If I Were President

If I were President and addressing the nation this evening, this is what I would say.

My fellow Americans, I am here to bring you good news this evening. I am ordering a halt to our military operations in Iraq and in Afghanistan. I am asking those in charge of our troops to have them back in the United States as soon as possible and definitely no later than March 31, 2010.

There are probably some of you who will say this means we have lost the wars. I ask you, what would entail a victory? To me a victory is having our sons, daughters, fathers and mothers safely back on American soil. A victory to me is not having to write any more letters to the loved ones of our dead military members. A victory is seeing the number of war wounded at our military hospitals reduced to zero.

To the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, we wish you only the best. If you seek democracy and freedom, you need to do what we did at the onset of this great country. You must use all your heart, mind, and body dedicated to the effort. You must get your citizens actively involved in the process. And you must do it on your own. It is not the responsibility of the United States of America to thrust our way of life on your people.

As soon as our troops have been safely removed from Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States will cease sending any further materials or equipment to those countries. In addition, the United States will cease all monetary foreign aid to those countries.

To those who think this is a sign of weakness on the part of the United States, you should think again. If we must defend ourselves, we have the ability to do it without ever putting an American on foreign soil. It means that we will not be elective in choosing our targets, but we will extract eye for eye and tooth for tooth. The United States remains as strong as ever. We are committed to protecting our people regardless of the pain and damage we inflict on our enemies. You do not want to be an enemy of our country.

I am looking forward to welcoming our dedicated service people home. I want the National Guard and Reserve members to be able to resume your normal life without having to worry about another tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. I want our active duty force to have a opportunity to rest, reunite with your families and continue your willingness to defend and protect our great country as events demand.

Thank you for your attention. Good evening and God bless the United States of America.