War, for example. In order to maintain the peace it was necessary to engage in three years of combat in cold weather, with heavy casualties and no end readily in sight. Men were dying, and it was over something that was an abstraction to Americans. South Korea was a place few Americans had visited, and no doubt many wondered why it mattered to defend it from communism. With the Korean war long finished, we can see that it wasn't just an abstraction. Millions of people who currently live under the tyranny of North Korea can attest to the evil and brutality of that regime. So fighting the war in Iraq isn't the black hole its detractors claim it to be. If we withdraw from Iraq, it will have very real consequences for the people of Iraq. And if the Islamic fundamentalists turn Iraq into their domain, it will have consequences for us too.