The War We Can't WinAfghanistan and the limits of American Power
Andrew J. Bacevich, Commonweal: This failure of imagination makes it impossible for those who possess either authority or influence in Washington to consider the possibility (a) that the solution to America's problems is to be found not out there -- where "there" in this case is Central Asia -- but here at home; (b) that the people out there, rather than requiring our ministrations, may well be capable of managing their own affairs, relying on their own methods; and (c) that to disregard (a) and (b) is to open the door to great mischief and in all likelihood to perpetrate no small amount of evil...
If the United States today has a saving mission, it is to save itself. Speaking in the midst of another unnecessary war back in 1967, Martin Luther King got it exactly right: 'Come home, America.' The prophet of that era urged his countrymen to take on 'the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism.'
Dr. King's list of evils may need a bit of tweaking -- in our own day, the sins requiring expiation number more than three. Yet in his insistence that we first heal ourselves, King remains today the prophet we ignore at our peril. That Barack Obama should fail to realize this qualifies as not only ironic but inexplicable.
