WAR AS A WAY OF LIFE DEJA VU VIETNAM

OUR GOVERNMENT, REAL OR "SHADOW" HAS DECIDED WE WILL FIGHT FOREVER EVEN IF WE HAVE TO FIGHT OURSELVES, ALWAYS OUR OWN WORST ENEMY

BY G. DUFF

I have no idea how long we have been in Iraq.  I can’t remember that long.  All I know is that the "End this Endless War" sticker on the back of my car is yellow from age.  It sits over my Ohio Handicap/Veterans license plate as a statement for those who don’t understand.  From the front they can see my Department of Defense Vehicle Identification, if that is not clear enough for them.

I am told I qualify for Diplomatic Plates.  I think they look as stupid as cars that still have the old Cheney/Bush stickers or the "W" 04.  It would be like an announcement that I should be living on the moon. 

Vietnam taught us a lesson, and a very bad one.  We can have war with no purpose.  We can have war forever.  The military can kill off lower ranks, run up their budget and hand out medals to REMF’s, "the Perfumed Princes of the Pentagon",  like popcorn.   It does wonders for career advancement.  War is now a video game, not for kids fighting with computerized weapons but for heroic military planners who see satellite images between meals with defense contractors who are promising them fat jobs for continuing to keep a losing war going on forever fought with defective and overpriced weapons… 

Anyone who thinks this country isn’t run by a Mafia made up of Defense Contractors, crooked politicians, polluters, banking thieves and con men has had their head and anus confused for too long.  You can only smoke so much of that stuff without losing too many brain cells.  I still have friends who worry about the powerful trade unions and how they are controlling the country.  I have to remind them that we have no more trade unions.  Union jobs, high wages, health insurance, paid holidays, overtime……..only a memory any more.

Now the joke is Iraq.  There were no weapons of mass destruction.  There were no terrorists.  There is still no proof there are terrorists except for the few we brought with us.  We are only fighting because we are there and we are only there because we are fighting.

We are performing absolutely no useful purpose other than to piss away money by the trillion and  tie down our exhausted troops while we are getting our asses kicked by real terrorists in Afghanistan while we are losing nuclear armed Pakistan to terrorists.  It would be impossible to screw ourselves more than we are doing.  Even Willie Nelson thinks we are at war with ourselves.

Vietnam taught our leaders that Americans will allow the government kill off our kids as long as we don’t upset anyone with rationing or "negativity".  Too bad political bullshit can’t replace missing arms and legs.

Korea was looked on like a real war.  Veterans from World War 2 ended up fighting another war while the draft put every male at risk for military service and we were facing off with the Russians in Europe with huge military forces there.

Vietnam changed all that.  War could be come a total "con".  War didn’t need to be backed by fact or even national interest.  Hell, in Vietnam, the war was started by our side violating the Geneva Conventions that promised free elections.  Our candidates were so hated by everyone that we had to go to war and kill a couple hundred thousand of our kids just to not look like the liars and cheats we actually turned out to be.  If losing a war doesn’t make you look stupid, I don’t know what does?

It even gets worse.  Our chosen leader, the nutcase President Diem with his "Dragon Lady" wife and family of Catholic religious fanatics in a Buddhist country, was so bad that we actually assassinated him ourselves.  By that time everyone in the country had joined the communists, including people who normally hate communists. 

Once you start lying, you just can’t stop.  For governments, it is even worse.  Goebbels said that if you tell the same lie over and over, pretty soon it will be the truth, or at least seem that way.  This has guided us for decades in all our policies.  Too bad someone seemed to forget that Goebbels ended up murdering himself and his family while Russians were knocking at his door, looking for the chance to set him straight about some of his odd ideas.  The lessons of history seem lost on us.

Now we are doing the same in Iraq.  We decide to invade on stories we get from informants we pay to lie to us.  We know the stories are lies.  We know the informants are liars and thieves.  We simply needed a larger war because Afghanistan seemed too easy.  Boy, was that a mistake!

So, our real war in Afghanistan has gone totally to shit.  The Taliban has doubled in size and taken over half of Pakistan, a country far more dangerous than Afghanistan ever could be.  After all, Afghanistan is not filled with nuclear scientists like Pakistan.

We can "stabilize" Iraq if we keep 200,000 troops there forever except we had no reason to stabilize them in the first place, since we were the ones who started the war.  They are simply getting tired, slowly I admit, of killing each other over minor religious differences.  Maybe they are trying to prove they are as stupid as we are.  They are, frankly, falling well short of that.

To pay for the idiotic invasion of the wrong country, we have borrowed ONE TRILLION DOLLARS from COMMUNIST CHINA, seen as our most dangerous enemy.  They now control our future and can call in their mortgage of America at any time.  That’s ok, we are seeing to it they have everything we have and more, technologically, anyway.  They will be on the moon years before we get back and their missiles and nuclear weapons are every bit as good as ours.

We could really make a good enemy out of them if they weren’t our largest financial partner.  We will figure out somehow, though.  We always do.

Until that time, enjoy the TV snippits of Iraq, the stories of heroic legless veterans and the politicians lying about their war plans and what they are doing for the troops and veterans.

Until then, we will stay in Iraq as long as we can.  Why we are staying is something else.  I have reached this point, I actually believe that if we left in the middle of the night, took all our tanks and planes with us, the war would end immediately and the world would be a better place.

Iraq had always been able to take care of itself.  They will never learn as long as we are there. 

GORDON DUFF IS A DISABLED MARINE COMBAT VETERAN, UN DELEGATE, PTSD COUNSELOR AND LONG TIME WRITER ON VETERANS AND MILITARY ISSUES. 

Gordon Duff

Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.

Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.

Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.

• Gordon’s Archives:  2008-2015
• Gordon’s Archives:  2016-2022