Wasting Lives and Making Enemies

Mosul

So yesterday it was reported that “insurgents” in Iraq had seized control of Mosul – Iraq’s second largest city. They had already occupied Ramadi and Fallujah, two places where Americans died ousting the “insurgents” in the first place.

The U.S. trained “Iraqi Army” it was reported, threw down their weapons and fled in the face of determined “insurgent” attacks.

Did anyone notice or are we too busy crucifying Bergdahl as a “traitor” for seeing the truth?

America has been at war since Vietnam. If not troops on the ground, then proxies, black ops, major and minor fights, air strikes, interventions, covert actions. Other than beating the stuffing out of the opposition in Granada and Panama not a one has been “successful”.

Iraq and Afghanistan are failures, after thousands of American casualties and distroyed lives, the deaths of thousands more innocent Muslims and untold trillions in treasure. The outcomes could have been nothing else – for these wars were unwinnable from the beginning. Hey, I’m just an old retired guy – what do I know?

Are there fewer “terrorists” than there were after 9/11? Today al-Qaeda affiliates operate in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and vast swathes of Africa. Our occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan earned us nothing but new enemies.

Though we lead the world in military spending and bringing new technology to the battlefield, never losing a battle, war American Style has not brought us “victory” or peace. We haven’t won a war since World War II.

You would think we would learn the lessons – war doesn’t work; it doesn’t solve problems; it is always destabilizing and our military can’t win these wars.

We begin and continue deluding ourselves. We have done nothing wrong.  We are innocent.  We are an exceptional people. We are the “good guys”. We think like modern day Romans. We can remake the world in our own image and the world will be better for it.

Who are these “Iraqi insurgents”?

They are Sunni Islamists – fighting for control against the Shia government in Bagdad. They have been fighting each other for thirteen hundred years. Think Catholics vs. Protestants.

They are a spillover from the Syrian war – again between Sunni Islamists and the Alawite dominated government of Bashir Assad. The Alawites are a sect of the Shia as well.

Our unwarranted attack on Iraq demolished the Iraqi Army, killed Saddam and set off a struggle between the Shia, supported by Iran, the Sunni supported by the Saudis and the Kurds, who simply want their own country and want to be left alone.

Our Arab middle-eastern allies include Kings, Princes, Emirs, Potentates and assorted “royals” all of whom want only to run their “countries” as family business, hold on to power and earn trillions. Doing so requires being nice to us and our oil interests while at the same time financing Sunni Islamists operating outside of their own countries and in countries where dictators previously kept a boot on the neck of the religious extremists. Nice way to export terror.

Libya fell, Ghadaffi was killed and what have we got? A powerless central government and vast areas of the country now run by Islamist militias. Did we expect a Jeffersonian democracy?

In Syria the war goes on with the “insurgents” funded among others by our good friends the Saudis and the Gulf states while Assad is supported by the Iranians.   It is obvious that the Islamists are playing a significant roll in the insurgency. We are still looking for the “moderates”.

Afghanistan is supposed to hold an election shortly to pick a new President. There was an attempt on the life of the favorite just last week. They still stone women. I figure a year after we leave the Taliban will be running the country again. They just need to wait ‘till we go home.

In Karachi, Pakistan there was an “insurgent” attack on the Jinnah International Airport (been there many times)  leaving 36 dead including the “insurgents” – being too friendly with us is not good for a nation’s health these days. They too stone women.

Meanwhile we get the cross and nails ready for the disillusioned Bergdahl – who like hundreds of thousands of others joined the Army because his family was poor and he had little other choice. He believed the “be all you can be” BS  until he saw with his own eyes.

We should be ashamed of ourselves.