With very little fanfare or media coverage, the Iraq war will come to an end at the end or this year. Nearly 4500 American troops lost, and over 32,000 wounded - not to mention the tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis - and this incredible foreign blunder will come to an end in just over two weeks. This idiocy also cost this nation around a trillion dollars.
Republican presidential candidates, with the brave exception of Ron Paul, are all critical of the war's end. They think 20 to 30 thousand troops should remain in Iraq, despite overwhelming support for the end of this war. That's just another example of republicans' opposition to anything Obama does, irrespective of national interest.
This war has been among the most shameful foreign policy decisions in this nation's history. Among the more shameful aspects of this war is the fact that as a nation, we failed to share in the sacrifice that our troops and military families were subjected to. No - we spent the last decade arguing about whether we should have to pay for the war by paying taxes. No - many of us argued against raising taxes under any circumstances.
I argued against this war before it began, and I have argued against the causes of all of our "military interventions" in the mideast. At the end of this war, I am firmly committed to doing whatever I possibly can to stop contributing to the causes of war, which in this case was to "stabilize" the political environment of the world's largest known oil producing regions. Whatever your political orientation, I sincerely hope that you will join me in preventing any further "oil wars". Since our politicans believe we will not tolerate sacrificing by paying war taxes, perhaps we will impose the self-tax of doing what we can to make ourselves less dependent on oil.
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Comments: 32
Among the more shameful aspects of this war is the fact that as a nation, we failed to share in the sacrifice that our troops and military families were subjected to. No - we spent the last decade arguing about whether we should have to pay for the war by paying taxes. No - many of us argued against raising taxes under any circumstances.
Well said.
I find it funny that one of the GOP candidates rhetoric is he will be the only one to bring home the troops that seems to have changed to Obama is wrong leave the troops there.
I know your answer to this multi-faceted emergency has something to do with property rights and free markets, so I continue to look forward to your post, in which you've promised to address this issue. In the meantime, I will assert that dependency on oil is at the root of many of our national problems, and the extent to which we are free from that "substance abuse", we will reflect a much more vibrant national health. I hope never to see another young American committed to the service of multinational oil cartels.
Steve, would you add Lybia to that "would have never happened" list?
I credit Ron Paul for his consistent and early opposition to these military interventions, but I find his somewhat tepid stance on shifting our economy away from fossil fuels to be anemic, in the sense of cutting to the core of matter.
This war has been among the most shameful foreign policy decisions in this nation's history. Among the more shameful aspects of this war is the fact that as a nation, we failed to share in the sacrifice that our troops and military families were subjected to. No - we spent the last decade arguing about whether we should have to pay for the war by paying taxes. No - many of us argued against raising taxes under any circumstances.
tame: We should don sackcloth and ashes. Instead we strut like peacocks. Thank you, Steve, for speaking unadorned truth.
tame: Sad cloth and ashes? Heavens, no. I meant it figuratively. :)
http://www.businessinsider.com/ndaa-set-to-become-law-the-terror-is-nearer-than-ever-2011-12
NDAA Set To Become Law: The Terror Is Nearer Than Ever
And further, we are going to continue to waste our military personnel and taxpayer money on military entanglements in the mideast, until we face the core issue - which is our dependency on oil. Do you know how much we waste on foreign oil every day? Over $1billion leaves our economy daily, because we have special interests buying congress to write laws in their favor. I'm not trying to argue about the word "waste", but I don't know what other word better describes it.
So was I.
Remember when this forum was filled with right wingers who used profanities and every manner of insults to attack people like you and I and to defend Bush? We said this war was criminal and that every American who dies there will have died in vain. But the right wingers would not be persuaded. So where are they now?
The war was so stupid that every Iraqi hated it. In fact, al-Maliki (Bush's hand picked lackey) refused to attend yesterday's closing ceremony:
http://cnsnews.com/blog/susan-jones/strains-display-no-iraqi-leaders-attend-us-end-war-ceremony-baghdad
On top of all that as the Fox reporter shows, people celebrated the USA's departure by burning the American flag!
So now, who is going to pay for the $800 billion wasted on Bush's war?
They're beating the drum for war with Iran.
"So now, who is going to pay for the $800 billion wasted on Bush's war?"
They claim that the real deficit problems are related to all these "entitlements" - social security, medicare, medicaid, etc. And notice how they've gone after government employees? The neocons are perched for a come-back.