Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires

Representative Kucinich conducted a 3-hour debate on the constitutionality of the continued American occupation of Afghanistan. Throughout the debate, Rep. Kucinich (D-OH), Rep. Jones (R-NC), Rep. Paul (R-TX), and several others made the case for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The arguments covered a spectrum of political beliefs, some of which I have never heard before, but were equally valid and convincing.

Rep. Kucinich made the case that this violated the War Powers Act of 1973, because while Congress authorized military action at the end of 2001, it did not authorize the current military objectives (also known as mission creep). The Department of Defence has confused Al Qaeda and the Taliban, capturing Osama bin Laden with nation-building. Rep. Jones, as did others, brought up the case that returning veterans are not given the proper attention and respect they deserve. Many have suffered mental illnesses that lead to suicide, homelessness, and in rare cases homicide. Rep. Paul, being one of the few conservatives in Congress, stuck to the conservative value of nonintervention as reason for troop withdrawal.

Yes, there were opponents from both the Democratic and Republican Parties. Democrats, for the most part, disagreed with the resolution, because they do not see it as a violation of the War Powers Act of 1973, as Kucinich claims. Others, like their Republican counterparts, want to give the troop surge a chance. They argue that the surge is how we won in Iraq and will allow for an American victory in Afghanistan.

The disturbing thing is that opposition views this resolution as disrespecting our troops, which could not be farther from the truth. This erroneous claim was repeatedly brought up and repeatedly denounced. In the end, it really did not matter what justification the opposition had to this resolution, because only 65 Congresspersons voted in favour (60 Democrats and 5 Republicans). The Congressional Progressive Caucus has 79 voting members in the House, and the Democrats only managed to squeeze 60 Yea votes.

The result was quite disappointing. Afghanistan and the entire War on Terrorism is crushing out nation with debt, putting us on an unsustainable path. Many argue that this debt will be paid on the backs of our children and grandchildren, but it does not look like the United States will survive that long. The national debt will literally crush our country if we do not act now. We should not re-invest these funds into domestic programmes; we need to stop spending what we do not have. Until we learn that structural deficits are bad, we should not be spending any money.

As our representatives mentioned today, "We won in Iraq; we won in Afghanistan; it's time to bring our troops home." When all is said and done, "war is hard, but peace is harder."