http://www.ivaw.org/view/profiles
interesting site.
Iraq Vets Against the War
Moderator: Dictators in Training
Iraq Vets Against the War
For you
by Matthew Rhodes Winter:
The country formerly known as Iraq (or as part of the Safavid or Ottoman Empires respectively, or as Khvarvārān, etc.) is now embroiled in a civil war. Very few dispute this claim these days and those that do tend to do so based on semantic arguments. As ugly as the truth may be it is the foreign policy of our government that has led to this chaos.
Most recently the US administration has gone ahead with a troop escalation that is intended to “stabilize” Bagdad and put an end to the daily carnage throughout much of Iraq. This plan is destined to fail. Whether or not people want it to succeed is irrelevant: it’s a too little too late. The vacuum of power created by the removal of Saddam and his entire ruling bureaucracy is a problem that has been studied since long before Dick Cheney decided to invade Iraq. It’s no secret that George H. W. Bush decided that it wouldn’t be prudent to topple Saddam for exactly this reason.
One common argument for the continued presence of US troops in Iraq is the “you broke it, you bought” adage. This argument is appealing to many who would otherwise be completely antiwar but have deep feelings of guilt towards the Iraqi people. We did, after all, completely and utterly destroy their country with our military. While this is a rationale that resonates with many Iraq war veterans I know, it fails to allow for one key fact: just because you’ve broken something doesn’t mean you are capable of putting it back together. This is why we need our troops out of Iraq right now.
As a veteran I know firsthand the awesome destructive power of our military forces. If you need something blown up or killed there’s no better organization to contact. On the other hand if you’re looking to create a modern Islamic democracy in the Middle East, we might not be the right guys for the job. Ever heard of the proverbial bull in the china shop? Well this is like telling the bull he has to fix all the china he’s just rampaged through. That’s just plain stupid.
What are needed in Iraq are not more US soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen, but diplomats and statesmen. Until the US administration realizes that they can’t solve the problems in Iraq with military force we can never “win” this war. While there is no simple strategy for stabilizing Iraq and extracting foreign troops from its soil this is nonetheless the task we are faced with. You wouldn’t tell a surgeon to fix your car, so why tell a soldier to fix a whole country?
Let’s cut the bullshit and get our troops home so the rebuilding can begin.
That is incredibly profound.
The country formerly known as Iraq (or as part of the Safavid or Ottoman Empires respectively, or as Khvarvārān, etc.) is now embroiled in a civil war. Very few dispute this claim these days and those that do tend to do so based on semantic arguments. As ugly as the truth may be it is the foreign policy of our government that has led to this chaos.
Most recently the US administration has gone ahead with a troop escalation that is intended to “stabilize” Bagdad and put an end to the daily carnage throughout much of Iraq. This plan is destined to fail. Whether or not people want it to succeed is irrelevant: it’s a too little too late. The vacuum of power created by the removal of Saddam and his entire ruling bureaucracy is a problem that has been studied since long before Dick Cheney decided to invade Iraq. It’s no secret that George H. W. Bush decided that it wouldn’t be prudent to topple Saddam for exactly this reason.
One common argument for the continued presence of US troops in Iraq is the “you broke it, you bought” adage. This argument is appealing to many who would otherwise be completely antiwar but have deep feelings of guilt towards the Iraqi people. We did, after all, completely and utterly destroy their country with our military. While this is a rationale that resonates with many Iraq war veterans I know, it fails to allow for one key fact: just because you’ve broken something doesn’t mean you are capable of putting it back together. This is why we need our troops out of Iraq right now.
As a veteran I know firsthand the awesome destructive power of our military forces. If you need something blown up or killed there’s no better organization to contact. On the other hand if you’re looking to create a modern Islamic democracy in the Middle East, we might not be the right guys for the job. Ever heard of the proverbial bull in the china shop? Well this is like telling the bull he has to fix all the china he’s just rampaged through. That’s just plain stupid.
What are needed in Iraq are not more US soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen, but diplomats and statesmen. Until the US administration realizes that they can’t solve the problems in Iraq with military force we can never “win” this war. While there is no simple strategy for stabilizing Iraq and extracting foreign troops from its soil this is nonetheless the task we are faced with. You wouldn’t tell a surgeon to fix your car, so why tell a soldier to fix a whole country?
Let’s cut the bullshit and get our troops home so the rebuilding can begin.
That is incredibly profound.
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Retired wrote:history repeats itself all the time..read some books you cockbuffers
:whoosh:
leah wrote:i am forever grateful to my gym teacher for drilling that skill into me during drivers' ed
leah wrote:isn't the only difference the length? i feel like it would take too long to smoke something that long, ha.
Retired wrote:history repeats itself all the time..read some books you cockbuffers
Perhaps you should post some titles, someone taking your advice and reading some "trash" novels while maybe being entertained isn't going to really benefit
.Raymond S. Kraft wrote:The history of the world is the history of civilizational clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win.
Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.
Jay wrote:Retired wrote:history repeats itself all the time..read some books you cockbuffers
:whoosh:
We must find a book for her that deals with the basics of sarcasm.
Raymond S. Kraft wrote:The history of the world is the history of civilizational clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win.
Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.