Preface
AmericanPolitical decisions are often made for the wrong reasons. One decision, to go to war, is almost always the wrong thing to do. Years ago there was some merit in one country trying to protect it's property from another. Since the Korean war in the mid-1950's, America has gone to war several times without a clear purpose. There is a fault in our thinking. In Korea it was to resist the spread of Soviet style Communism. The Communist North threatened the non-Communist South. We were then still suffering withdrawal pains resulting from our efforts in World War II. We knew, somehow, that America should have entered that war sooner than we did. We waited until our allies were near exhaustion, and theoretically our late entry resulted in more death and damage than if we had acted sooner. So, we went to a "police action" to reinforce South Korea's resistance to the agression of Communism.
The Korean War went badly. America, sick and tired of war, refused to commit it's entire military might. We tried to fight with our shoelaces tied and a blindfold over our eyes. Our troops suffered badly because we refused to use all of our capability. It was a half hearted effort and the North-South dispute has never been resolved. Both sides simply quit fighting at the 39th parallel. There had been no carpet bombing (Dresden), no chemical warfare (France WWI), or no atomic bombs (Hiroshima). The Chinese reluctantly tip-toed into the "police action" in support of North Korea and our President Truman decided that a "truce"at the 39th parallel was in our best interest at the time. Essentially, the aggression of Communism was stopped, and we declared a troubled victory.
There was fighting in South East Asia. Communists were moving south from China. The French were trying to protect there national interests in the area. The French moved out and we moved in. Like Korea, no war was declared. Our involvement began and grew to become the Viet Namese War. Also, like Korea, it ended with a whimper. We declared another troubled victory - but we didn't really believe it.
Just a few years went by without America being involved in a major conflict. That time was filled with several minor contests that involved our military. Some of our troops died and we still don't know why.
Then Saddam Hussein led Iraq to attempt expanding his borders to include Kuwait. They announced their intention to disrupt or destroy the petrochemical industry developed in that part of the world. They quickly followed with the announced intention to "wipe Israel off the map", and to "exterminate the Jews". Our President then, George H.W. Bush, gathered our resources and took us to war with Iraq. Our purpose was to return harmony in Kuwait, push the Iraqi military back into Iraq, and to stop all Iraqi military action (scud missile bombardment) of Israel. We accomplished those tasks, declared victory, and withdrew almost all of our military forces from the general area.
We did not anticipate that the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, would continue to threaten other nations but he did. Despite crippling damages to the infrastructure in Iraq, and Iraq's military power, Saddam Hussein continued to bluster and bully and convince his government leaders to support his wild and aggressive actions. Iraq continued to threaten his neighbors. He sanctioned the use of chemical weapons on the Kurds within Iraq's borders, and again announced that the nation of Iraq "would erase Israel".
Faulty intelligence gathered by the England and America left no doubt about Saddam Hussein's intentions, but the intelligence failed to discover that Hussein did not have the weapons, skills, or manpower to accomplish his blustering threats. Our President, George W. Bush, re-opened the conflict with Iraq and America was at war again. Someday this war may be called "The Movable War". Saddam Hussein is gone, the Iraqi military is toothless, the civil conflict between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite populations has resumed, and the American presence in that far east arena is now fighting in Afghanistan. During this "movable war"there have been excursions into Libya, Syria and Pakistan. The focus at the moment appears to be Afghanistan.
Since 1900 American Military Dead
Just a few years went by without America being involved in a major conflict. That time was filled with several minor contests that involved our military. Some of our troops died and we still don't know why.
Then Saddam Hussein led Iraq to attempt expanding his borders to include Kuwait. They announced their intention to disrupt or destroy the petrochemical industry developed in that part of the world. They quickly followed with the announced intention to "wipe Israel off the map", and to "exterminate the Jews". Our President then, George H.W. Bush, gathered our resources and took us to war with Iraq. Our purpose was to return harmony in Kuwait, push the Iraqi military back into Iraq, and to stop all Iraqi military action (scud missile bombardment) of Israel. We accomplished those tasks, declared victory, and withdrew almost all of our military forces from the general area.
We did not anticipate that the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, would continue to threaten other nations but he did. Despite crippling damages to the infrastructure in Iraq, and Iraq's military power, Saddam Hussein continued to bluster and bully and convince his government leaders to support his wild and aggressive actions. Iraq continued to threaten his neighbors. He sanctioned the use of chemical weapons on the Kurds within Iraq's borders, and again announced that the nation of Iraq "would erase Israel".
Faulty intelligence gathered by the England and America left no doubt about Saddam Hussein's intentions, but the intelligence failed to discover that Hussein did not have the weapons, skills, or manpower to accomplish his blustering threats. Our President, George W. Bush, re-opened the conflict with Iraq and America was at war again. Someday this war may be called "The Movable War". Saddam Hussein is gone, the Iraqi military is toothless, the civil conflict between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite populations has resumed, and the American presence in that far east arena is now fighting in Afghanistan. During this "movable war"there have been excursions into Libya, Syria and Pakistan. The focus at the moment appears to be Afghanistan.
Since 1900 American Military Dead
World War I 1914-18 125,000
World War II 1937-46 405,000
Korea 1950-53 55,000
Viet Nam 1964-75 90,000 .
Iraq 1991- ? 4,000
679,000
Controlling Equality
My concern is that the entire world is heading hell bent for leather toward more wars. Why is it that the brightest minds on the planet continue to push us to self destruct. That's exactly where we are headed. For more than 100 years civilization has endured war after war. We've killed off the best parts of our societies and gained nothing. The adage suggests that we learn from our mistakes. Apparently "greed, jealousy, and puffed up egos make it necessary to kill our neighbors. What is preventing resolutions of differences? There's no way to avoid generalities. The overall reason for discontent is the striving for equality, and we have not come close to resolving the problem.
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