Friday, April 14, 2006
Time Check
For those who are wondering...
Or, in other words, despite an attack that crippled the Navy and a major base in the Pacific, the FDR and Truman Administrations came back and won in less than four years.
Or, in other words, despite an attack that did no harm to our military power, the Bush Administration screwed up, attacked the wrong country after a foray into Afghanistan, and has now fought for almost a fourth longer than the entire Pacific Campaign of World War II lasted and has accomplished nothing. Except chaos in Iraq, alienation of a lot of the world and, now, saber-rattling at Iran.
We all know how the end of the war with Japan came about. Let's hope that the lunatics in Washington don't pull the same option for this one. But there's a question to keep asking them: with a superior army and better weapons, how is it that it's taken us longer to win in a pissant desert country (whose government we've already overthrown) than it did to win against a major imperial power that had previously managed to defeat China in armed conflict?
How is it that they've managed to fuck up something that should have been so simple -- hunt down Osama in Afghanistan?
Oh. Right. What W and Company have done is the same as if, after Pearl Harbor, FDR bobmed Tokyo, then invaded Thailand. Put in those terms, the stupidity is a bit more obvious, isn't it? Er, correction: a bit more obvious to the 20-odd percent of Americans who don't get it yet.
The rest of us? We have to do everything we can to keep this War on (Some) Terrorists from spreading to Iran because someone has a jones for cheap oil. We have to tell them "Enough". If they can't manage what they wanted to in more time than it took to defeat Japan (and, simultaneously, Germany & Friends), then it's time for the US to pack up its toys and bring all of our soldiers in Iraq home.
Actually, it's past time. They should have used this option back in May, 2005.
May 20, 2005, to be exact...
Days from Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941) to VJ Day (8/15/1945): 1,347You know, for all those "everything changed" and "mission accomplished" fans.
Days from 9/11 (9/11/2001) to Now (4/14/2006): 1,676
Difference: 329 days, or about ten months
Or, in other words, despite an attack that crippled the Navy and a major base in the Pacific, the FDR and Truman Administrations came back and won in less than four years.
Or, in other words, despite an attack that did no harm to our military power, the Bush Administration screwed up, attacked the wrong country after a foray into Afghanistan, and has now fought for almost a fourth longer than the entire Pacific Campaign of World War II lasted and has accomplished nothing. Except chaos in Iraq, alienation of a lot of the world and, now, saber-rattling at Iran.
We all know how the end of the war with Japan came about. Let's hope that the lunatics in Washington don't pull the same option for this one. But there's a question to keep asking them: with a superior army and better weapons, how is it that it's taken us longer to win in a pissant desert country (whose government we've already overthrown) than it did to win against a major imperial power that had previously managed to defeat China in armed conflict?
How is it that they've managed to fuck up something that should have been so simple -- hunt down Osama in Afghanistan?
Oh. Right. What W and Company have done is the same as if, after Pearl Harbor, FDR bobmed Tokyo, then invaded Thailand. Put in those terms, the stupidity is a bit more obvious, isn't it? Er, correction: a bit more obvious to the 20-odd percent of Americans who don't get it yet.
The rest of us? We have to do everything we can to keep this War on (Some) Terrorists from spreading to Iran because someone has a jones for cheap oil. We have to tell them "Enough". If they can't manage what they wanted to in more time than it took to defeat Japan (and, simultaneously, Germany & Friends), then it's time for the US to pack up its toys and bring all of our soldiers in Iraq home.
Actually, it's past time. They should have used this option back in May, 2005.
May 20, 2005, to be exact...
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