Top 5 US Government Decisions that put Troops more at Risk than Snowden Did

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/01/government-decisions-snowden.html

Top 5 US Government Decisions that put Troops more at Risk than Snowden Did
By Juan Cole | Jan. 10, 2014

~snip~

1. Going to war on false pretenses. The invasion and occupation of Iraq, which killed over 4000 troops, wounded over 30,000 badly, and inflicted some injuries on some 100,000, was sold on the incorrect allegation that Iraq was near to having a nuclear weapon and had deadly Weapons of Mass Destruction that it might use on the US. That case was false, and mostly likely an outright lie. You can’t endanger US troops in a more thorough way than by sending them into a dangerous country based on false allegations.

2. Going to war in the teeth of international law. The Bush administration was not authorized to attack Iraq by the UN Security Council. Under the UN charter, one country may attack another only in self-defense or as a result of a call for the use of force by the UNSC.

3. Extending tours from 6 months to 18 months and making troops do 3 and 4 tours. Before the Iraq War the exposure of soldiers to the deadliest situations in war was somewhat limited. Because of the relatively small professional army, the Bush administration over-used the troops.

4. Trying to militarily occupy large, rugged Muslim countries. After the horrors of the age of colonialism, Muslim populations are touchy about white people tramping around their country in army boots and ordering them around. Where they can’t forestall such neo-colonialism politically, they turn to guerrilla war to get rid of the invading troops. Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates said that anyone contemplating another Asian land war should “have his head examined.”