By Clarence Leatherbury

In 2003, the United States went to war based on the policy of pre-emption—the idea that the U.S. will attack any nation that is a potential threat. A war based on the foreign policy of nation-building, a war based on a nation’s arcane but cognitive desire of Middle Eastern oil and spreading democracy.

Our 43rd president deceived Americans as he led us into this battle. At his 2003 State of the Union, he stated confidently that Saddam Hussein would create a day of horror unlike any other. He said Saddam had 30,000 chemical weapons, that Iraq had sought uranium to develop a nuclear arsenal and that the gravest danger facing America was outlaw regimes.

What our 43rd president failed to mention was the U.S. became militarily involved in the Iran- Iraq war of the 1980s by shipping viruses, bacteria, fungi and anthrax to the Iraqi government. This information was brought to light in U.S. Senator Robert Byrd’s book “Losing America”. Let us not forget that our nation was founded on foreign policy principles of non-interventionism, self-determination, peace and exhausting all diplomatic efforts.

Our founders understood the consequences a nation can suffer under a king determined on spreading his empire. That’s why they put the power of the purse in the legislative branch, the people’s branch. They knew the people are less apt to go to war because it’s the people who face the consequences. Fifty thousand combat soldiers remain. A hundred thousand contractors remain. As long as our legislative branch continues to fund this fight, the burdens placed upon our nation from interventionist foreign policy will remain. It’s time we come on home. America needs us here.