Comments on the Conflict between Russia and Georgia

While watching the news today I heard a news anchor ask an "expert" if the United States still has the "moral authority" to challenge Russia's invasion of Georgia after the United States' invasion of Iraq.  While such a such a question certainly didn't surprise me, given the general political leanings of major news networks, I still found the premise behind the question mildly absurd.

Certainly many nations around the world objected to the U.S. led invasion of Iraq and many of the reasons for opposing the invasion were valid.  There is no question the invasion hurt America's image around the world.  But to believe the idea that the United States somehow forfeited it's authority (moral or otherwise) to speak out against Russia requires one to suspend reality and ignore history.  

First of all, the differences between the U.S. led invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Georgia are almost too numerous to count.  (To outline all of these differences, would be too time consuming but one simple example is the fact that the Saddam Hussein violated the 1991 Gulf War cease fire agreement and 15 separate U.N. resolutions.  While Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's most egregious crime appears to be distancing his country from Russia's "sphere of influence".)

Second, one unpopular war does not erase the overwhelming  number of times U.S. has sacrificed it's own blood and treasure in defense of allies and in humanitarian efforts around the world.  It also does not erase the fact that U.S. is still the most rich and powerful democratic nation on the planet.

Because the Iraq War has been such an important and heated political issue in this country over the last several years, we tend to lose perspective when evaluating it's importance and understanding it's significance from a global and historical perspective.  The U.S. has been involved in a number of unpopular military engagements over the last century, but America's positive contributions to the world (see World War II, Cold War, etc...) far out weigh her missteps and the rest of the world knows it.