This is not your Grandfather's war

Okay, the President finally came out, after collecting all his information and doing his just homework (unlike the previous clod) and told us what he wanted and needed for our war in Afghanistan.

And it was "leaked" out so we knew what it was, too--30,000 more troops to go over as soon as possible.

Okay, blah, blah, blah.

We all knew it. We're resigned to it, let's move on.

I'm not being flip about war or our soldiers going to war, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying this was not a surprise.

What I would like to say is--could we stop acting like this is a war we can win in any way?

This is not World War I. This is not World War II.

This is not, as I said in the title, your Grandfather's war.

And it's not your Father's war, either.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a war against terrorism, as though we haven't been told that, what? a thousand times?

Terrorism is an ongoing mess, folks. Terrorism is some nut seemingly randomly shooting people. Terrorism, we have found out, is right-wing fundamentalists (hear that, Pat Robertson?) strapping bombs to their chests and blowing as many people up as they can, thinking they're going to some lunatic heaven, with--how many was it?--71 virgins waiting for them. (I wonder what the female suicide bombers get).

Terrorism isn't, as we've found out, a standing army, waiting to attack us. It is a disparate group of people, loosely defined and organized who do their best to make their opposition's (read: virtually everyone else) lives miserable.

So could we stop talking about "winning this war", please?

We won't "win" Afghanistan or the Afghan war.

To "win" this war, we would have to rebuild virtually the entire country AND educate its people and no one has the time or money to do that.

To repeat: The Afghanistan war is not a war ANYONE can win.

Some day---and hopefully soon--we will have to leave Afghanistan, just as all the other invading armies have. We will have to do what Russia did, not that long ago.

And you know what? Russia survived. More than that, no one talks about how they were "defeated". Russia found it couldn't "win Afghanistan", so they took all their toys and went home.

Which is what we should do.

And the sooner, the better.

So, all you right-wingers out there--all the Glenn Becks and Rush "Porkulus" Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys and Bill O'Reillys and yes, even local Thomas McClanahans should stop talking about "winning Afghanistan".

No one wins Afghanistan, folks. Look into it. It just doesn't happen.

And it ain't gonna happen.

You don't win a war against terrorism.

You just educate as many people as you can and always stay on your guard, to watch for the nincompoops.

The previous administration didn't read that Daily Presidential Brief about terrorists training to attack us by plane.


Side note: If you want to know more on this, you might read Norman Mailer's book "Why Are We at War?" or any number of other books on the subject.

Links: http://voices.kansascity.com/node/6737
http://summit.clubmadrid.org/keynotes/a-global-strategy-for-fighting-terrorism.html
http://milo.com/why-are-we-at-war