"Moderate" Muslim cleric calls for death of Afghan Christian

DallasBlog.com | Tom Pauken:

“What exactly are we fighting for in these countries where being a Christian can put a death warrant on one’s head?”

Ed Cognoski responds:

I assume that's a rhetorical question. But, let's treat the question seriously anyway. President Bush doesn't distinguish between Afghanistan and Iraq, calling the conflict anywhere and everywhere the global war on terror. But President Bush has explicitly addressed our mission in Iraq much more frequently than any other front of the war, so let's focus on that.

Before the Iraq war, the mission was to disarm Iraq. When the war began, the mission was disarmament, regime change, and liberation for Iraqis. Two months after the invasion, President Bush declared major combat operations over and the mission completed. But the troops didn't come home. Instead, the mission expanded into establishing a self-governing, democratic Iraq, capable of defending itself and no longer a threat to its neighbors.

None of this mission creep ever included liberal democracy. Never did the President insist on safeguarding individual liberties, freedom of speech or religion, tolerance of minorities, and the like. Perhaps the President once dreamt of such an outcome, but he never staked the mission on it.

What we're fighting for -- democracy, self-defense, and non-aggression -- are reasonable and more limited goals, but sadly, still unachievable. So, we're stuck putting our armed forces in harm's way indefinitely, without reasonable expectations of success, while those we protect act outrageously. Maybe it's time for the President to redefine the mission ... again.