Pre-emptive Politics

We are told that war is an extension of politics. George W. Bush decided that the bluster and posturing of Saddam Hussein and potential threat of weapons of mass distraction were enough to justify a pre-emptive war. It was just a few weeks into the fray when we found that Saddam Hussein was a pussycat with no teeth, his armed forces were equipped with old and worn out weapons, there were no significant chemical weapons in Iraq, and the potential nuclear threat did not exist. All of the reasons President Bush considered a threat were false. Paper Tigers at best. Little Israel could have put Iraq out of business without raising a sweat. So we went to war with Iraq and then proceeded to thoroughly mis-manage the effort. Why? Did we not learn anything from Korea or Viet Nam? 

Since WWII America has adopted two ridiculous war axioms: 

• We can not use our vast superiority in man power, technology, or weaponry because innocent civilians might get hurt. 

• When we do damage to an enemy country it is our responsibility to rebuild and restore it to it's former condition.

In the case of Iraq at the time we declared war their military forces were weak and ill equipped. They had few modern weapons, no high technology defensive weapons, and their military forces were tired. America, with it's vast military capabilities, could have erased what ever portion of the enemy necessary to destroy any threat to America - But doing so is no longer politically correct. Why?  After World War II we rebuilt Germany and Japan. Our enemies. We did virtually nothing to help our allies (England, France, Belgium and etc.) to recover. How does that make sense?

So now the war in Iraq has spilled over into Afghanistan, and then into Pakistan, and now includes all radical fundamentalist Muslims - everywhere. We have lost too many soldiers. (We have also repaired many soldiers that, with similar injuries in Viet Nam, would also have been lost). The Iraq war is turning into one of the cruelest military/political disasters in  American history.