Bang For Our Bux?

Karzai said that his country would back Pakistan if the US were to engage in war with them. Let me say that again...Afghanistan president Karzai said that his country would back Pakistan if the US were to engage in war with them.

Exactly what are we getting for the lives of our young men? Didn't Pat Tillman die over there? Didn't we mourn him? What about the hundreds of other men and women who have died in this conflict, or been otherwise irreparably harmed?

Here's a thought. Get the living hell out of world politics, US; at least militarily. The world is a complex place. Our government wants it's citizenry to believe this is 1942 all over again; the big bad (insert big bad -and possibly once supported by the US - "terrorist organization" or state here) have invaded another country, killed it's own people, farted in our general direction or some other unforgivable sin. Therefore we send our properly propagandized young men over there to - insert Texas drawl - "take care of some biddness" (spit tobacco now...good boy). Once we have defeated the other side, with a minimum of casualties and only a small amount of meaningless "collateral damage" (forbid the press from covering the bombed schools or hospitals or crying mothers), we will march back here while our Commander in Chief flies a jet to the conquered nation to be greeted by hoards of squealing fans and an adoring, cooperative, non-farting new government. Our young men come back to get jobs because, after all, they joined the military to "protect OUR freedoms" and gain an education that is immediately transferable and marketable. At least that's what the nice recruiter told them. (see http://www.veteransbenefitsgibill.com/2011/07/19/veteran-unemployment-rates/; http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_ffb4747a-9842-5e9e-890d-30ab51732c4c.html; NOT CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc.)

Look, I'm not going to pretend that this is anything but a rant. This covers far too many beefs and is barely coherent. But the deal is this: it is, once again, the utmost in arrogance for us to believe in this day and age that there are cut and dried military missions of this scale, other than protecting our own borders against attack. For us to invade another country, even one under siege by it's own despots committing indescribable acts against its own people with the idea that we will replace this ruler with another and that it will be ok, is ridiculous. For us to do it in the name of oil is even worse, and far more common. Are we to turn a blind eye towards such things? Nope. Of course not. But we need to find other ways to support people in these situations, including setting up and funding decent, well-stocked refugee camps in countries bordering the troubled ones, and helping people from there. Is this perfect? Nope. I would LOVE to be able to solve the world's problems, but we are not going to, ever. And in the process, we spend billions, damage the lives of our own and go broke in the process, while our own people stand around unemployed, homeless, in prison and uninsured. We can't do it all. And in the end, we look more like the world's slaves than the world leader, until we are not even that (already happened).

Let's find other ways to assist those who would like to live in a democratic society. Let's stop invading other countries, setting up governments and pretending that this is anything other than a grab for real-estate that has oil under it's sand. Let's instead put those resources to work buying back the technologies that were bought up and buried by big auto-makers and big oil; let's incentivize innovation with regards to fuel types, sources and technology. Let's stop relying on once-ousted rulers - which Karzai was - to be loyal to us while the blood of our young men bleeds into their sand. We can do better. We deserve a better return on our money, and our blood, than this.