If there is a purpose to life, you don't really know it.
But that's not what this is about. The Common Mistake my title refers to is believing that you can say today what the final outcome will be of America's Iraq Adventure.
Looking at it simply as a body count situation is way, way false. Death is cheap; death is what humans do best. America loses more innocent, we-didn't-sign-up-to-die people per minute than Iraq is costing us per day in people who DID sign up to die.
Critics fume that the Iraq deaths and dismemberments are 'wasted,' which is a horrid thing to say to the survivors. Because the critics, most of whom are politically, not morally, motivated can't know, now, what the future has in store for this American Adventure, which is where a final judgment might finally be made.
I'm pro-war. I think I'm simply recognizing that war is what humans do really well, both as art and as science. I believe that the quality of the minds engaged in promoting and preserving the arts & sciences of war are of a higher quality and capacity than the minds of those who want humans to forswear violence and apply for Kumbayan passports.
Answer me this: if mothers didn't want to lose their children to warfare, why do they, the world's mothers, allow war to exist?
My answer is that women like violent men.
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I don't mind war, IF you're protecting your nation or an ally. This particular war, however, should have been over approximately three minutes after Saddam Hussein fled Baghdad. It's been mismanaged, to say the least...
And, quite honestly, the argument that we lose more people in car accidents or whatever a day than we lose in Iraq is simply callous. One dead 19-year-old kid is one dead kid too many, no matter HOW he died. If we can prevent the death, be it by mandating seat belt laws in Idaho or declaring the war in Iraq over, it's our moral obligation to do so.
I don't feel that the lives lost thus far have been wasted - the soldiers were doing what we asked them to do, and they did it honorably and admirably. I simply feel that the war is over. We got Saddam. He's dead. We're done.
Great comment, Chris....!!!!
Well put...
Callousness exists because there's a place for it. Being overly callous might be a bad thing, but I submit that so is being overly sensitive.
Two people can easily differ on their definitions as to just how much sensitivity or callousness is appropriate,assuming either is ever appropriate in assessing the reality that is being human and alive.
But in the context of the Iraq Adventure (it certainly isn't much in the way of a war...) our national psyche is on display and everyone is busily speaking for "The American People" and announcing each individual opinion as if it were the way things should be.
Many people insist on using "Right" and "Wrong" in these discussions. I prefer "Is" and "Isn't" over the first two. People die. Discussing whether the deaths are right or wrong doesn't make interpersonal communication as easy as it could be, in comparison with discussing what "is" and what "isn't."
Since the price of gas has seemingly been adversely affected by the Iraq Adventure, I'd happily support the return home of the troops if it'll take a buck a gallon off the price at the pump.
In any case, the beauty of America is that we can publicly disagree, both amongst ourselves and with our government, and not get thrown in jail... I kinda like that.
Yes, Chris, you can disagree with the Bush and the government and not get thrown in jail. But somewhere in some anonymous monolithic building somewhere on the outskirts of D.C. some hireling has copied and pasted your remarks here and put in your permanent file...
The only wars that have been successful were the nation building wars.. where we went in decimated and rebuilt nationsand then got the heck out of there. Those are the one's that are prospering.
Problem with Iraq is that we have been fighting a P.C. war, with a new kind of enemy that we did not anticipate.
I think we all want peace, but war is necessary, at times.
I am late to the table, but I submit this: that since the Cola Wars, there have been no real winners in war.
Why do we still make so many movies about World War II? Because it's the last time we as a nation could agree about anything, could wrap ourselves in the Glowing Cloak of Righteousness and fight purest evil. After that, Korea taught us that limited war yields limited results but long-running sitcoms, and Vietnam taught us that we will have to suffer through decades of Oliver Stone movies.
As a sort of military brat who lives near several military hospitals (Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval), I will say this: the few friends I've had who have come back are not who they were, and that's a loss not measured in any stat I've seen.
I've seen friends who are 3rd generation army captains quit the military in disgust and my best friend's 64-year-old father called up and asked to do all manner of ridiculous things that indicates a total lack of understanding of what any army would need.
And I agree that "Right" and "Wrong" are useless discussion tools. It's the reason religious-based states are the worst idea in the world: if you think God is on your side, then compromise is blasphemy. And that's retarded.
Wow! What if we, the Children of Earth, have a retarded God?
I think that would mean that we created It in our image...
Hey, no stealin' from my God-induced posts!...
The worst war "numbers" come from religious wars. - Only popular amongst those that are involved.
Second (and far behind the first) are territorial wars. - The easiest to support because no one wants to lose their own land and way of living.
Third are the principal wars that become PAD's "limited wars". - Too easy to criticize and take a side because the results are too vague. Decisive victories are what us Americans like best.
Back to Bert's initial argument "Death is what humans do best". We, as humans, will always kill and there will always be people(s) that want to do the same to us. We, as a nation, must do our best to stay ahead in the killing game and whatever the reason, remain supportive of 'our guys', -no matter the type of war it is.
Another note on killing: The worst casualty numbers are flat-out genocidal massacres (Jews, Armenians, etc.) No war involved at all...
genocidal wars make my conscience itch... I give to Armenians, Jews who look Baltic, Indians and Blacks.
When we start the genocidal war against illegal immigrants, I'll give to the Honduran Red Cross.
Interestingly enough, genocide and wars both miss the sorts of death generated by, say, Mao and his ridiculous Great Leap Forwards. It's estimated that through self-inflicted famines, droughts, Red Guard attacks, and overall mismanagement, he killed 80 million of his own people. Still, he had a better track record than Matt Millen with the Lions.
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