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Perpetuating The Dilemma

by: Debra

Perhaps we shouldn't be fighting the war in Iraq, has this clown general considered that option? Just because we are at war doesn't mean we should always be at that state and if we have that many enemies, what are we doing wrong? We used to win friends and influence people, not send them into self-destructive murderous rages.

The National Guard and the Reserves are just as tapped out as the regular military. At this point there really is no difference. These people have lives that support the infrastructure of the United States. Robbing Peter to pay Paul has never been an effective strategy, it feels good in the short run and then Kim shows up wanting a slice. Oops.

What you really need is a draft and you can't come right out and say so because that's the third rail, now isn't it? People are not willingly joining the military, so you are going to have to make them in order to increase or even maintain the military and that's going to go over like a personally released fragrance in church. Actually it sounds like you want to make it a forced career by preventing people from leaving when their time is up, for the good of their unit. The only options (surges) being proposed are based on the false flush of too much adrenaline and testosterone without thinking of the long term consequences to America and what we used to stand for.

If this was a just war, if Iraq had ever been a threat to us, if there had ever been a coherent reason for our involvement, I might be able to support these actions. But I doubt it because none of the reasons given so far have had any sense or staying power and throwing good money after bad or live troops after dead ones just doesn't make any sense.

Perhaps a simple demonstration of a timeline would help impart some perspective. Now that was sad, wasn't it? Pop, pop.

Debsweb

3 comments:

"without thinking of the long term consequences to America and what we used to stand for."

My only problem Debra is that I'm not sure just WTF we do stand for, and that is not something I came to recently. Usually the USA is a frigging nightmare on how it treats it's people all the while spouting the "we're #1" crap, but every once in a few decades we actually do enact legislation that helps the average Joe. I guess I'm mostly confused and pissed off. I wish the majority, and our excuse for a government could simply say what it means. But then the game would be over.

Regards.
by: blackdog (contact) - 16 Dec '06 - 17:22
Debra, even the troops are sick of it...

Marc Cooper, The Nation:
About Face: Soldiers Call for Iraq Withdrawal

For the first time since Vietnam, an organized, robust movement of active-duty US military personnel has publicly surfaced to oppose a war in which they are serving. Those involved plan to petition Congress to withdraw American troops from Iraq. (Note: A complete version of this report will appear next week in the print and online editions of The Nation.)

After appearing only seven weeks ago on the Internet, the Appeal for Redress, brainchild of 29-year-old Navy seaman Jonathan Hutto, has already been signed by nearly 1,000 US soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, including dozens of officers--most of whom are on active duty. Not since 1969, when some 1,300 active-duty military personnel signed an open letter in the New York Times opposing the war in Vietnam, has there been such a dramatic barometer of rising military dissent.

Interviews with two dozen signers of the Appeal reveal a mix of motives for opposing the war: ideological, practical, strategic and moral. But all those interviewed agree that it is time to start withdrawing the troops. Coming from an all-volunteer military, the Appeal was called "unprecedented" by Eugene Fidell, president of the National Insistute of Military Justice.

The Nation spoke with rank-and-file personnel as well as high-ranking officers--some on the Iraqi front lines, others at domestic and offshore US military bases--who have signed the Appeal. All of their names will be made available to Congress when the Appeal is presented in mid-January.
by: Foiled Goil (contact) - 16 Dec '06 - 20:16
As one of those who usually suffers at the hands of their government, I still believe that America has something special worth fighting for and I will fight to my last breath to keep it so.

I have lived in other countries and we are special. We may have no sense of history, we definitely suffer from hubris, but make no mistake, WE ARE SPECIAL.

For how much longer, I'm not so sure. We used to stand as a beacon of light, now we just use that light to say "bring it on".

As we cower in the darkenss of our fear.
by: Debra (contact) - 16 Dec '06 - 23:31



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Meta Information:

Title: Perpetuating The Dilemma
Date posted: 16 Dec '06 - 09:16
No Trackbacks
Filed under: Military
Good Karma: 2 (vote)
Bad Karma: 3 (vote)
Next entry: » Hats off to Veterans, a short story.
Previous entry: « "Short-term Surge" of US Troops in Iraq

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