Senator John McCain Is Wrong; Cato Institute's Chris Preble Is Right

Originally posted January 16, 2014.

Senator McCain wants to push the U.S. deeper into the never-ending Iraqi civil quagmire. Neocon war whoops led by Bill Kristol will likely follow. There is no historical evidence that an American boots-on-the-ground strategy like those in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan has made America safer. Quite to the contrary. Most of what Americans know about foreign policy is promoted by the military industrial complex. This crowd has much to gain from nation building. I urge every American to read The Power Problem by Chris Preble. I have read the book a number of times and posted a series on the book here (Part I, Part II, Part III). I know Chris personally and have spent a lot of time talking with him about the proven folly of nation building. Read The Power Problem and become a supporter of the Cato Institute to get the real story on how the political power elite in Washington has sold our constitutionally based federal republic out. It is time for a nationwide revolt of purpose before a federal republic-based America is gone for good.

Here’s a quote from Chris Preble’s recent article “Obama Should Ignore Calls to Get More Deeply Involved in Iraq.”

The past decade has revealed the war advocates’ ignorance of Iraqi politics. But recent events confirm that they are equally ignorant of U.S. politics. They lament that President Obama wasn’t prepared to leave U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely, but neither were the American people. And Americans are even less inclined to become embroiled there again.

Sen. McCain and other advocates of deeper U.S. involvement in the Iraqi civil war seem to be aware of U.S. public opinion. The current proposals do not resemble a replay of 2003, with tens of thousands of U.S. troops being sent back into the maelstrom. They could ultimately end up that way, however. Such risks are particularly unwise given that the prospects of success are dim.

Although some in Washington harbored fantasies about nation building in Iraq, Americans never intended to solve that country’s problems, in part because they understood that we lacked the ability to do so. That remains the case today. The Iraqi government has a fight on its hands, and it is a fight that it must win on its own terms.