Ike ended the Korean conflict in 1953, refused to intervene to save the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, and, rather than back the British-French-Israeli invasion, ordered them all out of Egypt in 1956.
Ending America's longest wars may prove to be Barack Obama's legacy.
For, while ending wars without victory may not garner from the historians' the accolade of "great" or "near great," it is sometimes the duty of a president who has inherited a war the nation no longer wishes to fight.
That was Nixon's fate, as well as Ike's, and Obama's.
And as we look back at our interventions in the 21st century, where are the gains of all our fighting, bleeding and dying?
We know the costs — 8,000 dead, 40,000 wounded, $2 trillion in wealth sunk. But where are the benefits?
A question better asked of he who started them.
ReplyDelete4:18 couldn't have said it better.
ReplyDeleteObama hasn't ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're still there, and there's too much money to be made to leave. Heck...not only do the arms makers get paid, the contractors funnel billions of unaccounted for dollars. And since we took over Afghanistan, it's now putting out 90% of the world's opium. Now we're trying to take over Syria for a pipeline between Qatar and Turkey to get natural gas to Europe.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it. If we are making all this money on wars why are we so broke?
ReplyDeleteWE are not making money. It's major companies that are MAKING trillions of dollars. One only has to look at former Vice President Cheney and his connections to see what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get out of the war for money business. This does nothing but generate more terrorists, which serves to propagate more wars. It is inherently wrong.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Gary, we can no longer get out of these wars. It would financially destroy America. Unemployment would be 70% and I'm not kidding. It's all we have left and it pays better than anything else out there while Obama keeps printing money.
ReplyDeleteI know you are right, Joe, and it makes me sick to think about it. But that still doesn't negate the fact that fact that these wars are ignorant efforts that do not have any goal whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteCould'nt the wars be replaced with rebuilding our own country? Manufacturing adjustments could be made to produce equipment and supplies to rebuild huge areas destroyed by tornadoes and wildfires.If our troops were given the option of remaining overseas or returning for the purpose of fixing US,my guess is they'd choose us.The financial gap caused by absence of war would be filled.
ReplyDeleteOh! How about the life long cost for injuries to our veterans due this war.
ReplyDelete10:52-And infrastructure work such as bridges and highways.Plenty to do right here.
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