'Succeeding'? Succeeding at what?
News-Ledger column/opinion
Copyright News-Ledger LLC
Sept. 24, 2008
By Daryl Fisher
In this season of presidential politics, I really don’t have much of a problem with politicians constantly telling us half-truths which often border on lies. I mean, that is the way the game is played nowadays and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to change anytime soon. Sadly, I guess, I have just kind of learned to accept it as part of the price which has to be paid for free speech in a land which cherishes that right above all others. I just count my blessings that California is never really in play in a presidential year and therefore the vast majority of the really nasty television ads which have no interest in the truth whatsoever end up in traditional swing states like Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Florida.
“Going negative”, which almost demands that the truth be put on the back-burner, apparently works – at least to the extent that it seems to help politicians get elected. It of course doesn’t make for a more informed electorate and a better country, but when push comes to shove, that doesn’t seem to worry politicians all that much. So whether you hear them in political commercials, or in stump speeches, or during a televised debate, half-truths and downright lies are just part of the American political landscape nowadays, and I can put up with just about all of them, with one little exception.
When politicians go around trying to tell the voters of this nation that we are now succeeding in Iraq, I have a very simple question for them: Succeeding at what?
In reality, we have succeeded in sacrificing the precious lives of more than 4,000 young American men and women (4,168 to be specific) in a war that never had anything whatsoever to do with our own national security – an “elective war” that should never have been authorized or fought in the first place.
We have succeeded in filling up our already overflowing veterans’ hospitals with tens of thousands of wounded American soldiers, many of whom have injuries so horrific that their lives (and the lives of their families) will never be the same again.
We have succeeded in squandering away hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars (many argue the final cost will actually be in the trillions of dollars) on a faraway country whose leaders and citizens (the vast majority of them anyway) want us gone as soon as humanly possible. And just think of what we could have done with all that money if we had spent it wisely here at home. We could have made social security solvent for the next hundred years, or provided universal health care for all of our citizens, or made huge improvements to our country’s infrastructure, our schools, and our environment – and the list goes on and on.
We have succeeded in trashing our military to the point where it will be many years before it is properly equipped again and fully capable of projecting the kind of U.S. military might that existed before the incredibly poorly thought out decision was made to invade Iraq. And if you think the military equipment needed by our Army and Marines is in bad shape, you won’t believe what this war has done to National Guard units throughout the land.
We have succeeded in stressing our all-volunteer armed forces to the breaking point with many of our soldiers now on their second, third and fourth tours of service in Iraq. For those who have never been in combat before (George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condi Rice come to mind) there is little real understanding of the tremendous mental demands made on young men and women who have to return over and over again to a war zone, and no one should be surprised that so many of them are coming home with serious mental problems that our current VA system is woefully inadequate to handle.
We have succeeded in creating millions of Iraqi refugees and been complicit in the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, many of them women and children, who had no vote when American politicians of both parties decided it was in the best interest of all Iraqis that we invade their country.
We have succeeded in encouraging our enemies and discouraging our allies, both of whom have carefully noted the incompetent way in which the war in Iraq has been waged.
We have succeeded in making Iran the most powerful player in the region, a reality which will no doubt cause future American presidents and administrations many a sleepless night.
We have succeeded in losing our moral leadership in the world and given our enemies a propaganda windfall that has only led to the recruitment of more idiots who wish to do us harm.
We have succeeded in taking our eyes off of the war in Afghanistan, a war that actually did make sense to wage, and the price for doing that (in both American lives and treasure) is going to be tragic in the months and years to come.
And when we finally do declare victory and depart Iraq, we will have succeeded in leaving behind a government that is much more influenced by Iran and our enemies than by us, and the so-called surge will have only postponed the civil war which Iraq will ultimately need to have to decide its own political fate.
If we are “succeeding” in Iraq, then God help us if that is the template we use in future conflicts.
Return to 'Some Recent Articles'