The hawks in the GOP are at it again. John McCain and presidential wannabee Lindsey Graham are campaigning for ‘boots on the ground’ in Syria, and once again in Iraq. They want to send 20,000 of our finest young men and women into harm’s way and sacrifice them for their misguided goals.

Let’s take a look how that might work.

It wouldn’t affect McCain or Graham; they wouldn’t be fighting for survival. It would not affect the wealthiest Americans; their children do not enlist in the military. It would result in increased profit for those invested in the military industrial complex; it’s always ‘follow the money.’

America has not fared well in past military actions. The best we have done since WWII was in Korea which resulted in a stalemate.

The roots of the war in Vietnam began decades before the United States began sending large numbers of troops to support South Vietnam in the mid 1960’s. With the ‘draft’ still in effect, there was no shortage of young men to send to their deaths. In 1973 our government deserted those we supported in a cowardly retreat. The total deaths of Americans tallied 58,220. The failed war cost the American people billions of dollars and divided our nation.

The ‘cold war’ continued, but the United States did not become involved in large numbers until late 1990 when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded the neighboring country of Kuwait. With the support of the Arab nation, the United Nations, and the American people, 500,000 troops supported by aircraft and tanks removed Hussein’s troops in February 1991, but left Hussein himself in power in Iraq. The very short ‘war’ was considered a success because diplomacy had cleared a path for its success. 293 U.S. military were lost.

When Al Qaeda attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, the American people supported our president’s claim that we would avenge the innocents who lost their lives on that day. Intelligence agencies pointed to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as the root of the attacks. He was believed to be in Afghanistan. On October 7^th American troops landed on Afghan soil; thousands remain there today, although the official end came in 2014. Although Bush claimed that the purpose of American involvement was to capture or kill bin Laden, he never achieved that goal.

America lost 2,224 men and women in our nation’s longest war. The Taliban, who became our enemy on the ground, remain in power today.

In 2003 President Bush told Congress and the nation that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was harboring Al Qaeda and constructing ‘weapons of mass destruction’ to be used against our nation.

On March 20 the invasion of Iraq began. As our troops spread throughout the nation no WMD’s were found; it was all a manufactured tale by the Bush Administration.

When President Obama officially ended the war on September 30, 2010, at least 4,486 of America’s finest had lost their lives. Total deaths during the war, military and civilian, reached more than 500,000. When post war operations end, the cost of the two wars will reach approximately six trillion dollars.

We left Iraq in a far worse situation than before the invasion. Hussein’s Sunni government was replaced with Shiites. Today a civil war exists within the nation and the rise of ISIS is a direct result of that upheaval. The terrorist group continues to wage war in Syria, and now controls portions of Northern Iraq.

McCain and Graham want to engage our nation in another Middle East war. I have a couple of questions for them; if we can’t win wars away from our own shore, why do we fight them? Is it merely a video game for the two of you? Our military have no training to fight these new age wars; why do you want to see them die once more for no reason?

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

Source

Photo Courtesy of US Embassy Kabul Afghanistan

Author’s Page http://www.amazon.com/By-James-turnage/e/B00LOCJ2Z2