"And South Korea - you are on your own. We will give you and Japan weapons which will give you parity with the North. But for us - we are done. Not just a little done - we should be done forever."
Have you noticed that every war (conflict) we have been involved in since our victory in World War II, has not resulted in a victory? We either play to a draw, or not to lose. Even the stellar victory we had in 1991 in the first Gulf War. We kicked butt and took names. We could have gone right into Baghdad and effected regime change right then and there. Could have saved the Iraqi people a whole bunch of suffering. But nope - after we kicked Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, we took our boot off Saddam's neck. Big mistake.
But the grand daddy of them all, the place where we have spent tons of bucks and sent thousands of troops year after year, - is South Korea. And for what? The armistice was signed in 1953, for crying in the beer. And we are still over there. With over 25,000 troops and spending about $750M a year (after South Korea kicks in the other half). Using my "bunny math", I am guessing we have spent north of $30B since hostilities ended. That number is much, much higher in Afghanistan, and we have only been there since 2001.
I guess as a citizen, as a retired vet, I can ask this question. What is the end game? Is it to still play to a tie? To try and not lose? Do we have a path to victory? I know, I know. The citizens don't want to hear what that is. Why? Because it is ugly.
The United States remains the world's greatest super power. We have "toys" in our toy chest which would rattle the soul of the fiercest hawk. Could we use them? Oh, yes. The collateral damage? Next subject please. If we were like the Russians, we would not give two toots and a holler about "collateral" damage. But we are not them. We are us. And we don't play that way.
So, here is the truth. Why are we sending another 3,000 troops into Afghanistan? Is it to win the day? Allow that country to be free and experience a democratic way of life? Or is it to continue to "play for the tie", and not to lose. Just asking.
As far as South Korea is concerned, I would tell them this much. Your capitol, being a stone's throw from the 38th, is hampering our defense of you. The year is 2017 - we are ending this right now. We will either end the threat along the DMZ (done with great harm to Seoul), or we are leaving and you can figure it out. After almost 70 years, we are done.
Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - get ready for bad news. We are not playing "peace keepers" or "tie breakers", or "nation builders" anymore - we are just going for the "V". And South Korea - you are on your own. We will give you and Japan weapons which will give you parity with the North. But as for us - we are done. Not just a little done - we should be done forever. Good luck and good hunting.
Good Blog,
ReplyDeleteMoon Jae-in will reopen diplomatic talks with NORK to begin the process of re-unidication. I don't know how far he will get, but if Kim Jung Un feels he has reached armament parity with the US he may well feel comfortable enough to allow talks.
The decision to arm Japan and South Korea with nukes has not been made final, but seems justified. They are both capable of handling them with prudence. But, their very presence may irritate Un and spur more aggressive action.
Still a tough problem with no help from UN, China or Russia forthcoming.
Regarding Afghanistan, there is no "tie" forthcoming, just take our losses (casualties and expenses) and get out.
Dave Gjerdingen
ps did you see Ken Burns "Vietnam" part 1? A little dis-jointed but a good start and I will watch the rest. My year as a medic was pretty straight forward, ie, help the wounded and get drunk, then get up and do it all over again, and I was too young to understand or frankly, care about the politics. Good thing, or I guess I would have been a deserter.