At the height of the War on Vietnam,Nixon went on the air to explain the logic of expanding the war to Cambodia.One of his reasons was that he wanted to erase the perception of the US becoming a pitiful helpless giant as the Vietnamese were inflicting heavy casualties on US Forces despite the US superiority in weapons.
It is that same attitude that has drawn us once again into a never ending war in Asia.The war has clearly not been won despite the many apologists claiming we are winning the war.What is worse is that the Iraqis are improvising their asymmetric warfare techniques which include fabricating their EFPs at home and deploying them against heavily armored tanks.At the same time the costs of our high technology force keep rising,not a little due to the explosive increase in the price of petroleum.If the war was planned to give us energy self sufficiency, it has had a disastrous effect on our economy.Imperialism has met its match: the Law of Unintended Consequences.
If we were not a pitiful helpless giant before the Iraq War started,we are one now.
Your point is hardly deep nor subtle, yet somehow it is nonetheless repeatedly and relentlessly overlooked.
The US has screwed the pooch. It’s OVER. Not that the US will ever leave Iraq, but the consequences of never-ending defeat are already with us. They will not go away, but rather worsen, endlessly.
Happy-face is no way to deal with disaster. We may refuse to face reality as a nation, but those who can do so personally should start.
And that means abandoning the cheerful lies we tell ourselves and each other.
This is Memorial Day weekend, when we honor the sacrifices of our soldiers. What sacrifices? Death, maiming, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, suicide, and disgraceful abandonment by a nation and people who view war like football–as a spectator sport to be carried out–and endured–by others, while we eat barbecue, drink beer, and enjoy.
It is thoroughly depraved, and it is not working.
“The pitiful, helpless, giant,” part is only the opening scene of an unfolding tragedy.
This is Memorial Day weekend, when we honor the sacrifices of our soldiers. What sacrifices? Death, maiming, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, suicide, and disgraceful abandonment by a nation and people who view war like football–as a spectator sport to be carried out–and endured–by others, while we eat barbecue, drink beer, and enjoy.
I found this worth repeating – thank you.