Kasandra

I offer this quote to all those who possibly are undermining the solemn word of the United States of America to think on.

We have, from our own side, the problem of assuring that the pledged word of the United States means something to the opposition. Again, it is not easy, in public session, to underline that in all its seriousness but, when Chairman Khrushchev presented President Eisenhower with an ultimatum on Berlin in the late 1950's, and when Chairman Khrushchev said to President Kennedy what he said in June 1961 about Berlin, and about the consequences if President Kennedy did not yield, I cannot tell you how important it was to the peace of the world that the President of the United States, whether it was President Eisenhower or President Kennedy, or now President Johnson, be believed when they say to the other side: "Gentlemen, this you must not do." Because, if we ever get to a point where that simple statement is not believed, then I don't know where the future and the safety of this country is, or that the possibilities of general peace would exist.
-- Secretary of State Dean Rusk to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
February 18, 1966.

Emphasis added by me.

I ask those who protest what this country is doing in Iraq and Afganistan to think on these words. Are your actions actually helping the United States in its endeavours of bringing propserity to lands that have never known such since the time of Alexander and for the first time true individual freedom or are your actions helping the forces of tyranny triumph? Do you honestly want the rule of law or the rule of the sword in these countries and by extension in your homeland? Be honest because what we Westerners call civilisation very probably hangs in the balance. Choose wisely.