Perspectives

Uncle Curtis introduced me to the expression, "Kill'um all and let God sort it out." I was aghast at such a suggestion but I'm beginning to see the simplicity, the straightforwardness of such a solution. And, might I add, from 40,000 feet.

I love America. I love our enthusiasm. I love our can-do spirit. I love the freedom I have to say what I want to whomever I want. I love that if things "ain't" working out here, well, screw-it, I'll go someplace else and give it a go. I love that individuals can change their lives through creativity and work, through reinventing themselves. I love that my daughter (your daughter) today can be and do whatever she imagines. I love America.

What I do not love, what I do not admire or respect, is our collective hubris, our simplistic bravado, our "my way or the highway" approach to problems. I do not like it when my nation is stupid, when we think "send in the troops" is the answer, when America's corporate/militaristic agendas trump national interests. I do not love an America with its troops all over the planet.

President Obama doubled-down on Afghanistan and it is a tragic mistake for the nation. He's upped the ante; he's set the nation up for a failure of monumental proportions. Let me elaborate.

Pick up the Aug. 9 edition of Time Magazine. On the cover is an 18-year-old Afghan woman with her nose and ears cut off. That's right, Time placed an otherwise beautiful Islamic woman looking right at you with her nose cut off. It's wrenchingly horrible. The headline reads "What happens if we leave Afghanistan." The implication being that unless America stays, women will have their faces/bodies mutilated.

Why would an Afghan Islamic woman have her nose brutally cut off? Who would commit such an atrocity? Well, her brother-in-law held her down while her husband chopped off her ears and nose. Why? Because she was being abused by her husband's family, treated like a slave and she had the temerity to return home. The Taliban said honor required that this punishment be administered. They left her for dead.

America's soldiers are going to die so Afghan women won't have their noses cut off by their husbands? By their husbands!

I inwardly weep for Islamic women. In theocratic Saudi Arabia in 2002, they let 15 women burn to death rather than, gasp, horrors, let them out "improperly" clothed.

Folks, we need to get out of Muslimland. It's primitive beyond imagination. The men mutilate the women. Physically and mentally. And, it's accepted practice.

There's no "victory" for America in 14th century Afghanistan. No winning there. No celebratory parades.

Obama needs to announce, "Any Afghan woman who wants to leave that misogynistic country can leave with America's troops who are leaving next Tuesday."

No American troops in Muslimland! Never again.

Yet, what if we still have Islamic terrorist attacks in America?

Open the bomb bay doors, HAL, from 40,000 feet.

Let God sort it out.