One War Is Over - One More To Go

This is a picture that many of us having been waiting for years to see. It is the last United States military vehicle leaving Iraq. The unnecessary war and illegal occupation of Iraq is finally over. Far too many Americans and Iraqis were killed and nothing was accomplished (except to throw a modern secular country back into the throes of religious bigotry and division). But nothing can be done about that now. It is enough for now that this war and occupation is over.

But while we're celebrating the end of this war, we should not forget that the United States is still mired in another war and occupation -- one that is just as futile and was just as unnecessary as the misadventure in Iraq. The killing (and the political posturing) still goes on in Afghanistan. And the date for getting out of that mess is now the end of 2014 -- another three years. Is it really worth another three years of war and death to support the corrupt and misogynistic puppet government we have installed there?

It is right that we should celebrate the end of the war in Iraq, but it would be even more right to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan -- right now, not in 2014.