The Tragedy of the American Military

The Atlantic ^ | by James Fallows

[Alberta's Child]

In the case of Iraq, whose freedom was at stake?

[Trailerpark Badass]

The main problem I see is that we failed to consider Iran’s actions, by facilitating IED attacks on our troops, an act of war and go straight to Tehran. I guess I am too stupid to understand geopolitics.

[ansel12]

If you think there is some deep meaning to it, what are you thinking?

[P-Marlowe]

Fallows gets it wrong. We won Iraq.

If the mission had been named Operation Kick Saddam Hussein's but out of Iraq, then we won achieved that victory.

But George Bush named it "Operation Iraqi Freedom." We never came close to achieving that end. You can't teach Muslims to act like civilized human beings. The only way to achieve Iraqi Freedom is to convert the majority of the people of Iraq to Christianity or Judaism. Instead of trying to convert these people, we allowed the new government to institute Sharia Law and call themselves an Islamic Republic. Then our own military ordered Bibles to be burned so as not to offend these animals.

We lost Iraq and Afghanistan for the same reasons. We never went there to win.

[ansel12]

Secondly, advances in military technology have changed the face of military campaigns completely. During World War II the U.S. had 12 million people serving in the military. That was about 10% of the U.S. population.

Huh? It's the size of the war that dictates manpower need, not the technology, we will be facing a big war again someday.

[Alberta's Child]

I agree with you. The U.S. military campaign in Iraq officially became a farce -- and a tragic waste of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars -- when the U.S. allowed the new government to adopt a constitution in which Islam is enshrined as the official state religion.

Oh, yeah ... that'll work. That's like putting the Third Reich back in charge of Germany after World War II, isn't it?

[Alberta's Child]

You must be kidding me.

How do you measure "the size of the war?"

I can assure you that the U.S. -- or anyone else, for that matter -- will never fight a war involving a military campaign comparable to the invasion of Normandy. Unless maybe we get sent back to the Stone Age and start history all over again, I guess.

[ConorMacNessa]

I beg to differ, Army Bro - we won that one fair and square - Uncle Walter visited during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and soiled himself at what he saw. That vignette formed the conventional wisdom as to what happened in Vietnam.

We were kicking ass and taking names when I was medevacked out in 1969, we won every major battle in the field throughout the war, and, but for the the machinations of certain people, like John F'n Kerry, South Vietnam would still be a free and productive nation.

The blood of those who died there defending their freedom, the blood of those who died after after the North's takeover, and the blood of those who died in the water trying to escape afterwards is on his hands.

Many of those who survived have become stalwart American citizens and serve today in our Armed Forces. God Bless them! They do us proud, and shame those in this land who betrayed them!



"Nemo me impune lacessit!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[sparklite2]

It has been said that after 9/11/2001 the United States Military went to "war" and the United States went to Wal Mart.

Don't blame us. President Bush said we should go shopping.

[PROCON]

I know Navy Bro, but I just get so damn emotional when this shit comes up.

You and I know we won, we just had our hands tied.

Onward to 2015!

[rlmorel]

Like a lot of Americans, when the Vietnam War ended, I just shut up. I let the liberals control the dialogue. When they said the things about our troops, some of the same things I hear even on Free Republic, I didn’t say anything.

To my shame, and the shame of many of my countrymen, we sat and did nothing while their effort, their mission, and their blood was slandered.

To my shame, I said nothing.

I came to a decision that I was not going to let that happen again. I was not going to allow honorable, hard-working, and dedicated men get slandered and abused for doing what their country had asked them to do.

No more Vietnams, but not in the way the Liberals mean it.

Every single man who lost his youth, his blood, or his life in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as every one who lost his life in some corner of the world during the Cold War, died for something. They MEANT something, and what they were doing was important and necessary. Not every man who dies in the service of his country dies doing something important, significant or specifically meaningful.

But they all died for the same principle: Freedom is not Free. It takes money, treasure, and often blood to be strong, watchful and prepared, sometimes lots of all three.

Weakness invites aggression.

Those men who died in Iraq and Afghanistan ultimately died of perception of weakness and a lack of readiness. No thinking person can imagine we would have ended up in Iraq and Afghanistan if there had been no 9/11. It would never have happened. But 9/11 did happen, and all the deaths, injuries and trauma suffered by our troops happened because we had to answer force with force.

9/11 was not another Pearl Harbor, it was terrorism. But I guarantee, the weakness and dissolution displayed by liberal democrats in power is inviting our enemies to attack us, and they will. ISIS, Al Queda or whomever may be composed of 7th century savages, ignoramuses who can’t operate machinery, indoor plumbing, or whatever, but there is one specific thing they are very good at, and that is spotting weakness.

And we have been displaying it in spades since George W. Bush left office. He may have been lacking in a lot of conservative respects, but our enemies weren’t perceiving him as an indecisive weakling, and he wasn’t acting the part. That isn’t the case with the current administration.

So, those men who died fighting, died because they are the ones manning the parapets. They have done it night and day for us, all over the world. Their family life suffers. They don’t get great pay. It is dangerous work, even in peacetime. But they have signed up and gone out and done it.

THAT means something, and people who don’t see that and disparage them and their mission, they are the worst. They reap the benefits without imparting the necessary and deserved moral subscription to those who serve.

THAT is shameful.

[logitech]

The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win.

This is the argument of tyrants.

[ansel12]

So you think that large wars are over and that we can defeat China and fight on multiple fronts, perhaps in Europe or North Korea with technology and to heck with manpower and troops?

[Timber Rattler]

The author of this article, James Fallows, is an admitted liar and a draft dodger, who is obsessed with class warfare and built his writing career upon attacking the military institutions he so despises.

He was also Jimmy Carter's chief speechwriter and a policy hack in the Clinton administration.

'nuff said.

James Fallows on the Draft

[PROCON]

Well said FRiend!

[rlmorel]

You aren’t too stupid to understand geopolitics to some degree, as we all should. In this you are correct. But the situation should never have involved Iran while our troops were over there.

We should have gone to war with Iran in 1979. Those liberal policies from 1960’s radicals and the ineptitude and weakness of the Carter Administration are what laid the groundwork for what we see today.

And we should have laid into the North Koreans as well for the USS Pueblo, not to mention the soliders and aviators murdered by them over the years.

The failure to act did, and does, have consequences.

[huldah1776]

My brother died in Nam and I don’t think I would have wanted anyone at his funeral only because they were drafted. They should have to go see the active duty guys 2 days before deployment.

[rlmorel]

Well said indeed, my friend.

Thanks again for your service, and a Happy New Year to you.

[ConorMacNessa]

I am with you, Brother, now, then and always!

We will never give in, we will never surrender, whatever happens! We are American fighting men, and though old and not so strong as we were in earlier days, we know yet what we stood for then and will stand again now!



"Nemo me impune lacessit!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Alberta's Child]

Large wars have become pointless and expensive.

The U.S. will never fight a war against China, just as we never fought a war against the Soviet Union.

The U.S. will lose those wars before they ever start, because our enemies will simply make their way into the highest reaches of the U.S. government. Where do you think Barack Hussein Obama came from?