War: What is it good for? Absolutely nothing

[rug]

Not again

Sunday Feb 19, 2017 · 9:00 PM EST
By Mark E Andersen

By the time you read this essay, it may be old news. The content might seem hopelessly outdated, or we will have troops on their way to Syria, or something in between. That is how fast and furious the news cycle has been since Trump took office: something written on Wednesday may be irrelevant by Sunday. But this was the news as of midweek:

"It's possible that you may see conventional forces hit the ground in Syria for some period of time," one defense official told CNN.

Donald Trump has not even been in office for one month, and the drums of war are already beating. It’s easy to wonder if the people who make these decisions have any skin in the game. You can guarantee that we will not see Tiffany, Ivanka, Eric, Junior, or Barron at the recruiting office anytime soon. My 17-year-old son Everett wants to work in the space program, so he is looking at the Air Force ROTC. The young men on his high school wrestling team—well, there is a good chance some of them will end up in any war Trump starts.

in 1946, then-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower stated, "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." There is no better description of war. It is something Trump would not understand. He and his family have never made sacrifices, despite his laughable claims:

“I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,” Mr. Trump said to Mr. Stephanopoulos. “I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.”

That is not sacrifice. Sacrifice is sleeping in a foxhole in some backwater of the world with nothing but a poncho liner for warmth. Sacrifice is spending Thanksgiving and Christmas away from home. Sacrifice is sending your son or daughter off to war, not knowing if they will come home.

The human costs of the civil war in Syria are almost incomprehensible. The human suffering is unfathomable. But this is not our fight. Sending troops into a confusing mishmash of changing alliances is not something we should even be considering. We already made a mess of that part of the world with an unnecessary war. Going back there is not going to make things better.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/19/1634207/-War-What-is-it-good-for-Absolutely-nothing

[democrank]

1. A single hour with a combat veteran who is able to open up

is sobering, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching. And loving a veteran through service-connected illness and death is life-changing.

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

~PEACE~

[Orsino]

2. Thanks, President Obama, for keeping Cheney's wars warming on the stove...

...long enough for Trump to get his hands on them.

[democrank]

3. Kick

[Mc Mike]

4. Impeach dRump, the draft him. rec, nT

[Lurks Often]

5. Where was the outrage and posts when President Obama & Hillary Clinton

started involving this country in the Syrian Civil War?