The Eagle Has Left The Building

Do you often wonder why the United States is openly despised around the world? Why we have so few allies willing to step up when the moment demands? Look no further than Syria, Iran and The Republic of Georgia.

Syria is an admitted and confirmed sponsor of terrorism. It is a hereditary dictatorship that threatens our allies and uses its proxies to actively attack them. It fearlessly furnishes arms to al- Quaeda in Iraq, resulting in the death of American troops. Iran furnishes weapons with which to kill our soldiers and marines and sanctuary to those who use them. The Mullahs openly promises to wipe Israel, our only true friend in the Middle East, off the face of the earth. When confronted with our solemn ultimatum to cease the pursuit of nuclear weapons, they publicly scoff. Ahmadinejad reads the newspapers, he knows who we are and what we are. So does everyone else. What have we done or are we doing in response to these viscous outlaws that adhere neither to international law nor basic human rights. How do we respond to these miscreants when they spit in our face and threaten our friends?

Our government wags its finger and makes hollow threats. We whine about Europe not standing up for us and seek meaningless resolutions from the UN. We impose economic sanctions that even our own companies disregard and seek diplomatic answers to questions that require – or will require – force.

Last weekend Russia invaded the tiny Democratic Republic of Georgia in an act of bald and illegal aggression. The Russians are thugs and their government is composed of gangsters. Georgia is a nation wholly committed to representative government and is a stalwart friend of America. They have kept 2,000 of their 37,000 man army fighting beside us in Iraq from the time that war began. The Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvilli, has been educated in America and he and the courageous Georgian people cherish freedom on pain of blood and treasure. They are heroes of liberty, the very model of what President George W. Bush calls for and promotes throughout the world. They are our friends.

What reward do the Georgian’s get for this steadfast and loyal friendship? How does America support a friend and ally in existential peril? The most potent US response has been sending Secretary of State Condleeza Rice to make a speech and stand beside President Saakashvilli, demanding the Russians go home. Of course that is not the only measure we have taken. We suggested Georgian troops leave Iraq and defend their homeland and sent some of our troops along to deliver cheese and freeze dried potatoes to a people under siege. Leaving no diplomatic stone unturned we again went to the UN for a toothless resolution the Russians would surely veto in the unlikely event it was adopted. Further,of course we issued the obligatory whine that Europe stand up and be counted. Just in case none of these powerful deterrents to Cossack atrocity proved effective we have threatened to kick Putin and pals out of the G8 economic community and the World Trade Organization. Russia contains the third greatest reserves of oil and gas on earth. The world economy needs Russian trade far more than Russia needs world trade. Furthermore gangsters have no need for polite civic clubs.

We are despised and disrespected in Europe and the world because we are put up cheap! We don’t honor our commitments, don’t back up our threats and most disgracefully of all, do not rescue our friends when they are being plundered. We hide under the skirts of the UN and kow-tow to Europeans who haven’t the snickers to protect their own culture from the Habibs and Yassars who overrun their borders. We will be respected and feared, which is all a sovereign nation should expect or seek from other nations, when and only when we stand up on our hind legs and make the motto “Don’t tread on me” a warning received with grave solemnity. Until then we are worthy of nothing more than the scorn and loathing we currently endure.