President Obama has proclaimed that our involvement in Iraq is ending, and that only 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq after the end of August. Also, the remaining troops will be out by the end of 2011, except for those to provide security for our embassy.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government is in basic paralysis, and the idea that violence has ended and the country is stable seems a mirage!
Meanwhile, Obama has escalated our war in Afghanistan, and the number of casualties of our troops has reached an all time high, with no prospect of success anytime soon, if ever!
We have lost more than 5,000 men and women in the two nations, and close to 40,000 wounded, many severely! Many soldiers have served multiple tours, averaging at four to six, but one having TEN tours of duty over the past nine years!
Meanwhile, suicides have escalated, with 160 in the year ending September 30, 2009, and 32 suicides this past June, an all time record!
Physical and psychological wounds have been horrific, and the response to our veterans’ needs has been wanting, to say the least!
Afghanistan and Iraq have become the longest wars in US history, but neither war can be said to have been won or even being winnable in the future! This is not fighting Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan, or even the Soviet Union of old!
These two wars have been conducted in a horrific manner by both the Bush and Obama Administrations, and trillions of dollars have been squandered, with 99 percent of Americans not suffering at all from the wars, in the sense of being taxed for them. or even really paying attention and caring about the valor of our soldiers! The concept of shared sacrifice we had in World War II is lacking in this era!
Instead of wasting billions on war every month, we need to bring the troops home immediately and deal with the domestic crises in our nation, the worst since the 1930s! Rebuild our infrastructure, secure our borders, and spend necessary defense money on espionage and technology needed to fight terrorism!
We must not sacrifice our young men and women any longer! The time for withdrawal is NOW! 🙁