Recently it was rammed home to me again what potential hot button issue it is to question any of the wars the U.S. has fought in the last 60 years.
Some people immediately assume that you question the ability, the character, the ingenuity, or whatever of U.S. troops. If you pose the question the wrong way, your audience will quickly turn on you, and perhaps, there is no right way to pose the question to some people.
However, let's try this thought experiment. I've always despised the New York Yankees, and I've always been a Chicago Bears football fan.
For the sake of argument, let's assume we all have a most hated baseball team, and a most beloved football team.
Suppose further that the decision is made that your favorite football team will play baseball against the baseball team you most despise, with the stipulation that your favorite football team must play wearing only football gear - full shoulder pads, helmet, etc, etc, both on the field when playing defense, and off the field when batting.
Ridiculous, yes. Totally ridiculous, yes.
Now, who wins baseball game?
Well, that's not fair, you say. The football team is not equipped to play baseball. They are not trained to play baseball (some of them may have played baseball, but probably not wearing helmet, pads, cleats, etc).
Will the baseball game even be completed? Perhaps, our the football players, out of frustration, lose control, and start tackling, or blocking the baseball players. If they catch them, they can do a LOT of damage.
So, whose fault is it that our football players did not win the baseball game?
Is it their fault that they were not equipped for, nor trained for the mission they were tasked to accomplish?
No. Not at all.
The fault lies with the idiots, morons, whatever, that put them into a situation, into a position, where they could not accomplish the mission.
Blame those people. Blame the owner, the general manager, the head coach ... but you cannot blame the players for attempting to do that which they were asked.
Our military is quite adept at blowing things up and killing people. This is what they train to do, this is what they are equipped to do, and they do it very well.
But who is this enemy our troops are being asked to fight?
Terrorism?
Terrorism is a tactic, and the tactics of the car-bomber and suicide bomber (the 9-11 hijackers were suicide bombers) are the tactics employed by the weak against the strong.
Our generals tell us that we will be fighting the now-called "Long War" for the rest of our lives, and our children's lives too. This war we are fighting is against an enemy that has no army, no navy, no air-force.
Ours is a nation protected by two oceans and a benevolent neighbor to our North. If south of our border is deemed to be a problem, then for heaven's sake, bring the troops back home so they can defend it.
But we, the people, cannot continue to let our political, military, and media elites tell us that we must fight these wars in distant lands.
Support the troops. Bring them home.
