Only The Dead Have Seen Then End Of War

I'll thank Plato for the blog title.

It's a small post today...small and insignificant. So much more insignificant than the number of those in the Armed Forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is nothing when you think of soldiers who have given their lives for that miserable bit of shit we call..what? War? Looking for who? Helping George W. Bush save face? You know, the 'I' word. 'I' want to be a player in the world, so 'I' want to go to Iraq. 'I'll show them!

And we did.

4,000 dead as of today....the average age 21..21!!...five years after we were told our troops would be coming home just as soon as possible, because, by, golly, we'd won!!

The first died 21 March 2003.

I guess Bush forgot about that promise...he forgot we won. But, then, he's forgotten a number of things, including the fact we had no reason being over there.

Jon Stewart's take on it, his always droll comments...using the quote of Cheney saying "So?" when told 2/3's of the American public opposes this wa..sorry, this spreading of democracy. (John Adams is spinning in his grave at the use of that phrase he worked so hard to win.) He uses Bush's own words to show how we're winning, if you look at the war in reverse time.

If you want a blog to read, from a soldier on the front lines, go here. Alone on the Isle linked it on his site, and it deserves to be linked in a number of places. I'll warn you now, the first post you'll see will gut you.

Our children, spouses, loved ones, are going over... again and again. They have faulty body armour, are beset by a people who rightfully don't want them there, doing a job in a place that will make Vietnam look like a playground argument by the time it's done. What has it done for this country? Oil is at it's highest price ever, homes are going into foreclosure at an enormous rate, and we are in a recession. Not a work slow down, George, a fucking recession. All this time, billions are being pumped into that sandbox you shit in.

Billions of dollars, equipment, tents, medical supplies, Army, Navy, Air Force, Reservists of all branches (who often serve the most tours of duty... leaving behind wives and no acceptable second income, adding to the entire financial issue) and Marines. Who face snipers, IED's (52% of them die this way)... who come home and face problems here. That's not even taking into account the number of civilians, innocent ones who simply want their lives to go to some kind of normal.

That's not even getting into what it will take to put the wounded back to some kind of normalcy...fix legs, arms, brain injuries, those are shuffled away in the statistics...the DOD isn't really sure of the exact numbers of wounded, their accounting system isn't very good. They have a rough idea.... last count, 30,000 give a few thousand. Sadly, the DOD doesn't count those who have breakdown's as among those wounded... estimates there are one in every 10 soldiers is removed for mental or emotional stress.It's not only the visible wounds... those who come home without a mark are marked--it's what's inside, how they change there, our beloved who wear uniforms...that is something that remains.

This is just Iraq.... there have been another 487 lost in Afghanistan. In addition to the 4,000.

Yes, all of that is there... all the machines, money, planes, tanks, trucks, cars, people. Let's ask ourselves--what has come back from this muck we are embroiled in so deeply? What?

4,487.