The Neverending War

With the recent announcement by President Obama of expansion of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan we face another long and difficult course. Did none of our leaders learn anything from Iraq, Vietnam or other past wars? Why do we have to continue to repeat our history these days? Where is the change we were promised in November '08?

Tom Engelhardt in a pointed posting yesterday hits hard at the new direction to a failing course.

After all, the U.S. seems to be in the process of trading in a limited war in a mountainous, poverty-stricken country of 27 million people for one in an advanced nation of 167 million, with a crumbling economy, rising extremism, advancing corruption, and a large military armed with nuclear weapons. Worse yet, the war in Pakistan seems to be expanding inexorably (and in tandem with American war planning) from the tribal borderlands ever closer to the heart of the country.

The economic consequences of continued militarism around the world are overwhelming and may not be well understood today.

Unlike with A.I.G., where the financial inputs of the U.S. government are at least announced, we don't even have a ballpark figure for how much is actually involved right now, but it's bound to be staggering. Just supporting those 17,000 new American troops already ordered into Afghanistan, many destined to be dispatched to still-to-be-built bases and outposts in the embattled southern and eastern parts of the country for which all materials must be trucked in, will certainly cost billions.

How long will we Americans continue to allow our government to pursue these failing wars in our names? We must find ways to resolve the world's problems without resorting to violence and military force in every instance. No part of the world can long sustain the current course without collapse in the end.

Peace.