You know what? To hell with it.

Serenity was nice enough to comment on my last piece, and it... well... pissed me off. I am SOOOO tired if "war is bad" people who think that all of this is our goddamned fault. So you know what? I'm kinda tired of our boys getting killed too, so here's my idea:

We're done. Bin Laden, here's the deal:

We pull out now, unconditionally. Today. On one condition: if any further action (suicide bombings, schools shot up, etc.) happens, ANYWHERE, EVER, FOR ANY REASON NO MATTER WHAT TERRORIST GROUP, WE WILL BRING HELL ON EARTH(that would be nuclear weapons, in case you were wondering) TO WHEREVER YOU ARE, AND EVERYONE THAT SURROUNDS YOU, NATION STATES BE DAMNED.

k? You stop, we stop. Then maybe we can talk about it.

Yours truly,

USA.

I'm also at the point of thinking "fuck it" and bringing everybody home, future consequences be damned. When bombs start going off in a hometown near you, don't blame me.

Remote warfare question, and what I said...

A friend of mine asked me why we can't just use remote warfare (drones and such) to win the war in Afghanistan, and I really liked what I wrote in reply, so I'll share it. And yes, I have watched the clip... I won't embed it here, but it's a demo of 2 folks driving predator drones. Kinda dry. YouTube clip here.

I haven't watched the clip yet (I will, what red-blooded male doesn't like to see stuff get blown up???), but there are problems with "remote" warfare. First of all, the primary idea of "men" (Using the term as a unit, not as a gender!) on the ground is for diplomatic reasons as well as operational. We can't see through walls, so to confirm that a target is a valid one is a top priority for US operations. Despite the perception that we're a bunch of gunslingers, we as a country do more than any other military force to confirm that the guys are enemies, and you have to have a real pair of eyes on the ground to validate targets (more often than not). Once we blow away the bad guys, we need people to talk to the locals to find out info, take situation assessments and look for things that you just can't see from the air. More often than not, when innocents get killed, it's because of missiles and artillery, not men with rifles.

I personally am tired of sending our boys off to war, but the military advisors that are over there are reporting that despite the appearance of stagnation, we are making progress. Well, that was until we blew up that fuel depot last night. Bad news, that.

Students of Vietnam (the real military historians, not right or left wing mouthpieces) have repeatedly stated that the only reason we didn't win in ' Nam was because the political pressure from the anti-war crowd limited the amount of resources and manpower we were allowed to send. Once they stopped the real support, with men and equipment, the war was lost. As a lot of guys who returned from that fight said, "We would've won the war, but the politicians wouldn't let us". The Afghan scenario is similar, but this time it's about getting the locals to accept their own fate, run out the taliban (only 6% support them, which is down from about 60% a few years ago), and continue the peaceful processes (6 Million children are in school in Afghanistan currently, compared to about 1 Million (or less) that were attending only a couple years ago).

War can be won with technology, but as we learned from the 60's, 70's and 80's with our spy programs, there is no more valuable asset than one on the ground, who can look and listen to what's happening. Yes, the techology is getting better and smaller, almost to the point where we will have robotic eyes and ears and can make better tactical decisions, but even the most advanced robot can't hand a child a can of MRE's (meal ready to eat... GI food), which is more valuable diplomatically to the civilian population than a drone that may or may not lay some serious hellfire on your village.

Just keep one thing in mind... the people that are over there, fighting for the Afghan's and Iraqi's freedom have volunteered to do so. This isn't a draft, and despite the couple of jerkoffs that come back from the war with negative stories (which we always hear about) we don't get to hear the stories of the troops with the positive tales of compassion, humanity and freedom. I mean, think about it. Even if we leave the place with half of the people simply thinking that they CAN become a free society, then we have achieved what we set out to do. Inspire others to be free, even if it is not in our own image.

After re-reading this a dozen times, I think I answered the question, lol... There's a photographer embedded in with the troops in Afghanistan , Michael Yon.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

His stuff will take your breath away, and give you some real insight into the conflict. God bless him (and keep him safe!!!).

add: For those who can support Mr. Yon, every dollar helps.

WMD's found? Not that they want us to know about it...

Yeah, old news, but new articles. This article has a lot to say about the WMD's they DID find in Iraq. It's a wonder nobody reports this stuff...

Overload!

Too much has been happening lately. God rest your soul, Billy Mays. Your grating pitches were annoying, then endearing. We'll miss you.

Obama, I'm pissed at you too. What is it with you siding with known socialist dictators, yet ignore the pleas of dying Iranians... oh, wait, you did finally say something a week later or something. Whatever. Cap and Trade? Going to cause the major manufacturers of fuel to stop making it here. Great work with that, increasing our dependence on foreign oil. Healthcare fix? We're at 75% (or more) covered. That, and hospitals cannot deny treatment due to this thing called the hippocratic oath. Too many people ride the wagon for free as it is, I don't want to wait 5 months for a specialist, since there won't be many who will work for pennies. Unemployment is going to rise again, businesses are moving to Canada (and probably Mexico, soon) and taxes are going to increase. Rumblings about a Value Added Tax are coming around, which will make our economy better HOW?

Sure, the Republicans aren't much better with their family values of f*cking in Brazil, or Vegas, or New York. McCain wants to keep the illegals, the party as a whole is about as cohesive as a headless flock of chickens and Palin still thinks she can handle the spotlight. Not so much. I like Limbaugh, because at least he's just a recovering addict and losing weight so he has more to be righteous about.

Too bad about that girl that was killed in Iran... she was beautiful. The election is over, but I think the Iranians will figure out what's important in the long run. Not our business anymore. As we pull out of Iraq, and the Iraqis cheer our departure, I couldn't feel better about it, actually. We did establish the sentiment of freedom... now let's hope they all buy stuff so my investment in Iraqi dinars can pay off. The way our economy is tanking, I might make a LOT of money.

Here we go again.

While on Facebook today, one of my so-called friends wrote some smack about Rush Limbaugh, and him being unpatriotic due to hypocrisy, and he may have a point. Whatever. I just pointed out that he doesn't like Democrats, and the next thing I know I'm brandishing my "Fuck the Middle East" sword and spewing hate allllll over the damned place. Well, I've already discussed my aggresive attitude, and this lines up nicely. But I realized that I'm still pissed.

I'm pissed about Israel, the Palestinians, the fanatical Muslims, the ignorant Christians... everybody. See, lately I've been mulling over what to do about this here blog, and I still don't have an answer, but I wanted to tone things down a bit, change direction, something. But I can't, because it's not that easy. It's things like the War in Iraq that get my blood boiling, and I have to write. Crap. So much for the "play nice" theory.

So today's point? I fucking hate the "Oil is the reason for going to Iraq" argument. It's the lamest wannabe conspiracy bullshit theory. If it truly IS the ONLY reason we're in the Middle East? Then I'm moving to Canada. Someone has to prove to me that Oil is why the Muslims hate America, and why we put Israel back on the map, and whatever. For people to think that singlemindedly about why we're in Iraq, is just stupid. Yes, I understand that oil is a resource. There happens to be oil in Viet Nam too, right? There's also oil in Venezuela! Chavez is a dick anyway. We should totally take it over.

There are lots of good reasons why we're in Iraq. We've installed a free government system there, and with hope it'll stay that way. Maybe even spark the rest of those countries to like, oh, I dunno, stop killing each other and vote in some schmuck to bitch about for 4 years or something. Then they can vote in a different schmuck later. That's what democracy is all about, the next best schmuck.

Regardless, it isn't just about oil. I mean, the genocide, the violating the UN sanctions, the not allowing WMD inspectors to see any sites whenever they would surprise inspect, I mean, the list is endless. Yet there are still the left wing folk who think the only reason we went in is because of the oil. Hell, you might as well believe we went in because George Sr. was supposed to do it the first time around.

However, I guess this oil theory explains why we're in Afghanistan then... we need cheap heroin!