"I served in Afghanistan as a US Marine, twice. Here's the truth in two sentences"

[FelineOverlord]

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[FelineOverlord]

1. I served in Afghanistan as a US Marine, twice. Here's the truth in two sentences"

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[SergeStorms]

2. What we could have done with $6.4 trillion.

As usual, we have to feed the U.S. war machine and make military contractors insanely wealthy, thereby securing huge political donations to republican politicians who don't want to lose their cushy jobs, so then they can secure even more money for a bloated Pentagon budget, who love developing all new ways to kill people and gain monstrously expensive defense contracts, who will then contribute generously to the campaigns of the congressional republicans who secured those gigantic defense contracts for them........ it never ends.

As much as the U.S. likes to preach peace, we're a war loving country whose only industrial export is death and destruction. Oh, and sugary drinks/food, high in calories but low on nutrition....but that's another story. I'll stick with greedy defense contractors and crooked republican politicians, for now.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. We had a choice in the 50's to continue...

... Keynesian economics, which was validated by the massive government spending during WW2 that finally pulled us out of the depression, by either government spending on infrastructure or on the military.

We chose military spending. Incorrectly.

It might've seemed "logical" back then, after the USA was thrust into the position of the new global leader.

[jaxexpat]

13. But the MIC folks were able to sell the idea that infrastructure building was socialism.

They called it Communism so there'd be not misinterpreting their meaning. They meant that anybody who didn't approve of "defense" spending was a dirty communist. When in fact we never had any fear of communism taking over our government. The low-dose socialism everyone had agreed to support was working well as a financial back-stop. That is, well for all but the minorities. Those who were relegated to live on the fringe of a general prosperity, participating only in increments. Boy, when they finally woke up, there went the music. And all the rest is pro-rock-n'-roll VS anti-rock n'-roll history.

[c-rational]

15. +1 Agreed, as my HS History teacher said, we have a wartime economy.

[SergeStorms]

33. Guns or butter.

And the U.S. always chooses guns.

[aggiesal]

8. 7 of the 10 wealthiest counties in the U.S. ...

are in and around D.C.
The wealthy include the Military Industrial Complex including their lobbyists.

[former9thward]

23. The war machine contributes to both parties.

The War budget goes up in every administration no matter the party.

[SergeStorms]

32. Yes, it does.

Democrats would like to reverse that, but the GQP would scream bloody murder that Democrats are "weak on defense", and then place every straw man in their arsenal anywhere there's an empty space, just to "prove" it.

Unfortunately the majority of Americans have been conditioned over the past 70 years to believe that.

The Pentagon is a black hole, and it sucks in every dollar not nailed down.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

34. Yep. Somehow trump got his budget increases even after we took the House.

Sideways Clap clap

[uponit7771]

27. +1

[hlthe2b]

3. At least some newspapers still provide some truth & context. TV is hopeless.

[DinahMoeHum]

4. If you can't get thru the paywalls. . .

https://www.yahoo.com/news/served-afghanistan-us-marine-twice-100000389.html

[GoodRaisin]

10. Thanks for sharing that link. nt

[IronLionZion]

5. Sounds like the inverse of bomb them over there so they don't bomb us here

some people just want an excuse to kill some people. Others want to build stuff. Yet others want to get rich from sweetheard deals and no-bid contracts.

Plenty of idiots are whining about the cost of the infrastructure bill.

[AndyS]

7. This reminds me of A War of Numbers.

https://www.amazon.com/War-Numbers-Intelligence-Sam-Adams/dp/1883642469

Sam Adams loved intelligence work, and that enthusiasm shines throughout this memoir of his years with the Central Intelligence Agency. His career was dominated by an epic struggle over Vietnam -- over military attempts to hide the true size of the enemy forces there, and over the integrity of the intelligence process. Adams's insistence on telling the truth caused an ungodly ruckus in both Washington and Saigon at the time, and years later, after the CIA had threatened to fire him (on thirteen occasions!) and he had quit the agency in disgust, Adams brought his story back up to the surface more loudly than ever in a CBS television documentary which eventually resulted in a notorious trial on libel charges brought by General William Westmoreland.
After leaving the CIA, Adams sat down to write an account of his life at the agency. There is nothing else quite like the story he tells.

Lies and lies about lies. All to keep an un-winnable war going for the sake of profits.

Ya' think we'd learn . . .

[Joinfortmill]

17. 👍

[Rebl2]

9. I agree

with my fellow Kansas Citizen.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Traditionally

wars and foreign escapades have a payoff in finances, domination, or resources. We were the last major power left standing after WWII. We've had no such success since, in fact we have more competition now.

[Kid Berwyn]

12. Remember Col. Ted Westhusing

He was training the Iraqi army and smelled the rat. He spoke up and soon, just before rotating home, was dead from “suicide.”



Know your BFEE: They kill good soldiers like Col. Ted Westhusing for profit...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x126094

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

19. Great reference! Everyone needs to bookmark this for future use...

... I was on to this same topic in the early 2000's and have many of the same bookmarks/favorites.

I cannot emphasize enough that any student of U.S.A. history since the time of the civil war needs to keep the above link as a reference of who did what and what happened; oh, and who made, "oodles and oodles of money off of it". The, "why", should be self explaining.

[crickets]

31. 👆👆 That thread is an amazing information resource.

Thanks for all of the work you did putting it together then, and thank you for linking to it today.

[jaxexpat]

14. I could have told him that in 2001 and I didn't have to do any tours in Afghanistan.

[UTUSN]

20. Hah! - true for many of us who don't have special access or resources unlike our media & elite

[Joinfortmill]

16. Interesting

[Jilly_in_VA]

18. Yup

[UTUSN]

21. K&R ya beat me to it. - more quotes:

***********QUOTE*******

https://news.yahoo.com/served-afghanistan-us-marine-twice-100000389.html

I served in Afghanistan as a US Marine, twice. Here’s the truth in two sentences

….. Two: What happened last week was inevitable, and anyone saying differently is still lying to you.

I know because I was there. Twice. On special operations task forces. I learned Pashto as a U.S. Marine captain and spoke to everyone I could there: everyday people, elites, allies and yes, even the Taliban.

The truth is that the Afghan National Security Forces was a jobs program for Afghans, propped up by U.S. taxpayer dollars — a military jobs program populated by nonmilitary people or “paper” forces (that didn’t really exist) and a bevy of elites grabbing what they could when they could. ....

So when people ask me if we made the right call getting out of Afghanistan in 2021, I answer truthfully: Absolutely not. The right call was getting out in 2002. 2003. Every year we didn’t get out was another year the Taliban used to refine their skills and tactics against us — the best fighting force in the world. After two decades, $2 trillion and nearly 2,500 American lives lost, 2021 was way too late to make the right call. ….

********UNQUOTE*********

[Moostache]

22. In any kind of sane country or state, we would be a shoe-in candidate for Senate...

Here in East Kansas, he will likely lose by 20 points to a craven lunatic with no qualifications beyond a magic "R" by his name on the ballot. I hate it here.

[Uncle Joe]

24. Semper Fi

Thanks for the thread FelineOverlord.

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. And while we pissed away $6.4 trillion on bullshit, every other country spend $6.4 trillion on

infrastructure, research, healthcare, and other, more moral and helpful, things.

Every dollar we spent on warmongering bullshit to make Cheney et. al. richer, we became $2 behind the rest of the world.

[onetexan]

29. Yup, america has been too bz wasting out resources & taxpayer $ on frivolous wars

While all other superpowers have spent their dimes on building up their own countries. We need to stop taking care of the world & take care of our own problems for a long while.

[Hekate]

26. KnR

[Champp]

28. k and r

[crickets]

30. Thank you, Lucas Kunce. More like this, please. LOUDER. K&R