Quote:
Originally Posted by That Guy
well, we are at war though. the millitary is still issuing global war on terror service pins. obama stopped calling it that in 2013, but it never actually ended. we're 4 months away from 15 years of continuous war.
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No we aren't "at war", if we were, we would have battalions on the ground, a clear strategic and tactical plan, and we would have alliances formed that prevent our enemies from hiding in plain sight. What we are is in the 2016 version of the early Vietnam quagmire, with "advisors" going into hostile territory, and special forces conducting pin prick raids.
If we were trying to win, we would take ground from the enemy and pacify the area and build bases to stabilize the region. We would work to create safe zones and expand those. AND most importantly, we would maintain those bases with the expressed intent of staying as long as it takes to end the regional threats. People call the 2nd war a failure, but the true failure was the turning away and leaving a vacuum for power to shift around in. MOST of that was due to the Democratic party's backing away from the initial all in that was expressed on all sides.
But we aren't at war, and we aren't trying to win, instead this Commander in Chief, and Republican congress have abrogated their Constitutional duties and put our military in the no win situation of trying to fight without fighting.
And for the record, if the politicians want to wash their hand and say this isn't the US's fight, I'm ok with that, and let's get our troops out of harms way. The world would probably be surprised by how self sufficient we really would be if the decision was made.
I'm also ok with a declaration of war, and a consolidated NATO/METO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Middle East Treaty Organization-to be created) Defense structure, IF having that declaration, and organizations, means that we are going to truly fight a coherent battle with the objective of being bringing a stable regional peace to a land that has never really known it. Europe hadn't known peace since Roman times, so it's possible to accomplish great things, but the cost should be acknowledged up front.
What aggravates me, and I personally am not ok with, is politicians using the ME to support falsehoods and platitudes, while military and civilian death tolls rise with the US population oblivious.