I do not believe that we are currently being tough enough in Iraq, and I do not believe that merely sending more troops over there is going to do the job.
What do we need in order to stabilize Iraq, make it safer for American troops and Iraqi citizens, stop the attacks against American troops, and find Saddam Hussein and his sons? A better philosophy. First of all, we need to be a lot tougher in Iraq: we need to hunt down and eliminate those who wage war against the troops in Iraq. I believe that our troops in Iraq have been doing so to some extent, however, our government is too worried about being perceived as invaders instead of liberators, and too worried about civilian casualties. The major problem with our past two military campaigns, in my opinion, is that we have been way too soft on our enemies. As soon as the Taliban and Saddam Hussein’s regime were officially out of power, we essentially treated every combatant in Afghanistan and Iraq as an equal Afghan or Iraqi citizen, rather than classify them as a threat or not a threat. Instead of coming down hard on issues such as rounding up weapons, eliminating opposition groups, etc., we essentially let many of the opposing armies retain their freedom, as well as their capability to strike American troops. Additionally, the infrastructure of Iraq and Afghanistan remain virtually entact and free from control. As a result, the ability for small opposition groups to strike American troops has been greatly increased. This however, is not the major problem.
The major problem with our reconstruction of Iraq is the complete lack of a comprehensive philosophy to guide its reconstruction and stabilizaton. Our government has given lip service to such ideas as freedom, liberty, democracy, individual rights, etc., but I believe that the true definitions of these words have long since been lost in the minds of the individuals who make up our government. What is sorely needed in order to properly reconstruct Iraq (as well as this country) is the discovery of what these words actually mean and to actually implement them.
In order for Iraq to become a truly propserous country, the concept of individual rights must be recognized. Every human being, by their very nature, has one fundamental right, from which all others are the result: the right to their own life. This means that every human being has the right to take whatever actions they deem necessary for benefitting their own life, just as long as they do not violate that right of any other individual or group of individuals. The recognition of individual rights on the part of the government does not mean that the government provides its citizens with the right to their own life, but rather that they recognize that every single human being has that inalienable right. As a result of this, the only proper function of a government is to protect the individual’s right to their own life.
But this right to life is not a self-evident truth, it rests completely on a solid theory of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, something which only a comprehensive, objective philosophy can provide. Today this is virtually forgotten and ignored by the politicians who control our government and those in the rest of the world as well. In modern politics, the trend in determining the justness of a given government is not if it properly recognizes individual rights but rather if it was chosen by a majority of the people that the given government governs. This is completely wrong. Something is not correct merely because a majority of people say it is correct, this is a simple fact of reality. 2+2 does not equal 5 because a majority of people or a dictator says it does. 2+2 equals 4 because of the facts of reality which exist independently of any individual’s consciousness, that is to say, existence has primacy over consciousness. A wish from an individual does not make something true in reality, and neither does a wish from a group of individuals make something true in reality either.
U.S. Government, and governments of the world: the only way to truly achieve peace in our world is through the discovery of the proper philosophy. Philosophy is not some parlor game that intellectuals like to play in their ivory towers which has absolutely no effect on reality. Philosophy is an inescapable need of human existence, due to the fact that a human being is a being of volitional consciousness (free will). A philosophy is an integrated view of existence, it is the ultimate guide in a human being’s life as to which of many alternatives they should choose in all of their actions. This being said, philosophy is the prime mover in an individual’s life and therefore in society as well. An individual’s philosophy determines whether or not they enjoy success or not in their life. A world’s philosophy determines the success it achieves, whether or not peace is achieved, whether or not the human race prospers or not, etc.
This sounds like quite a task to be achieved, that is, the determination of the best philosophy for human beings. But alas, the job has already been done, that philosophy has already been discovered, and that philosophy is Objectivism.
