John Kerry's impending retreat from Iraq

In 1975, US prestige around the world collapsed when this country completed its disengagement from Vietnam. Nixon promised peace with honor and obtained retreat and dishonor and Vietnam overrun by Communists.

In 1979-81 the US stood by, inept and impotent, whilst a bunch of students held Americans hostage on sovereign US property, the US embassy.

In 1983, President Reagan withdrew Marines from Lebanon after a suicide truck bomber destroyed their barracks. The country would have supported major action to track down and destroy the terrorists who killed our young men, but the retreat signalled instead that the US would not stand strong.

In 1991, the US showed its strength by throwing Saddam out of Kuwait, but allowed him to claim that he'd faced down the US by not overthrowing him.

In 1993, the US again showed its lack of intestinal fortitude when Clinton withdrew from Somalia after the Blackhawk Down incident.

In the Somalia and Lebanon cases, as the RedState post linked above shows, public support for the intervention went UP after the disasters that led to the withdrawals. So the presidents in question actually showed less fortitude than the public.

In Iraq, Kerry wants to be president so he can opt out, abandon the US leadership role in the Middle East, and weaken the US in the eyes of the world. I think he WANTS a weaker America and he views this as a virtue. Robert Kagan noted this in an editorial I linked to here.

And the more Kerry speaks, the clearer this becomes. As Redstate shows, here is what Kerry said in an NPR interview:

Inskeep [NPR interviewer]: This is what I'm wondering, though: In a year from now, since you do want to remain committed to Iraq, isn't it the case that there will still be many, many thousands of American troops there, still fighting the insurgents if the insurgents want to fight?

Kerry: Ah, no, not necessarily at all, because I think our diplomacy can produce a very different ingredient on the ground. And if it can't produce a different ingredient on the ground, lemme tell you something, that says something about what Iraqis want, and what the people in the region want. I believe that within a year from now, we could significantly reduce American forces in Iraq. And, ah, that's my plan.

That bolded part is liberal-speak for adhering to a country's "freedom" to choose. That is, the notion that each country gets the type of government it ultimately desires. This has been a belief of the Left for generations -- Russians wanted to be living in a Communist totalitarian state, Arabs essentially chose to live under their dictators, Latin Americans chose to live under military strong men -- and it is completely contrary to both the notion that people want democracy and freedom and the notion that they can be influenced into obtaining such freedom and democracy.

In other words, Kerry's world view is a radical left-wing departure from US foreign policy of the last 20+ years and even far to the left of Clinton. A Kerry presidency is a frightening prospect.