Sunday, March 23, 2008

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.



12 comments:

austere said...

I'm sorry.

When I think of the backlash, I'm scared.

golfwidow said...

I don't like about 75% of the people I run into on an everyday basis; I can't reasonably expect entire countries to listen to John Lennon or the Potty-Mouthed Polar Bear.

And yet, somehow I do, because, please, are we really this freaking stupid?

harrietv said...

So here we are, five years after I said we shouldn't do this. I heard a quote on the radio this morning: "The parents of the last soldier to die in Iraq haven't been born yet."

harrietv said...
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harrietv said...
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Anonymous said...

that link says it's forbidden? i really want to read it...

quin browne said...

i agree with all of you... it's scary and sad, and, i do believe the what sortamom's quote said...


anon, i checked... both links work fine.

to make it easier... go here

http://www.andrewolmsted.com/

the Constantly Dramatic One said...

"The parents of the last soldier to die in Iraq haven't been born yet."

God. Thats morbid.

I read the blog a bit. I had to stop. Its too much. The world is messed up. People are dying for no reason. On both sides for a war that they dont even believe in.

I feel for you. I feel for them. They world was never pretty place but wars only accentuate its ugliness.

inflammatory writ said...

It's terribly sad. I actually saw a really excellent play at the Public over the weekend called The Poor Itch that dealt with a young man who comes home from the war paralyzed from the waist down and severely tramautized. While the deaths are extremely tragic and sad, I wonder sometimes if the poor kids who come back with half a brain are worse off. They come home to inadequate medical care, inadequate disability, and a horrifying existence of physical problems and post traumatic stress disorder. "support the troops" indeed. What an awful, pointless war.

Anonymous said...

A fine post. Thank you.

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