To the Editor:
How many history lessons do we need—France and the United States in Vietnam, the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the United States in Iraq and eight years in Afghanistan—to see the folly in continuing our military presence in the Middle East and South Asia?
It is a sad but undeniable truth that we cannot intervene in all countries where there is injustice and suffering due to corrupt and cruel leadership, or a governing system that we do not believe is in the best interests of the people.
It is time for the president to declare a new Obama Doctrine: “I will not risk any more American lives unless there is a clear and immediate military threat to the United States or one of our allies. We must focus our human and economic resources on the problems that will determine our future: the economy, health care, energy independence, education and the environment.”
Harvey Shepard
Exeter, N.H., Oct. 14, 2009
Note from KBJ: Amen.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 