OrganicConnoisseur
Well-Known Member
Hello RIU I wanted to write this from a personal point of view and from one that has been following this for a long time now. I feel most of my friends/family/anyone I know or talk to has this perception of what is going on Overseas as far as the " situation " is in the Middle East that I find completely distorted. Let me start off by saying I served time in the Marine Corps and did multiple combat tours in Afghanistan in two different locations ( Marjah and Sangin ). I will admit when joining the Corps and first deploying feeling the same way most Americans do about the Middle East etc.., but the more time I spent in Afghanistan and followed what was going on I realized what we are currently doing makes no sense whatsoever. Most American have this perception that Muslims or the " Middle East" hates America because of its Democracy or Woman's rights or some other nonsense, but the truth is that could not be further from the truth. The longer I spent in country the more I realized we were not fighting a war against some " radicals ", but rather a war against the local populace that got thrown into a war zone because we moved into their area and built a base ( and some radicals or anyone from nearby countries that hate US). Now endangering anyone within miles of a radius and beyond. Anywhere there was a base in Afghanistan or close the houses would be displaced, bullets holes everywhere and the roads nearby or any road that would get used by US would be laced with IED's ( Not caring who they hit ). From my friends that deployed to Iraq I hear it was no different. Furthermore, the Drone occupation we carry out ( in Aghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria ) further exacerbates our situation . These Drones carry out attacks based off of " MetaData" which basically is ( cell phone texts/time and length of calls, Emails or any electronic type of Data linked to you). All this means that the attacks are not necessarily done with proper discretion. Do they hit the said Target? Yes. Do they they use discretion before taking the shot? In most cases No. Drone warfare is not a humane type of way to go about fighting in a autonomous way. Do I believe they should help with airstrikes etc....? Yes but ones that are called in by people not in a autonomous fashion. It boils down to recruitment fire. Every child/woman/innocent person we kill/injure/mame is another stick added for fuel in the fire of hate that runs the campaign of recruitment that we see strengthening these Radical groups. So far the US has spent 5 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. We are spending around 10 million a day being in Iraq and 10 million in Afghanistan right now. Is this entirely necessary? What is the point we are just furthering a problem that could be resolved faster by leaving. This " war " is completely unwinnable in every fashion and what would winning look like anyway? I guarantee no one in the Military Industrial Complex could tell you ( its just spend spend spend ) I know it sounds too simple, but if we were to leave all countries now their recruitment numbers would drop drastically and dwindle over the months. Over time resolving some of the problems. Do I believes some of the attacks will ever stop? Honestly probably not. So much damage was done to a " culture " " countries " that I see people taking it very personally for years and the attacks continuing for decades. There was a saying in Afghanistan because of their culture that if you wronged someone that you were likely to get revenge on you not necessarily soon but within a 100 years by them or their family. What would be the flip side alternative? Carpet bomb a whole country? And not even that considering these " radical groups " are spread out all over different countries and intermingled with civilians...Boots on the ground? That is completely moronic. Look at Iraq! Look at Afghanistan! Do you think any invasion/attack will look any different or bring on any different result. Do you want more Americans dying for no reason? Do we need to further destruct, pillage and displace the Middle East? Look at our Country! We could be using so much of that money on our Homeless,Infrastructure,Veterans, Roads, Welfare programs, scholarships, grants etc....and bettering ourselves and our country. Albert Einstein once said " Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
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