Let's Keep The History Straight

I can appreciate Cathy McMorris Rodgers attending the Armed Forces Persons of the Year Awards luncheon, but I take issue with some of her comments as reported by the Review.

McMorris Rodgers called them all “guardians of America’s freedom and the freedom of the world.”

And freedom is under attack, the 5th District Republican congresswoman said.

“Every day, our survival is threatened by radical Islamic terrorists whose aim is to kill innocent men, women and children – even at the cost of their own lives,” McMorris Rodgers said.

She said Iraq has been the “central front” in the “global war on terror,” but U.S. military efforts there have “made tremendous progress in bringing stability and democracy to that country.”

Now, McMorris Rodgers said, “if we can turn Afghanistan into a free and democratic ally as we’re trying to do, we’ll have a valued partner in our efforts to eradicate al-Qaida from the earth.”

Iraq had nothing to do with the Global War on Terror until we invaded it. Only then did it become our central front. Our invasion to prevent a future perceived threat from nonexistent weapons of mass destruction fed right into Osama bin Laden's stated belief that the US would use force, if necessary, to ensure access to oil in the Middle East. We provided a great recruiting tool for him. Had we focused directly on the original threat, who knows how much progress we could have made. Years later, bin Laden remains a threat because we diverted our attention elsewhere.

I certainly hope we can clean up the mess we made.