Iraq is falling apart, just as so many of us predicted over 10 years ago when the US declared war on a country that was run by a tin horn dictator who posed no danger to us.
Despite the Bush government's assertions, there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction.
And there was ample evidence, despite claims made by people like Hillary Clinton, that there were none.
The UN inspectors provided compelling evidence to that effect.
Know what else? The US lost that war.
Know what else else? The US has not won a war for almost 70 years. We suck at winning wars since The Greatest Generation won WWII against almost insurmountable odds in only 4 years. 4 years? To win two huge wars against two massive countries who had built astounding war machines? In only 4 years?
And now, at a rate of 555 per day, the only Americans who were in the military in a war we actually won are dying, including my father two years ago.
Now, this is not to say that we don't send our young people off to die in wars. Of course we do.
As King Prium said (one of my favorite lines ever) in an otherwise forgettable movie Troy:
"War is old men talking and young men dying."
So, old men like Bush, Rumsfield, Fleischer, Republicans, Generals, talk talk talk. Even Colin Powell got into the act. How awful for him. An otherwise honorable man, someone who, unlike the other old men, really knew what war was all about, participated in sending young men and women to their deaths for a losing and worthless cause.
Meanwhile, my wife's son Owen was over there walking the walk. None of these old men who wanted the war are worthy of licking his boots. And none of them would ever have to wait for an appointment at a VA Hospital.
The United States spends as much money on its military as THE ENTIRE REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED. And yet we can't win any wars.
The US military had almost three times as many years to win the war in Iraq as we had 70 years ago to win the wars against both Germany and Japan. Since we, and everybody else, knows that the actual people on the ground are highly skilled and motivated, the only logical conclusion is that their leaders are incompetent. To think that all of the Al-Qaeda, Iran, and ISIS combined could equal just Rommel's 7th Panzer Division is ridiculous. And yet our military, 70 years ago, defeated him.
If a CEO of any company was as incompetent as our military leaders since WWII have been, they would have been sacked. I suggest, though, that instead of sacking, everyone from General on up is sent to Iraq, today, to solve the messes they have created. This includes Bush, Rumsfeld, and every Senator and congressperson who voted for and/or was in favor of the Iraq war. Let them deal with it.
But by no means send Owen, or any other Owens, until we have a complete change in our leadership and philosophy about wars and our place in the world. All of our professional military leaders, and many of our elected leaders, need to be fired, lose all of the benefits, and rot waiting for medical care at VA Hospitals. (I'm kind of mad, can you tell, or am I being sufficiently vague?)
NO MORE YOUNG MEN DYING. Let the old talkers die.
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