Tuesday, December 08, 2009

An Obscenity

That's almost a perfect word to describe our willingness to let a very small percentage of the population bear the major burden of our amazingly stupid and arrogant current folly - escalation in Afghanistan. Bob Herbert's article today is a cry for us to stop passing the burden of this war onto 1% of the population. We are asking not only soldiers but also their families to bear all of the costs.

Yes, WWII was fought in the last century and we live in a new world. But, it's not a better world. Back then we all fought for our country. We used ration cards to buy food. The headlines in every newspaper were about the war every day; they wasted very little time on the activities of the rich and famous. All of my male relatives were drafted or volunteered; some were wounded. Neighbors' kids died. College freshmen were drafted. We bought e-bonds. Women took over the jobs left by men drafted and this country became a massive production machine aimed at defeating the enemy.

How long can we continue to ask others to pay the price of our collective stupidity and arrogance? How can the president believe that troops will be pulled out in a couple of years? Is he delusional or cynical?

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