It’s that day again

[aadler]

 
Eleven years on, I have to say that I wish we had accomplished more.

Iraq and Afghanistan are sliding back into Islamic anarchy, as American will dwindles. (Not that of the soldiers, no, not the people doing the fighting; the loss of determination is almost completely limited to politicians and others who stay safely home.) Egypt and Libya are lost to the Muslim Brotherhood, Syria is sure to be the next on the block, and Iran is right around the corner from nuclear weaponry. Weakness, apathy, and arrogant disregard — all from the White House — have set the stage for another round of terrible wars. And, when they begin, we won’t be ready, because we never are. America always yearns for peace, carries it to an unrealistic extreme, and as a result we always have to catch up to events we might have headed off.

In the time since I joined the Army, I’ve done three theater deployments and a support tour at Guantanamo, along with volunteering for every school and training and extra duty for which I could qualify. It wasn’t enough. I wanted to do more, and I tried to do more, because I knew I hadn’t done enough. And now, just as the need is about to increase, I’m approaching the point of involuntary retirement, and will no longer be allowed to contribute.

Things are about to get bad, and I’m convinced it didn’t have to happen. And, though there are many things that could have been done better, I pretty much blame Obama for the state of things now.

Maybe next time we can elect someone who, instead of focusing on the rise of the oceans, will just do his damn JOB.

Comments

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

The Muslim Brotherhood are by far preferable to what Syria, Egypt, and Libya had before.

[lostboy-lj.livejournal.com]

Today, the American consolate in Benghazi was set ablaze leaving one dead and several injured, and the American embassy in Cairo was attacked by a mob. Our government's response so far has been to offer a vague apology regarding our "abuse" of free speech.

Israel is poised to attack Iran, but the U.S. president turned down an offer for a pow-wow with their Prime Minister, citing scheduling conflicts. He is booked for a David Letterman appearance, thankfully. Meanwhile, the new Egyptian government is setting up meetings with Iran. There's a lot of baggage between those two entities, but they have several shared interests and they seem to think a moment of import is at hand. Perhaps you could say the same about Obama and Letterman, but their "moment of import" will probably involve a joke about the new White House-branded micro-brew, and perhaps a few more toothless bites on that Root of All Evil, "Bain Capital."

The Arab Spring is turning into the Long Arab Winter before our eyes. It's tragic, but not very surprising. Israel is telegraphing a strike so obviously that a blind man could see it from space. With Syria in full meltdown, Egypt in the hands of Islamists, Iraq a factionalized mess and the world in the grips of a global recession, the odds of another world war are getting juicier by the nanosecond... but Nero is fiddling.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, brother. Most people in America today refuse to even acknowledge that we're still at war, let alone that it's a war we could lose.