Now comes our hapless president with a request for $150 billion more to pay for his reckless decision to wage a preventive war, not one that posed any threat to America, but one that in fact safeguards the international oil cartel's interest. And the equally hapless Democrats will approve the request, with no meaningful conditions, out of a mindless fear that to do otherwise would signal that they do not "support our troops."
Unspoken, perhaps beyond understanding, is the real financial effect of how much the Iraq tragedy is costing us taxpayers, current and especially far into the future. There are the real wounds of all those mangled kids, casualties no longer the stuff of front page news, but at least they can be counted.
But what about the "invisible" wounds that may not be identified immediately?--General Patton notwithstanding. Every war produces that kind of wound, of course, often not known by those inflicted until later, sometimes not until much later. (I speak from personal experience as a WWII combat vet...recently, I find myself recoiling from sudden noises; I don't remember having done this before).
The Iraq war is far different compared with our nation's previous wars. Where the hell is the enemy? Who is he? Is it that kid sitting on a rooftop, hand-signalling to an angry bastard somewhere so he can radio the IED to be activated as my patrol passes? What about that junk of a car on the side of the road? Or that car rapidly coming up behind? Or the car suddenly too close to my Hummer? The corpse of an Iraqi or even one of ours lying by the road? Could anybody so sick as to boobytrap a dead guy?
Try to imagine the frame of mind of a soldier on one of his many patrols--but especially one on his second, third or fourth tour of duty--as he scans the road, always wondering whether he'll get back safely after this, one of more seemingly never-ending patrols. Except for the inevitable few psychos, our guys are not triggerhappy. They simply can't be sure who wants to harm them. And so the stress keeps building up. The "rules of engagement" can never deal with all contingencies, and certainly not for those split-second decisions that need to be made when and if the soldier senses that his life, or that of his comrade, is in danger.
Getting back to the soldier...
Try to imagine the compounding effect of repeated patrols on a typical soldier...there's a "tipping point" in combat, again, speaking from personal experience, it doesn't happen right away; it creeps up on you.
Bush will surely come up with more requests for more billions before his disastrous term comes to an end, and so will the next president, and the one after her. We're now saddled for ever with the need for an armed presence in the Middle East.
"You broke it, you pay for it" is the hard rule we're going to have to observe, with no end in sight-- for the harm we've done to the Iraq economy, to the health of the citizenry, to their welfare. How do you calculate the costs of the towering anger of Iraqis about their "Occupation"? Or, the anger and suspicions of other Middle Easterners toward America, now more than ever "The Great Satan"?
Have we voters learned anything, including those who don't vote?
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