Nine US warships in Gulf for show of force
Reuters Canada - 38 minutes ago
By Mohammed Abbas. ABOARD USS JOHN C. STENNIS (Reuters) - The largest daytime assembly of US warships in the Gulf since the 2003 Iraq war prepared on Wednesday to hold drills off Iran's coast in a major US show of force that unnerved oil markets.
What is the war now if not the Iraq war. I wonder when they study this in History class how they will explainhat George Bush declared the war over at least 4 years before the troops were done fighting. It seems like a holdover from the past that if you capture the leader of another country, the war is over. Did that ever ean anything?
We Beat the country of Iraq's Army and disbanded them and found Sadam and the people exacuted him so the war has been over for a long time. We are now occuping the country. We knew how to win the war but not what to do once it was won. The US had no idea how to get the country to govern itself after it lost the war. I would call what is going on a civil war or maybe even more correctly terrorism. Or maybe it isn't terorism maybe the rebels who weren't part of the army are now fighting us and each other. Not to mention anyone who dosn't like the US or the ocupation can now come to IRAQ and attack American Troops.
Well, when it comes to pot I have to admit that I'm biased - I think it should be legalized, controlled (as much as possible anyway) and taxed. As far as I can see there is no war on drugs anymore.
The reverse logic (less terror if we prosecute the GWOT less) is completely counterintuitive.
"... the GWOT will be continuing for a long time it seems...."
Just like the "GWOD". How long has that lasted? A huge machinery created for something that cannot be finished. We're spending over $1 BILLION a year incarcerating people for pot-related crimes; and God knows how much on interdiction of pot. And pot use has only gone up. Hope the same doesn't hold true for "GWOT" ...
Many Republicans are holding out to see through the end of the surge tactic - otherwise theres no political will to continue that I can see. This particular war in Iraq will probably last into the next presidency but I doubt that it will go along much further. However, the "GWOT" will be continuing for a long time it seems.
I am not sure how different this war will be treated than Vietnam. There are differences for sure, but the two stack up neatly together.
1) Both are being fought against an abstract, communism and terrorism
2) Both are unwinable in a conventional war. We killed Saddam/blew up North Vietnam, but still haven't won anything.
3) Both were useless wars fought on the periphery of a broader conflict. Ahem.
I do hope that unlike Vietnam this was is contained in one presidency and doesn't have the scope from Kennedy through Ford.
War is never that simple.
I'm not particularly sure why they are doing military exercises, but to be honest since we are at war in the region I'm not particularly surprised or alarmed. We're not going to war with Iran anytime soon. We're actually holding talks with them very soon, which hasn't happened in almost 30 years.
The "mission accomplished" thing was an embarrassment - everybody knew that the war wasn't over at that time.