Quote:
Originally Posted by kgoerz
Embrace the Suck...WE ARE AT WAR.
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I guess I would find it easier to embrace that view if I knew exactly whom we are at war with, how we will know when we have achieved victory or suffered defeat, and, for that matter, what the war entails.
So far as I can tell, the war as directed by the POTUS and Congress is not against Islam, nor Iraq, nor Afghanistan, nor even Iran. There are some ever-changing umbrella organizations such as Al Qaeda that are often mentioned, and there are the Taliban...except we want to ally with the moderate Taliban...only they don't want to be our allies?
And Pakistan is our ally. Except a lot of its people seem to hate us, and appear to at least sympathize with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but we're sending them aid...and the government is our friend, except it tells us not to do certain things, but that's OK because they don't really mean it...
And Iraq and Afghanistan are getting ready to stand on their own, but there are reports that suggest the contrary...and then there's Yemen...except the latest terrorist came from Nigeria...
I sense a classic castle defense - we have a castle (actually, many castles), and we're trying to craft a perfect defense of each and every one of them. The other side can and will probe endlessly. This sounds like a strategy that cannot win.
Please forgive me for being rather dense. If an all-out no-holds-barred war is what's needed, along with rationing, travel documents, and so forth, then let's define the war and win it. If we don't really want to win, then I don't understand why we have to make life ever-more unpleasant for ourselves.
No doubt there are important things I don't understand. But in all my reading, here and elsewhere, the war remains ambiguous to me. My apologies for any offense given.