Carpenters In The Forehead/  Out Of Sight & Out Of Mind:

Does Anyone Recall That We Have Two Wars Going On Simultaneously?

"If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem." — George W. Bush, Jan. 2001.

It is a rare occasion that I would agree with anything that George Bush said, but the above quote hits the nail direct-whammo on the head for me.

Rather than sticking by his claim of not doing nation-building, however, he careened full-speed ahead and proceeded to do just the opposite.  So here we are seven and nine years later, still fighting in and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, determined that we are going to change their societies and re-build their civil infrastructure from the ground up.  Hooray for our hubris galore!

Lately, however, it puts me in a funk when I contemplate the expenditures of our national resources that result from this foreign policy mentality.  As long as the number killed are kept to an acceptable minimum and the news coverage is relegated to only a few columns in the back pages, we can conveniently forget about the sacrifices and costs to us as a nation.  What tends to hold our attention is determined to a considerable degree by the news media, for they are ones who decide what issues are important to cover and the amount of exposure that is given.  As a result there is no longer detailed reporting coming out of the war zones, and our resource-draining, seemingly endless wars are off the screen.  Out of sight and out of mind.

For now we are all focused elsewhere, unable to avert our gaze from the newest disaster that is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.  It distresses us all, and who doesn’t feel a little choked-up when seeing those heart-wrenching pictures of beautiful animals drenching in oil.  The attention of the public is riveted on these images, and their concern is legitimate, but somehow, somewhere along the line, I have to question why at the same time we have reached a point of barely acknowledging two wars that have killed thousands of people and cost a trillion dollars.

Ah, a trillion dollars!  And that’s just a low-ball, conservative estimate.  (Remember pre-war, when the Pentagon said that it would cost probably no more than $20 billion?  And that Iraq would pay for its own reconstruction from oil revenue?)  The trillion that we have spent thus-far doesn’t include future veteran’s health care and disability payments, which are expected to be at a minimum another $250 billion.  Throw in the pot a paltry $100 billion for replacing worn-out military equipment, stir it all around, and what have you got?   Way more than enough to provide for universal health insurance in our country for the next ten years, and still have goo-gobs left over, unless you happen to believe that two mind-less wars are of more worth than the health care of our own citizens.

One of the many reasons I voted for President Obama was that I believed he would be able to see the morass of these two untenable wars and bring them to a conclusion in rather short order.  Instead, plans for withdrawal are dragging on into the indeterminate future, and all reports indicate scant progress.  Elections were completed in Iraq three months ago and there is still no president or prime minister, sectarian violence is on the rise, and a formula for sharing of oil revenues still looms only on the horizon.  Mundane things like electricity are still sorely lacking.

The situation in Afghanistan appears to be even worse.  Corruption is rampant, security in Taliban strongholds is still absent, and our only progress seems to come by way of hordes of money being doled out to local militias whose loyalty belongs to the highest bidder.

And to top it all off, the Taliban is allowed to thrive in the so-called “lawless tribal areas” of Pakistan, untouched by the Pakistani military that we support with billions of dollars, and even worse, supported by the efforts of the Pakistani secret services.

In both Iraq and Afghanistan we are viewed as despised occupiers, and in reality, all of our talk about democracy and reformed government goes in one ear and out the other.  We have become nothing more than pawns in each country’s power struggles and my vision is of Muslim power-brokers snickering behinds our backs, all the while realizing that we are being duped and relegated to the sidelines.

In spite of our efforts in bringing a democratic society to cultures that are inculcated in dysfunction, it is long past the time to recognize that it is only in rare instances that outside forces are able to impose their values on others.  Attitudes take generations to change, and it is no longer in our national interest to continue the same failed policies when faced with the outrageous cost to our own country.  Trillions of dollars and thousands of lives gone down the drain, and the end result is going to be nothing to show for it.  Call it Vietnam redux.

At this point in time perhaps it would be worthwhile to examine why we continue to drag out our withdrawal from Iraq or Afghanistan.  In retrospect, few people would disagree that the invasion of Iraq was anything but a misguided effort based on lies and deception by the Bush administration. We owed the Iraqis an opportunity to fix what we broke, but seven years is more than enough time for Iraq to get its house in order, and we have reached a breaking point where an accelerated departure from this war-ravaged country is more than justified.

Attacking Al-Qaeda and their Taliban supporters in Afghanistan was certainly justified after the massacres of the World Trade Centers, but what are we to gain nine years later, when the terrorist leaders are dispersed and operating out of many different countries.  Using similar logic would lead one to approve invading and occupying Somalia, Yemen, the northwestern territory of Pakistan, even Saudi Arabia and Iran.

We need to protect ourselves from terrorist threats and attacks, but not at the expense of  occupying and controlling many countries for many generations.  Promotion of democracy should always be one of our primary foreign policy goals, but it need not, and cannot, be enforced from offices in Foggy Bottom or the Pentagon.

Our precious resources are being wasted and we must put a stop to it. It is time to reschedule our withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan; it is time to make a commitment to bring the troops home sooner, rather than later.