The Real Cost of the War
Today in the Houston Chronicle, prominent on the upper half of the front page, was a picture of badly wounded men passing by single-file in column, apparently to celebrate a new wing or something at Brooke Army Medical Center at Ft. Sam Houston. First was a marine on crutches, his left leg missing. Right behind came a soldier who was also on crutches, who was also missing the lower part of his left leg. And on and on the line continued to the edge of the frame.
"Here's the real cost of that war," my wife said as she handed me that section of the paper.
These men, like their dead comrades, suffered for nothing. That's the saddest thing. They've all been wasted. We are no more secure than before our invasion in Feb. 2003. Less, actually. Iraq has gained us nothing. Iraq will gain us nothing.
And President Bush continues to beat the drum for an outcome that will not occur. Columnist Joe Sobran put it this way: "He sounds like an arsonist trying to convince us that the blazing city can still be saved. Has he forgotten who lit the match?"
One Hundred Five Weeks. Or, Why the Surge?
What is President Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq likely to accomplish? According to the bulk of what I'm reading, very little, other that increased casualties, of course. But it will take a while to implement and more time to judge for effectiveness and yet more to back off of. And I'm not the only one who believes that the troop surge's main purpose is to buy time.
A hundred and five weeks from now some other poor bastard will have inherited the presidency and the whole Middle East mess created by our Decider. Yes, a scapegoat will be in the Whitehouse to take the blame as everything collapses around his (or her) shoulders. But in 105 weeks another thousand or so young Americans will have died for nothing.
Princton professor Bernard Chazelle, writing in LewRockwell.com,puts it in sportswriting terminology: Bush is trying to "run out the clock." As well, assuming the clock is successfully run out, he describes an out-of-office Bush and his crowd referring to that successor as "the dope who snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory and handed Iran the victor's crown."
Back Again, but With a New Computer
Our computer went down in November and the repair man recommended that it wasn't worth fixing again. Now, I'll turn again to this blog. My last entry, I see, was on the 12th of November. However, the topic was one that is primary on my mind:war and insanity. If anybody happened by this site over the last six weeks or whatever, that's the one I would want them to see.
