McNAMARA & RUMSFELD? YUCK!
With the passing of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, we are again reminded of the horrible mistake the Vietnam War was. Democratic Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson had him serve as a front man in Vietnam. Because of his sterling leadership as head of Ford Motor Co., it was thought he would make a great leader in the Pentagon. He served longer than any Secty. of Defense. Decisions made in Vietnam were absolutely atrocious. Johnson may have played a key role in keeping that war going, but McNamara must certainly at least share in the historical debacle. We should have learned that corporate leadership does not necessarily translate into public service. And most of all, we should have learned that the U.S. should not engage in imperialistic-like wars.
Did we learn our lesson? Absolutely not! Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush are Exhibit A in showing how international militarism and colonialism to force our ideas on sovereign nations are not only destined for failure, but are morally and ethically wrong. America should be better, consider its international calling to be purer than that. We have often and long been misled by military adventures and corporate military pay-offs. The quagmire we are now bogged down with in Iraq and Afghanistan is corporate-military adventurism at its worst. And it has left our economy in ruins.
During both of these administrations and both of these Defense Secretaries, millions -- yes, millions-- of lives have been lost, including far too many Americans. Yes, we should have retaliated after 9/11, but the retaliation should have been to get Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The Bush-Rumsfeld team not only missed their chance to get bin Laden in Borah-Borah, they invaded Iraq. What a mess! What a loss of life! What a economic disaster! What lies! And how long it has taken and will take to straighten out.
You think the election of Barack Obama has put an end to this military adventurism and international activity? Read the following about where we are now in this military madness...
"Obama is sending more than 20,000 additional troops there [Afghanistan] and, for the first time next year, the annual cost of the war in Afghanistan is projected to exceed the cost of fighting in Iraq." -www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/21/senate-passes-913-billion_n_206589.html
I ask you, as fellow Americans, where is all this military adventurism taking us? The budget for the Pentagon is a sin. And we have found new ways to make our military adventurism even worse. We now use "military contractors" who are really mercenaries to fight our battles and fly under the radar to American citizens. There are more "military contractors" in Iraq than soldiers. What have we become?
