So, we are back in Iraq. Again. I'm pretty sure it won't be too long before we are back in Afghanistan as well. As is always the case there are an unending sea of rationalizations. They (whoever "they" are this week) are killing them (whoever "them" is this week). Or we made this choice, or that, and bad people exploited it to do bad things. Bottom line, we have to help. We have to give weapons, and send drones. Then, in time, that will be determined not to be enough. So we will send troops back in. And we will be right back to where we were before.
My goodness don't these excuses sound familiar.
Have you ever known someone addicted to alcohol or drugs? It's very similar. Their instinctual response to anything is to turn to their substance of choice. Just got a job? Let's go get high. Didn't get the job? Let's go get high. Stuck in traffic? Dog bit you? Sudden rainstorm and you left the windows down on your car? Yep. One answer for any problem. That is how the addicts brain works.
That is how our collective brain has come to work. For every problem, war has become the solution. It has to stop.
I know there is wrong in the world. Horrible wrong. And I truly wish that all it took were good intentions and force of arms to stop the wrong things. But the world is not that simple. Wishing is never going to make it simple.
This country has problems. Real, deep, and immediate problems. I have no desire to see the United States become so isolationist that it refuses to ever step up and help when that help is called for. But I think it is long past time that we take a long hard look at what we do, and why we do it. I think it is long past time that we look to putting our own house in order, deal with the injustices and evils happening within our own borders before we start to attempt to deal with those same things within the borders of other countries.
We need to accept that we have a war addiction, and we need to work on managing it. If we don't, we are going to wind up just like every other addict who fails to get some kind of a grip on themselves. Dead of an overdose.
Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!