Never-Ending War

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Never-Ending War

Postby Doodle Dee. Snickers » Wed May 02, 2018 3:38 am

I thought about posting another article by the Atlantic (listed below) about how the presidency has become impossible, but I've already had this discussion on my thoughts about how the presidency has basically taken on the role of Congress and Congress has basically taken on the role of the presidency. So I though I'd share this article that's well-worth a read for any Americans out there.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/left-behind/556844/

It's one of the few out there these days without a Trump hook, and it's about how nearly two decades of war have caused a kind of morale slog amongst the troops--not necessarily because it's gone on so long, but because it's become a job. You go in for a year, kill some insurgents, go home, then come back a year later to find those positions filled again, only to kill them for a year, go back home, then come back to...

It's also about how the partisanship of our current times threatens to override the identity of the troops, about the misconception of troops only identity being the military rather than that every other identity simply becomes secondary. It's a very in-depth and (admittedly long) realistic view of the culture of the military and how two decades of war without any benchmarks or signs of progress have eroded it. Part of the reason I'm recommending it is because it's a non-chest-pounding view into the military and how it works, but also kinda of a good impression of the feelings that hung over everyone back when I was in.

I really feel like I should do a thread here where I share an article every week for people to read, but that'd be pretentious.

(other article) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/a-broken-office/556883/
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Re: Never-Ending War

Postby IamNotCreepy » Wed May 02, 2018 5:40 am

So if this is a war without end, would you call it an ... Infinity War?

I'll see myself out.
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Re: Never-Ending War

Postby JamishT » Wed May 02, 2018 8:08 am

I strongly wish we could find a way to get completely out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's gotten to the point where I forget that we're still in Iraq...to train Iraqis, since, you know, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
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Re: Never-Ending War

Postby Doodle Dee. Snickers » Thu May 03, 2018 9:38 pm

JamishT wrote:I strongly wish we could find a way to get completely out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's gotten to the point where I forget that we're still in Iraq...to train Iraqis, since, you know, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.


Well, understand, it's not so much the length of these wars as much as it's almost become a nine to five. You go there for a year, you kill a bunch of terrorists, you come back home for six months, then you go back for another year and find out that all those positions have been refilled, kill them, then go back home for six months, then come back for a year...etc. There's a feeling of a lack of progress, basically, and nobody has any plan or idea of what to do except shrug their shoulders and say "Look, we either leave Afghanistan and open ourselves up to attack or we stay there and do this endlessly".

It doesn't help that Congress has practically abstained from all this. Obama was mocked--and perhaps rightfully so--for seeking congressional approval for a strike on Syria in the infamous 'red line' debacle. What was missed in all that, however, was that left or right, Congressmen practically threw themselves under their desks screaming "DON'T ASK US TO TAKE DIFFICULT VOTES, FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST! IT'S NOT WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR!" Except that it is what they're there for, and I can easily see this war going on for another ten years and us just kinda forgetting about it until it makes the news every once in a while.
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