Iraq - Not about WMDs or Bush's Daddy

[Charles]

Originally Posted by finnbow

The cost of 9/11:

We created a vast security bureaucracy, encompassing some 1,200 government organizations, 1,900 private companies and 854,000 people with security clearances, according to a Washington Post investigation last year. We launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We organized counterterrorism operations in such far-flung places as the Philippines and Yemen, and we changed the culture of our military. We sharpened our focus on al-Qaeda and imitators. We spent, according to one estimate, some $3 trillion.

All this from the party of small government and fiscal responsibility.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...exJ_story.html

Ms. Applebaun does have a valid conclusion, although some of her premises, at least to me, appear to be superficial.

When one is faced with only undesirable options, any choice, or combination thereof, can inherently be classified as an undesirable choice.

Being critical is easy, even a Bugtussell hillbilly such as myself can do it.

Since the US of A is center stage, like it or not, I suppose we have no choice but to continue the act.

But after 10 years of this, I'd like to see someone coming up with a plan so we could take our ball and go home.

The United States may be the last and the greatest of the Superpowers, but even we don't possess the resources to invade and hold the likes of Afghanistan. I suppose we could turn the whole shithole into a glass parking lot, and as much as I don't much care what the rest of the world thinks of us, I find this to be a little over the top.

And while the United States has to remain engaged on a global scene, the question is to what extent?

Unfortunately, the United States is like a cross between the Starship Enterprise and Caesars Palace, with everyone on the bridge being a globalist and playing the one armed bandit at the same time, but without the benefit of a Spock to question if anyone is in the least bit rational.

Chas