“When in a combat zone (which is what the entirety of Iraq is by the way) combat is always possible. Just because you aren’t firing offensive volleys doesn’t mean it’s not combat”.
The troops in combat today are just as brave and more skilled than past generations of soldiers. But they are by and large dying needlessly because of the liberalism that has so infected our collective mindset. The mindset that says that when an enemy combatant can be taken out but doing so will kill 4 civilians so you let him go and he later leads an ambush that takes out 4 of our own. The mindset that no longer uses our military power punitively but as some sort of international relief society, at a huge cost to ourselves in both lives and treasure.
I see things a certain way and until I’m convinced otherwise, this is the way I view it. That countries like Iraq have deep rooted tribes and sects that are in opposition to its govt. We have groups in the U.S. that are in opposition to law and order and they are called gangs which have the same sort of tribal mentality. Fortunately for us and while they do inflict suffering on innocents, they make up a small fraction of our population. If however, they represented 30-40% of our population, our law enforcement would be in big trouble. They would have to resort to the type of brutality that our military is not allowed to use.
Because of these deep rooted tribes and sects that are not a small fraction of the people, the only chance for a stable Iraq after we leave, is for it to have a strong central govt that rules with an iron fist. The longer we are in Iraq, the longer we delay the inevitable while we sacrifice our own in the process.
I’ve been told I am wrong because all of humanity is basically the same. That we all want the same things. Well, we all want to be rich but not everybody is willing to do what it takes to be rich. We all want to be healthy, yet some people still take drugs, smoke, over-eat, etc. And we all have certain principles that we believe in so strongly that we are willing to die so that our kids will live under them. We in our culture believe so strongly in things like Freedom of speech, a free press, etc.....that we are willing to die so that our kids will live under those values.
Well, in muslim countries, people believe so strongly in their values that they are willing to die so that their kids will live under those same values. They may not all be fundamentalists and radical, but enough of them are that only a strong central govt that instills fear into their populations can control all those tribes and sects. We are not going to change the values of the Muslim world in a year, in 10 years, or 100 years and even if we could......at what cost to ourselves? This is why I say that it is not the job of our military to make our country loved around the world. It is their job to commit violence against those that threaten or harm us. The role of a military is to defend its population. Hence the term.....national defense.