"2nd Tour, Hope I Don't Die"

I think I'd be a lot more impressed with the quality and content of journalism regarding the war, if it focused more on what seem to be the core driving forces of the war, drugs, and oil.

It's been reported that one of the biggest crops in Afghanistan is...opium poppies. Why grow those? Because you can make heroin out of them. Heroin, which is later sold in Europe, and in the United States.

Iraq, as we know, is a nation that is reputed to be wealthy beyond dreams, basically, due to large proven oil reserves. And, we, as a country, are most definitely a bunch of oil junkies, whether we realize it or not. More to the point, our industries, and our military itself, are oil junkies. The rest of us are more or less along for the ride, but since we're car-dependent, we're oil dependent, and the 'pushers' are people like the domestic oil companies, who are realizing a pretty solid street price for their product, as well as the overseas providers, OPEC, and so forth.

I think rather than shooting up the place, which is sort of exciting, but also kind of counterproductive, we should be looking more at expending our tax revenues in directions that'll basically immunize the United States, and hence, other countries, from the deleterious influence of such types of business. Opium's been around for a long, long time, and China's been dealing with it for about that long, because China's a pretty old country, and they've probably written volumes about it. Time for the reading circle, there. Another thing China's had for a while have been bicycles, which are catching on in popularity here in the US, due to our oil habit, which is something that threatens to just about bankrupt this country. Yes, it's that bad.

In other words, conservation, education, synfuels and medical research are sort of the marching orders for the day, as well as good oversight of all aspects of our military abroad, to ensure we aren't just sort of emulating the British empire there.

That's another good topic, for another piece, empire-building. We've got domestic empire builders, with ambitions overseas, and no reservations about closing down US companies, boxing them up in shipping containers, and carting them off to the middle east. Laws tend to be somewhat different in asian countries, and more and more people are moving in that general direction, apparently. This isn't necessarily bad, but it is a trend worthy of note, because modernization also tends to carry with it the foundation for education, and knowledge is power in dealing with various forms of evil, including drugs, both production and distribution, as well as dependency, and reliance on outmoded forms of energy that results in monies being deposited into the hands of bad actors around the world.

So, the fight isn't limited to 'joe' in the trenches, so to speak. The larger fight is against the fall of night, so to speak, against the capacity of entities 'round the world to perpetrate various nefarious and underhanded forms of commerce with intentions unclear, but likely related to some type of criminal activity, and government is sort of a nasty fact of life that's been with us for centuries, and isn't really likely to go away anytime soon, and right now, our government is trying to bring civilization to remote parts of the world at great peril and expense. With any luck at all, it won't all be in vain, and there'll be some tangible benefit from it to the peoples of those countries, as well as here at home. But, like the man said, the road to the Hot Place is paved with good intentions, and if we aren't careful, we could end up in the poorhouse or worse, and by all accounts, we've got one foot in the door as it is. Sooo...stay tuned for the next exciting chapter...
Klaatu marachas necktie

What the USA is doing in Iraq and Afg. is not a "war" in the traditional sense, since there is nothing to be won. We are desperatly trying to project military police power to influence local politics. No different then the UN should be doing if it were not poorly constructed. The United States has decided both WW1 and WW2. It can not so easily escape being a super-power and the only VIABLE police in the world. The possible solutions are all very imperfect. Before the readrs misunderstand, I do not agree that our military power has been properly utilized. These actions haver become for-profit ventures by powerful defense suppliers. We therefore are olny slightly more functional then the UN. Very,very tragic.
But its not so simple just to say that "war is bad". Tyranny is also bad. The image that sticks in my mind is a video of Saddam speaking before a group of Baath party loyalists. While he is speaking, goon squads are grabbing inner-party members, dragging them outside and then unmistakable gunshots are herd. What is bersek about the scene is that one after the other, the people being selected for death continue applauding Saddam WHILE THEY ARE BING DRAGGED OUTSIDE TO DIE.
As for the poster who made the point that Christianity is not peaceful:
It is peaceful if strictly observed, which almost no Christains actually do. The few quotes provided are insufficient to overwhelm the whaterfall of quotes not listed, which depict the faith as generally forgiving, tolerant and docile. Plus, the few quotes listed are outr of context. For example, to the Jews of the first century-CE (including Jesus) the "Kingdom of God" had a specific meaning. They believed that God's power would project on earth (like in Moses' day) to rid the world of evil. Thus, the supernatural would do the battle and the early "Christians" needed not lift a sword. Only a spiritual one was required and that is what is being referenced.
Plus,what has survived as N.T. is a Roman sanitized version of the original Aramaic scripts. Given the emmense brutality of the Romans, it is miraculous that the N.T. is not 1000 times more war-mongering.

Buddy
Let's see: The Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, The French and Indian War, The Civil War, The Mexican War, The Genocidal War Against Native Indians, The Spanish American War, The Filipino War of Independence, WW1, WW2, The Korean War (Orwelian New Speak 'Police Action'), The Vietnam War, Somalia, Bosnia, Lebenan, Grenada, The Cold War, The War on Terror, The First Gulf War, The Second Gulf War, The War in Afganistan, There's no doubt a few I might have missed, but the list makes its own point.
I, for one, will never believe our vast military presence in The Middle East has anything to do with terrorism, nation building, Al Quida or quaint ideas about democracy. It is all about the OIL, The Whole OIL and NOTHING but the OIL!
Someone mentioned to me several months ago that even BEFORE the First Gulf War the money that we were spending to maintain a huge military presence in the Gulf Region exceeds the net value of the OIL we import from that region.
The 9/11 murderers were from Saudi Arabia. They learned their astonishing hatred for the west from Saudi Mullas preaching hate in the Mosques of that country. So, we invade Iraq. Sounds logical to me: why incinerate Saudia Arabia before we squeeze the last drop of OIL from there.
Even George W., whether you like him or not, told the nation during an address before both houses that America is dangerously dependant on foreign OIL well duh.
Americans have been dining on ridiculously under-priced gas for many decades. European countries, along with Canada and a few others, have been paying prices more commensurate with the true value of the commodity.
In my opinion the LAST thing we need here in America is more OIL. Quadrupling the fed tax on gas would instantaneously drive green energy investment here at home. Political Suicide, but we're running out of time and money to finance the wars we're fighting to enforce our gluttony for a substance that is killing the planet and everyone on it. We are at a momentous turning point in our OIL-DRIVEN culture. It's just flat out not working.
Another thing, the wars I opened this post with gave me pause; it seems to me that every single generation of our youth have had their very own war to fight and die in.
America, I'm told, spends nearly as much money on the military than nearly EVERY OTHER NATION ON EARTH COMBINED. Think about that for a moment and see if it gives you a similar disquieting feeling.
Is Israel our 51st. state now? Perhaps some of you agree with me that we need to STOP our foreign adventurisms. No wonder a Billion Muslims hate us. Maybe we Americans would feel the same way if our country was occupied by invaders to help us figure out how to run our country. Meanwhile the aerial drones are raining down Hellfire missiles indiscriminately on combatants and civilians alike; people who want nothing more than to live in peace.
For the budget busting trillions of dollars we've poured down the toilet trying to kill people we could have given every Muslim on Earth a million dollars, or spent these gargantuan sums of money on us, the ordinary American who mainly wants what most people want: nutricious food, safety, universal health care, education and a better life for our kids.
It appears to me that our country is continually either fighting a war (or 2 or3) or making preparations for the next war our youth will be fighting in.
Sad Actually