By Mary MacElveen
October 27, 2009
I just love when another’s prose hits you over the head and where you shout out: “YES!” That is exactly the response I gave after reading Paul Craig Robert’s piece: US Joins the Ranks of Failed States. So, much so, I had to spread it far and wide using Twitter and Facebook.com as you will see below. My suggestion to you is, READ IT!
US Joins Ranks Of Failed States: http://tinyurl.com/yh6yfoo Again, Paul Craig Roberts hits another home run! This is a MUST READ!!!
The other day, I wrote a column addressing war vs. healthcare titled: Baghdad bombings: We are a warrior nation instead of a healing nation citing the total amount of money it has cost so far in running these wars in the Middle East. But, thanks and I mean, thanks to Paul Craig Roberts, he breaks those numbers down further and will clearly show why we cannot afford healthcare. Example as cited in his eye-popping article: “According to reports, the US Marines in Afghanistan use 800,000 gallons of gasoline per day. At $400 per gallon, that comes to a $320,000,000 daily fuel bill for the Marines alone. Only a country totally out of control would squander resources in this way.” Exactly, how are these wars in our own national and even economic interests when we are spending money hand over many fists in order to pay for them?
In referencing a past column of mine which is no longer on-line: “You Don’t Defend America with a Lie” written back in May of 2003 I wrote: “A strong country means a country that is economically solvent, instead of insolvent. We have basically allowed a lie to put us in the red.” The lie I speak of is the Iraq War.
In addressing the ‘right war’; Afghanistan if any war is a right war, it too is draining us. First, we are losing our soldiers, innocent Afghanis and yes our fiscal treasure. We simply cannot afford this war.
To the war-hawks of this nation: Exactly how many years do you want to spend fighting this war? One year, two years, five years or a war without end? If you are in support of fighting a perpetual battle, then, hawks, you are fools! And some of you call yourselves fiscal conservatives. To that I add: Hah!
On September 17th, 2009, I came across an article on Truthout.org titled: Afghanistan: Where Empires go to Die. Alone, that title speaks for itself. No further words are needed given any nation’s history fighting a war in Afghanistan. But, according to this article: “The United States Empire is following a long line of empires and conquerors that have met their end in Afghanistan. The Median and Persian Empires, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids, the Indo-Greeks, Turks, Mongols, British and Soviets all met the end of their ambitions in Afghanistan.” I highly recommend to all that they read this insightful piece.
Yet, some want the United States to stay the course in Afghanistan. History is indeed repeating itself even thinking we can win. We are sending our men and women into a meat-grinder as our country’s fiscal reserves are facing the same fate.
Think of this, we are printing dollar-after-dollar to fund these wars, borrowing handily from China and quite frankly handing all of them over to the defense industry. Those blood suckers are draining we the people.
Some will scream of the cost of healthcare; yet say nothing and I mean nothing when it comes to the cost of these endless wars. Do they think that at one point, we can defeat say Al Qaeda and the Taliban where they will throw up their arms and say: “You won!” at some point? Nonsense, this is a major blow-back just waiting to happen. Then again, we are already feeling the financial blow-back by throwing our good money down the drain in supporting these wars.
Again, reverting back to my 2003 column, I wrote: “should a greater threat occur, how will we pay for it?” That threat can come in many ways and perhaps it already has when we as a country cannot even afford basic healthcare for all. What of any new enemy that looms large on the horizon who can attack us given the right set of circumstances? Are they just laying in wait as we spend our selves out of control with these two wars going? Perhaps and more importantly, yes.
What of the millions we displaced in Iraq? Are a good number of them just waiting their turn as we turned their homeland into a hell on Earth? Just something to think about.
What of the devastation we may face should another attack occur within our borders or a series of attacks? A nightmare scenario would be if a nuclear plant was attacked. I have addressed this in the past and where the casualty rate will be higher than the casualty rates of 9/11. But since some would rather focus on the costs: Exactly how would we pay for said nightmare scenario or a series of attacks?
I will end this piece with a quote made by Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (former Chief of Staff to the former Secretary of State Colin Powell) who once said of the “ineptitude” of the US government: “If something comes along that is truly serious, truly serious. Something like a nuclear weapon going off in a major city or a pandemic, you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that will take you back to the Declaration of Independence.” He opined this as he was interviewed on CNN's "Late Edition" on November 20th, 2005.
This ineptitude of fighting years-upon-years in Afghanistan is driving all of us off the financial cliff. $320,000,000 for a daily fuel bill in Afghanistan: How many uninsured Americans could be seen by a doctor using that figure?
I would like to add an addendum to this piece: In posting my article, I read where we just lost eight U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan today where October has been one of the deadliest months. How many more shall the US gov’t kill should we fight a war without end? Enough!
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
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