America doesn't need to be some 'shining city on a hill'... We need to be more humble

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The notion that America needs to restore it's 'moral influence' around the world only makes sense if that effort is marked by a genuine understanding and acceptance that our nation and our interests aren't necessarily what's best for everyone.

Certainly, the last administration has demonstrated to the fullest degree possible in their autocratic exercise of military force across sovereign borders how destabilizing those efforts can be when we seek to impose our own definition of 'democracy' behind our military's devastating applications of 'shock and awe' and opportunistic seizing and holding of territory.

Our confrontational posture toward Iran, for example, assumes that their government is more autocratic and so much less responsive to the wishes of Iranians than our own freewheeling political system that we need to commit the resources (and potential sacrifices of our nation's defenders) to some American notion of regime-change. Yet, most Iranians are no less proud and accepting of their country and their system of government than we are of our own.

Moreover, there is an assumption from those who intend to 'reform' Iran's government from their privileged perches in the U.S. - like the assumptions which led our troops into the middle of a multi-fronted civil war which they ignited with their own Bush-directed aggression - that Iran's population is some singular bloc which is hopelessly oppressed by the spoke of Bush's evil axis. Iran actually enjoys an ethnically diverse population. There are about 2 million ethnic Arabs in Iran, composing about 3 percent of the population.

from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_Iran

Persians form the majority of the population. However, historically the terms "Iran" and "Persia" have referred to a confederation of all groups native to the Iranian Plateau, and the speakers of Iranian languages, whether located in Iran or not (e.g. Tajiks, Ossetians, etc.). Therefore, historically, the use of the term "Persian" has included all the various regional dialects and subgroups of Iran.

The main ethno-linguistic minority groups in Iran are the Azeris, Kurds,Lurs, Arabs, Baluchis, Turkmen, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, and Georgians. The tribal groups include the Bakhtiari Lurs, Khamseh, Feyli Lurs, Qashqai, as well as others. While many Iranians identify with a secondary ethnic, religious, linguistic, or regional background in some way, the primary identity unifying virtually all of these sub-groups is their distinctly Iranian language, and/or culture. Though many of the tribal groups have become urbanized over the decades, some continue to function as rural tribal societies. According to the CIA World Factbook and other Western sources, ethnicity/race in Iran breaks down as follows: Persian 46%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Lur 7%, Arab 3%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%.

It's inconceivable that the U.S. can reasonably or responsibly dictate the nature of political representation that is best for Iranians, in any form or function. But still, the last American administration persisted in their congressional-sponsored efforts (with Elizabeth Cheney as “freedom agenda co-ordinator” and the “democracy czar” for the broader Middle East) to impose our own notion of representation and governance on their diverse population.

The same mistake is being developed as a strategy for the other nation America has been building in Afghanistan behind the sacrifices of our own country's defenders. Our military forces and NATO's cynical defense of the Afghan capital and the dubiously elected president in Kabul is superimposed on top of the troop's primary mission in South Afghanistan, along the Pakistan border, which was spelled out in the original authorization for the use of military force as the "pursuit of the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks."

The very U.S. strategy and military operation of propping up the regime in Kabul by intimidating the surrounding communities with bombings and raids is, predictably, fueling the ire and animosity of individuals bent on violence toward the U.S. and our interests who are increasingly crossing the border from Pakistan to confront the NATO troops defending the border.

The other effect of our heightened military presence has been the traditional, but counter-productive Afghan effect of the uniting of tribes and factions in efforts to repel the foreign invaders and occupiers and to disrupt their aims through their resistant violence. Still, the military's latest plan has reportedly been to work to convince (bribe) some of those tribes and factions to unite with NATO forces, instead, against whoever we identify as a foe of our interests and efforts.

The obvious folly in expecting our paltry, yet deadly, contingent of forces to indefinitely protect or provide for the diverse society of millions of Afghans is the same ignorant assumption which the Iraq folly has disproved with its eternally divided, monopolized regime which our troops enable in power in their tenuous Green Zone of defense.

from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Afghanista...

Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan followed by Tajiks as the second largest group, then Hazaras, Uzbeks tied for third, followed by the Aimak, Turkmen, Baluch, Nuristani and other small groups. Pashto and Persian (Dari) the two official languages of the country. Persian is spoken by at least half of the population and serves as a lingua franca for most. Pashto is spoken widely in the south, east and south west. Uzbek and Turkmen are spoken in the north. Smaller groups throughout the country also speak more than 70 other languages and numerous dialects.

99% of Afghanistan's population adheres to Islam. An estimated 80% of the population is Sunni, following the Hanafi school of jurisprudence; 19% is predominantly Shi'a. Despite attempts during the years of communist rule to secularize Afghan society, Islamic practices pervade all aspects of life. In fact, Islam served as the principal basis for expressing opposition to communist rule and the Soviet invasion. Likewise, Islamic religious tradition and codes, together with traditional practices, provide the principal means of controlling personal conduct and settling legal disputes. Excluding urban populations in the principal cities, most Afghans are divided into tribal and other kinship-based groups, which follow traditional customs and religious practices.

With all of the challenges to our occupation of Afghanistan escalating along with the anticipated escalation of as many as 30,000 troops from the anticipated Iraq drawdown, it should be obvious that there needs to be some better defined and realistic goal than the blundering, destabilizing nation-building which has been the enduring mission of the departing administration.

The defense of the Afghan border makes sense, only if that effort isn't actively undermined by short-sighted cherry-picking of alliances to maintain the installed regime in power and authority. If the U.S. government and military is serious about the democracy they've been promoting, there needs to be a visible acknowledgment that the ideal of representational government can't be indefinitely perpetuated by the anti-democratic heavy-hand of our military.

At some point, America will need to stand back and accept that ultimately, Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, and others need and deserve to be the architects and defenders of their own ambitions for governance and representation, outside of our own demonstratively oppressive military-led solutions.