You bellicose old men who never served can 'follow them to the Gates of Hell'

[merrily]

69. True, but it's not a matter only of what horrors we inflicted on them--and still inflict.

It's a matter of having spent blood and treasure with the outcome being to put our own selves in even greater danger than we were in on 911. And for what? Who benefited? Our troops? Their loved ones and supporters and caregivers? Our treasury?

Main Street? Or Halliburtion, Blackwater, Bechtel and Wall Street? The kind of people who want government benefit after government benefit for themselves, but don't want to pay taxes? Are they a reason to lose lives, limbs, minds and treasure?

Even if we were legally and morally justified to infinity, the simple fact remains that are not good at these kinds of wars or at nation-building. You can't support dictators, then bomb, then win hearts and minds. If you can, then we haven't yet learned how.

What is it going to take before people get that war whoops are not the answer, at least not until we know what step 2 is? And the last step? Is the endgame going to be occupation forever, or withdraw and watch everything fall apart and return? In how many nations? At what cost?