* January 25, 2009 Active compassion and a holiday from war can combat terrorism, says George McGovern. AS YOU settle into the Oval Office, Mr President, may I offer a suggestion? Please do not try to put Afghanistan aright with the US military. To send our troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan would be a near-perfect example of going from the frying pan into the fire. True, the US is the world's greatest power, but so was the British Empire a century ago when it tried to pacify Afghanistan, only to be forced out after excruciating losses. The Soviet Union was also a superpower when it poured some 100,000 troops into Afghanistan in 1979. They limped home, defeated, a decade later. It is logical to conclude that our military dominance and supposedly good motives should let us work our will in Afghanistan. But logic does not always prevail in South Asia. With belligerent Afghan warlords sitting atop each mountain glowering at one another, the one factor that could unite them is invasion of their country by a foreign power, whether British, Russian or American. Military power is no solution to terrorism. The hatred of US policies in the Middle East that drives the terrorist impulse against us would better be resolved by ending our military presence throughout the arc of conflict. That means a prudent, carefully directed withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere. In 2003, the Bush administration ordered an invasion of Iraq, supposedly to reduce terrorism. Six years later, there is more terrorism and civil strife in Iraq, not less. The same outcome may occur in Afghanistan if we make it the next American military conflict. Mr President, the promise of your brilliant campaign for the White House and the hopes of the millions who thronged to watch you be sworn in could easily be lost in the mountains and wastelands of Afghanistan. Like you, I don't oppose all wars. I risked my life in World War II to protect our country against genuine danger. It is the memory of my fellow airmen being shot out of the sky in a war that I believe we had to fight that makes me cautious about sending our youth into needless conflicts that weaken us at home and abroad, and may even weaken us in the eyes of God. So let me suggest a truly audacious hope for your administration: How about a five-year time-out on war — unless, of course, there is a genuine threat to the nation? During that interval, we could work with the UN World Food Program and the overseas arms of the churches, synagogues, mosques and other volunteer agencies to provide a nutritious lunch every day for every school-age child in Afghanistan and other poor nations. Such a program is now under way in several countries approved by Congress and the UN, under the auspices of the George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Act. (Forgive the self-serving title.) Is this proposal pie-in-the-sky? I don't think so. It's food in the stomachs of hungry kids. It would draw them to school and enable them to learn and grow into better citizens. It would cost a small fraction of warfare's cost, but it might well be a stronger antidote to terrorism. There will always be time for another war, but hunger can't wait. George McGovern, a former senator from South Dakota, was the Democratic nominee for president in 1972. ***** (One response: what if the Taliban won't let anyone feed the poor?)
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