Arlington National Cemetery
I was thinking yesterday that it is possible that a young American female soldier could have conceived a child while serving in the army in Afghanistan, the child could have grown up there, enlisted in the army there, and been killed on a battleground there.
In a short time, our soldiers will be at war going on 19 years there. I am not a general, but from my limited perspective, I see a war that has been conducted in much the same way as the war in Vietnam. That did not turn out well and this war seems to be headed in the same direction.
In World War Two there was a set goal. The allies wanted to defeat Germany first to reclaim western Europe and return it to those allied countries. That was done. The next objective was to defeat Japan and that was done and along the way countries overtaken by Japan were returned to those people there. There was no territory retained by the USA.
In Iraq, the country was turned over after the defeat of Saddam's army to the Iraqi people, although we still have troops there to back up their government.
In Vietnam, we reclaimed territory at great losses in men and then let it go back to the north Vietnamese aggressors. We were in there for 10 years and 58,000 American lives. We left and the country was taken over by the aggressors from the north almost immediately. So what were we there for I ask?
In Afghanistan we have fought a similar situation to defeat bad guys for 19 years now and it ain't over yet. We take control of provinces and then pull out and they return to the bad guys control. There is, like Vietnam no way to win. If or whenever we leave the bad guys will regroup and take over again. So I ask again, why do we stay and lose more young men?
There is an excellent book by John Stienbeck, titled "The Moon is Down." It is about Nazi occupation in Norway in WW-2. An occupying army can only last so long before the people under occupation turns against them and slowly kills enough of the occupiers that they eventually leave and things return to whatever is normal for that country. It was true then and it is true now, Norway, Vietnam, Iraq and now Afghanistan. The only question is how long it will take.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
In a short time, our soldiers will be at war going on 19 years there. I am not a general, but from my limited perspective, I see a war that has been conducted in much the same way as the war in Vietnam. That did not turn out well and this war seems to be headed in the same direction.
In World War Two there was a set goal. The allies wanted to defeat Germany first to reclaim western Europe and return it to those allied countries. That was done. The next objective was to defeat Japan and that was done and along the way countries overtaken by Japan were returned to those people there. There was no territory retained by the USA.
In Iraq, the country was turned over after the defeat of Saddam's army to the Iraqi people, although we still have troops there to back up their government.
In Vietnam, we reclaimed territory at great losses in men and then let it go back to the north Vietnamese aggressors. We were in there for 10 years and 58,000 American lives. We left and the country was taken over by the aggressors from the north almost immediately. So what were we there for I ask?
In Afghanistan we have fought a similar situation to defeat bad guys for 19 years now and it ain't over yet. We take control of provinces and then pull out and they return to the bad guys control. There is, like Vietnam no way to win. If or whenever we leave the bad guys will regroup and take over again. So I ask again, why do we stay and lose more young men?
There is an excellent book by John Stienbeck, titled "The Moon is Down." It is about Nazi occupation in Norway in WW-2. An occupying army can only last so long before the people under occupation turns against them and slowly kills enough of the occupiers that they eventually leave and things return to whatever is normal for that country. It was true then and it is true now, Norway, Vietnam, Iraq and now Afghanistan. The only question is how long it will take.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
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