To understand how the finest military in human history could continue to fail in this war, one could create a list or perhaps listen to Donald Rumsfeld speak on any topic for a few minutes, only to be informed afterwards that the man speaking was in charge of the operation. However you go about it, the end result is normally confusing, and for the ‘just tell me the good news’ crowd, anything more complicated than ‘O’Doyle Rules!’ simply won’t work.
No, it’s not a topic one can remain positive about for long if any of the pre-war quotes are matched up with what actually happened. Yet there’s a good contingent of hard working Americans who insist on believing that our reason for being there is just, and that the lack of results simply makes no sense. It’s the American who’s sick of hearing about how much life sucks for the Iraqi.
This American most likely hasn’t gone three days without electricity, nor have they gone out for their morning walk to find twenty decapitated bodies on the side of the road. These ‘details’ of what life is like for those living in Iraq come to us daily, and whether we like to acknowledge it or not, over 80 journalists have already given their lives to bring the news to us. Heroic indeed, but a scapegoat is needed, so for political reasons, it’s just 80 dead liberals. Good for them.
I’d like to go around all of that and instead focus on the question of ‘why’ hundreds of billions of dollars in equipment, training and expertise hasn’t gotten us anywhere versus the insurgency. Books have been written on this topic, many in fact, because Vietnam presented the exact same situation and provoked the same lame excuses from those in charge. I’m going to sum it up for you in one paragraph…
One ring, two fighters. The insurgency has great footwork, speed, and despite lacking that one punch that can turn the entire fight around, it’s jab is constant and damaging over time. The US military is slower to react, often chasing it’s opponent around the ring, launching haymakers that hardly ever land, yet always draw a positive response from the crowd. Over time the wear and tear shows, and even though the judges’ scorecards are unanimous, the beast continues to stand up and fight the next round.
Lots of fighters never know when to throw in the towell, and unfortunately for them, often times their speech patterns remain altered forever. The body never knows when to stop, but the brain has been sending it signals for years already.
(Not the best one to date – but I’m getting over a case of food poisoning – I suspect Taco Bell is responsible)
Chris:
You know what upsets me most about Iraq?
That I didn’t buy shares of Halliburton when they were in the toilet 😉
In all seriousness, what gets me the most is that I (and my children) will be required to pay for the war and the reconstruction (pretty selfish eh?). I have no love (nor hatred) for Iraqis. I pity them and their situation. I don’t know what the fix is. Hopefully things will work out, it’s up to the Iraqis at this point. I was never in favor of going over there given the reasons at the time. It’s very hard to tell how things are going from the daily reports from the Green Zone. My gut tells me it ain’t good.
Chris makes an excellent analogy. I don’t want to denigrate or label all of my American bretheren, but quite a few are fat and soft. Since when did a 2,000 sq ft house become the standard?
As for the baby boomers, lucky for them. They are going to devour all of the resources then be dead.
Starting to sound like George Carlin was right about the baby boomers all along…
I compare the price of a house when my parents bought their first one with what Heather and I sifted through…it’s a joke that so many of these people on the backend are working so hard to screw over my generation.
The amount of money borrowed now does matter, whether it’s a boring thing to discuss or not. When I get into a political discussion with a baby boomer, typically it centers around illegal immigration or gay marriage…they’re bored stiff by any talk of the country’s fiscal situation. All they have to say is, ‘our taxes are too high’.
This selfish mechanism is what allows a crew of thieves like the Bush-Frist-Delay GOP win in spite of their inability to govern responsibly. Just get up on a podium and say, “AMERICA IS THE BEST! I’LL CUT YOUR TAXES! PRAISE JESUS!”
It works. Speak to pride and selfishness and you’ll win more elections. I just hope that when my generation is in their shoes, we do a better job with the money.
Well, I’ll admit that I’m a pretty greedy dude. I work two jobs, but I’m always trying to figure out how to get more (bigger house, more invested, etc.). I’ve definitely noticed this more in myself since the kid arrived.
I posted over at Washington’s blog that I thought it would be good to run the federal government budget like we do municipality budgets. Have spending on the ballots. If people want to fund the EPA, then let them check a box that identifies what level they want to spend on it. Same goes for every other category of government spending. You’d have to group some categories together for brevity sake.
Thoughts?
No brainer, emotions trump facts any day of the week.