Congress Votes To Continue A Useless War

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives has been loudly beating the drum for deficit reduction. They tell us that the country is broke (a lie) and terrible things will happen if the government doesn't immediately cut or eliminate many programs that are helping ordinary Americans keep their heads above water in the midst of the current jobless recession. They want to cut everything except for giveaways to the rich and the corporations (which they would like to increase).

And war. They seem to like being in a state of unending war. Yesterday the House voted 321 to 93 to reject a resolution calling for a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan -- which is costing the country about $2 billion a week (about $1 million a year for each soldier we have in that country). And the war is in its 10th year with no hope of victory or even a satisfactory resolution anytime soon.

I know the president and the military leaders are trying to assure Americans that progress is being made. But if progress is being made, it is by the insurgents -- not the allied forces of NATO and America. The truth is that the deaths of both allied soldiers and innocent civilians go up each year, and set new death records for both in 2010. The number of attacks by the insurgents also goes up each year and set a new record last year. And currently there are less Afghan provinces that are secure than there were a year ago.

The saddest part of this is that there was no need to have invaded Afghanistan in the first place. The president (George Bush) told Americans that we had to attack to get to Osama bin Laden because the Taliban government wouldn't give him up to stand trial for 9/11. That was a lie. The Taliban offered to turn Osama over to the World Court in The Hague (where he would undoubtably have been convicted and be in prison right now).

But that wasn't good enough for Bush. He wanted to be a hero and personally take care of Obama. It wasn't a question of justice, but of pride. The end result of the Bush policy is that Osama is still free (and we don't have a clue to his present location) and this country is stuck in a war that it can't win -- a war that is sucking money out of our failing economy at an alarming rate.

And it is a war that no one but the president and Congress wants to continue. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that nearly a third (64%) of Americans don't think the Afghan War is worth the price (in both lives and money). A full 73% would like to see the country start withdrawing troops this summer. Polls have also shown that a majority of the Afghan people would like to see that same thing. And just a few days ago, Afghan President Karzai said he wanted all the NATO troops to leave his country.

Since we have no hope of a military victory in Afghanistan (or a successful nation-building effort), we should be leaving that country and bringing our troops home -- all of them. Why aren't we doing it, especially in light of the wishes of both the Afghan and American people? The pride of our politicians (of both parties) and our military leaders (who don't want to admit we're mired in another Vietnam-like situation). If they did the reasonable thing and withdrew they would have to admit they were wrong in the first place -- and they are not willing to do that, no matter how many more lives are lost or dollars spent.

And the mainstream media must accept part of the blame. In the last year they only devoted about 4% of their time to informing the public about what is happening in Afghanistan. That is inexcusable considering the human and economic toll the Afghan travesty continues to cost this country. If they reported more consistently on the Afghan failure, then maybe our leaders would be forced to admit they have failed and end the war.

I don't know about you, but I don't think the pride of our misguided leaders is worth another single life or dollar. It's time to end the war and bring our troops home (including the 50,000 still in Iraq). And it should be done NOW!