On Iraq: Will LBJ's War Become Nixon's War?

From the very beginning the war in Iraq has been a complete military blunder. It started off with the blatant lies the Bush Administration sold to the American people as a necessity for war. The opinions of military commanders regarding the inevitable disastrous outcome were dismissed by civilian intellectuals who are so smart that they're stupid. Our military was sent in without an adequate number of troops, under-equipped, and with no plan to win the peace once Saddam's regime was toppled. Mass murderers who killed our troops were granted amnesty while we installed a puppet government in Iraq more loyal to their religious tribal factions than their own country. For the last 5 five years we have watched Iraq in peril from our television screens while President Bush and Congress continue to ask the American people for patience. General Petraeus has conducted a military operation that has significantly reduced violence, only reinforcing the plea of Bush and Congress to stay the course -- however, it has been the deadliest year for our military since the start of the war, and it is only delaying our inevitable departure. (Not to mention this.)

Everything we tried to accomplish in Iraq has been unsuccessful due to the delusions of the architects of the war, a lack of cooperation from the Iraqi government, the failure of the Iraqi army and police forces to stand up so we can stand down, and the complete unshared sacrifice of the American people that detaches them from the harsh reality of the situation on the ground in Iraq.

(It was never a possibility to enforce a Western form of democracy upon a nation with an entirely different culture and way of life -- we can't do it by gunpoint or hand-holding.)

Aside from the bloody human casualties we face the possibilities of a recession and an economic breakdown due to military spending for a war that is running up our national debt to astronomical numbers that our grandchildren will be paying off.

Leaving 165,000 troops sitting stationary in Iraq is doing nothing whatsoever to fight terror cells throughout the world who are plotting to attack us here not there. It is a total setback from the real war on terror.

In addition, our politicians in Washington are wasting our tax dollars and all of their political energy on the war. It totally inhibits their ability to address the real issues that matter most to the American people -- jobs, education, poverty, economic prosperity, global warming, etc.

What I find most concerning is that the American people have not yet fully caught on to the severity of this debacle.

None of these detriments seem to pop up on the radar of average Americans who live their lives without interruption while our blood and treasure continue to be spent on the occupation of Iraq.

With the exception of our troops and their families, the American people reap the benefits of freedom and citizenship without committing any sacrifice to earn it.

Sooner or later that blood and treasure will run out and Americans will be mandated to sacrifice in some way, shape, or form. This is a certainty that "generation chickenhawk" needs to realize.

Ever since I came home from Iraq I have been fighting for an end to the war. On my travels I have encountered plenty of resistance from young able-bodied Americans who want our troops to fight and die in Iraq while they sit on their lazy backsides. I have zero tolerance for the rhetoric of those very same people who talk tough about the death and destruction in Iraq while they just stay home.

The mobilization of this element in American society is the one of the most disgraceful tragedies of the entire war.

My message to them is "put up or shut up."

If we as a nation are not willing to share in the sacrifice, we have no business being at war - period.

Modern day America will never have the resolve or the commitment of the WWII generation. We could not and would not ever tolerate a massive call of our young people to military service. Most pro-war baby boomers want their kids in college, not on the battlefields of Iraq. Therefore, let's bring our troops home.

Recently I had an exchange with a member of the media who told me that I'm "banging my head against a brick wall and going crazy reliving Vietnam." Kind of strange being that I wasn't even born yet. Then I was asked whether or not "LBJ's war will become Nixon's war?" in reference to Iraq. I'll leave that to the American people to answer.

Comments

[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

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[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

See John Bruhns's Profile

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080113/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_mideast

[23000Days]

John, thanks for continuing to carry on the good fight.
You said "Recently I had an exchange with a member of the media who told me that I'm "banging my head against a brick wall and going crazy reliving Vietnam." Kind of strange being that I wasn't even born yet. Then I was asked whether or not "LBJ's war will become Nixon's war?" in reference to Iraq. I'll leave that to the American people to answer."
We all know that the corporate media is currently struggling to maintain the status-quo, and will say anything in their defense, corrupt, lazy bastards they are! But the truth now takes the same presence as the big lie. We must repeat,repeat,repeat to make the truth realized.
Notice that all your commenters here are doing the same thing, some with additional points or perspectives, but all repeating, repeating, repeating those.
Alas, that's all the power we have; just keep beating that drum!
Will we ever reach a point where we feel like we're winning? Or are we preaching only to the choir?

[Sundialsvc4]

I am very grateful to you and to your comrades in arms for your service... for your survival...

I admire you for your dedication 'even unto death' to obeying the orders of the Commander in Chief. That is incredible. Thank you, to you all.

But let us not fail to scrutinize that Commander. And the civilian system which oversees it. Let us hold them to the highest standards of excellence at all times, and accept no less.

As a previous Commander, "Ike" Eisenhower, foresaw, 47 years ago this month, that system today is deeply flawed, and the peril is great.

Especially as today we see the drums of war beating ever louder, and the plowshares being hammered into swords, we must strive to turn this tide. That "no one shall die in vain," nor be asked to.

"The last true measure of devotion" must not be treated lightly. Ever.

[Bobzmcishl]

As Barbara Bodine cited in the Iraq documentary "No End In Sight", we found 500 wrong ways to do the Iraq reconstruction, instead of the two-three right ways". What started out as a feel good story has turned into a horror movie. The Republican' have tried to use the tactical success of the surge to justify our staying in Iraq for the forseeable future. That is reason enough to vote for a Democrat in 2008, unlike 1968 where we had a choice between two hawks. The Republican's need to be dealt a resounding defeat in November that will tell the GOP that we want our Constitution back and we want our sons and daughters home from Iraq. And they will come home with honor - they weren't responsible for the massive incompetency of the Bush Administration - a cadre of "chickenhawks" none of whose sons and daughters had to fight in Iraq.

[ProudLiberalDan]

Never did I think I would live to see the U.S. with an unelected President in 2000 mislead the nation into war under false pretenses against the WRONG country and get away with it, leaving the actual architects of 9-11, Al Queda, not Sadaam Hussein, to grow stronger.

Almost more immoral was the President's urge to "go shopping" instead of pulling together to make sacrifices.

Only a conservative could come up with a war plan where poor/working class soldiers fight and the affluent go shopping as their part in the war effort, and of course, make no sacrifices or alterations in their behavior.

[Jknow]

The Gulf of Tonkin and Weapons of Mass Destruction--it's the same thing all over again. More lies by political leaders serving the oil and arms industry. And the parallels don't stop there. A company that would later be connected to Halliburton got the big contracts in Vietnam just like they are getting them now in Iraq. In a new book titled "Trail of Death: Alfredo Gomez and the Assassination of President Kennedy," these parallels are written about in detail. The book describles the Gulf of Tonkin lie in the1960s as well as the current falsehoods regarding the War in Iraq and the attempt to cover up Global Warming.
And yes, it is very likely that a vote for this current crop of candidates will create another parallel--the parallel between LBJ/Nixon and Bush/newly elected puppet.

[deminmo]

John,
In wars there is always "collateral damage"
involved, and this conflict is no exception.
At the risk of getting lambasted, I am going to
ask a question. Would it make the withdrawl
of troops faster if the military were to send in
everything they have, bomb the crap out of any
region that might harbor al Qaeda? And I mean
bigger than just a few days ago. And what are
your thoughts on continuing to give Masharraf
money to fight al Qaeda when he obviously is
defending them, by his recent statements.

[Pdubya]

john, thanks again.

i'm afraid that lbj's war will be nixon's and ford's and carter's and reagan's....etc etc etc.

there's one helluva embassy there.

some new surveys i've seen are indicating folks are now putting the economy related to the war, instead of separate issues as has recently been observed. thank goodness. perhaps people will start voting with their wallets in addition to their conscience.

enjoy these two clips...they at the very least give rise to issues that need debate:

peace,

cpt moonbat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaQSV0G5Hos

notice the choking mccain goes through

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8TkmE5t1Pk

notice judiani's laugh getting volume control

these aren't here to sway you, but this fine statesman is bringing this issue to the forefront.

[SirReal1]

John,

You know that you and I are on the same page on the majority of these issues, but I'm not sure I can agree with your first line:

From the very beginning the war in Iraq has been a complete military blunder.

The implication that Iraq was a "military blunder" would lead one to assume that "The Military" was the architect, and was fully in support of the action. You and I both know that is not the case. Many of our military leaders were adamantly opposed to attacking Iraq. Many paid the price by either being forced to retire, or being passed over for promotion until they retired, and being assigned to positions that effectively "marginalized" them for the remaining time of their service.

This "war" was a Political Blunder!

(yes, I do recognize that you went on to say essentially the same as I just stated)

It bears comment though, that "The Military", much maligned by some for not being able to "complete the mission", has, in fact, done exactly that. When the "W" declared "Mission Accomplished" he was in essence correct, the "Military Mission" in Iraq was complete.

It was what happened next that was a failure!

Paul Bremer, and the provisional government, and the ensuing "Governmental actions" of this (mis)Administration is the area that "We" as a Nation "failed". The complete lack of a "plan" to effectively "occupy" Iraq, the dismissal of many of our best minds on the Middle East, who were attempting to implement programs that "could" succeed, the utter "lack of understanding" of what the "necessary actions to implement order" were (by those who replaced them), ultimately led to the collapse of Iraqi society into chaos!

Predictably, when confronted with these circumstance, which required a deeper understanding of the Iraqi people, and the society as a whole, "W" proved his shortcomings by reverting to the simplistic strategy of "more WAR"! The nuances of diplomacy have always escaped him, and likely always will!

[yellowelephant]

If those influential Americans who support our continued military engagement in/with Iraq are not personally urging their own eligible-to-serve relatives and friends, their circles of influence, to volunteer for military service there, well, then they, and our country, don't really support this national objective after all.

Although Operation Yellow Elephant has not taken a position on the current conflict, we do urge those who support it publicly to add credibility to their positions by putting themselves on the line. If they cannot find the courage to lead when our country needs them, don't expect us to follow you in the future.

[ajax2]

The al Qaeda enemy is in Pakistan and Musharraf just gave Bush the finger.

[ljsfolly]

I whole heartedly agree with you!! I get so angry when all I see is election-election-election especially on these pages but also in MSM. As we who are watching/reading/listening the MSM does read and know what goes on on these pages. This country is famous for loses it's attention when something else comes along to take over. Now "the surge" has become like the second coming and has taken care of Iraq. No way. We should not have gone there but we have to deal with what bush gave us and right now the death toll is climbing and al quada is alive and well in there and it's just a matter of time before it blows up again because those who were informing are targets and are stopping the telling our troops who is in areas. The troops are missing the big guys due to informants. Our troops had to black out the Iraqi army so there would be less potential of this. Unless there is something like a draft to engage those who prefer to ignore the situation in iraq nothing will change. And what do we do with the broken military we have? How do you get anyone to volunteer when what is the place they will go to, maybe die or stay for many months past what they can mentally handle?

[francoise]

John,

I'm so angry when I read and hear all these selfish people who lecture you, and soldiers, and veterans, about the need to fight in Iraq while they stay safely home and go on happily with their lives ! These people are just considering that they are an elite who is too smart and too much above the average Joe to waste their time fighting while they are so much more useful managing the business of the country. They have an inflated ego and no respect for others.

This war can't be won. The Iraqis aren't ready for a free secular democratic western-style republic, and no foreigner will ever succeed into forcing it upon them. Such are human beings, who have to go through their own revolutions, enlightments, history, to build up their nations. It's useless to waste more American lives.

But it makes politicians look better (not mentioning that it makes some bank accounts swell nicely) to organize a surge and get some temporary better figures and stats during a political campaign.

Sometimes I wish that your Iraq veteran status would allow you to beat the crap out of the people responsible for this war and its mismanagement !

[realitytrumpsbull]

What would YOU do, John? Go BIG? 300k,400k troops on a neverending Iraq 'sleepover'?
Half-million?

My druthers would be to see those 'defense'
people out there making headway with hydrogen.
If we can do that'n, then no one will really
care, in the future, how much oil there is in
either the middle east, or the rest of the
world for that matter, because we won't need
it no more. The USA faces the ocean on 2-3
sides, ocean bounces up and down every 4
hours, you can make hydrogen from seawater,
once you can do that, you can make or do
other things that'll put an end to the
oil dependency model for good. Let's see
THAT instead of more stealth shower shoes
or whatever...

[larry278]

This is a very good time for the VA to meet its oblagations to veterans of Afghanistan & Iraq. Their injuries will remain long after [if] these wars are ended. It will be expensive for the VA. The USA will pay a much higher price if the VA fails to meet its obligations to this new group of combat veterans at once.
Discarding & ignoring another generation of veterans as the USA did with veterans of Korea & 'Nam is proving to be more costly as each year passes. Providing prompt & adequate care for PTSD & other service connected conditions for veterans of Afghanistan & Iraq at once is essential. That means that the VA must hire staff to provide adequate care to veterans, rent more treatment sites & provide funds to community care givers when a VA facility, an adequate facility, isn't close to a veteran so that a veteran can get adequate care close to the veteran's home. The VA has again failed to fully provide care to veterans. The Congress must give the VA adequate funding & direct the VA to meet all of the VA's obligations to veterans at once. Simply ending these wars isn't enough. The veterans who have survived these wars must recieve all benefits to which they are entitled at once & till they die including care for their dependents. The candidates for POTUS & other politicans haven't told us how they will provide adequate care for veterans yet.

[John Bruhns - Huffpost Blogger]

See John Bruhns's Profile

I do give credit to General Patraeus for the successes of the surge, but let's not forget the surge is a temporary military tactic, not a permanent military strategy. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/08/30/analysts_say_iraq_surge_cant_last_past_aug_08/

We know that the unsustainable surge forces will soon leave, only to leave behind the original 130,000 troops that were already there (Donald Rumsfeld's plan.) The violence will spike for sure , back to the pre-surge levels.

Then what? We have to start getting out.

[taikan]

You say that modern day America will never have the resolve of the WW II generation, and that we would never tolerate the massive call up of our young people for military service. However, you forget that the WW II generation was faced with a true threat to America. Japan attacked an American military base located on an American territory (Hawaii was not yet a state), and Hitler was allied with Japan. By contrast, Saddam Hussein neither attacked nor presented any credible threat to America.
If America came under attack, this generation would react just as the WW II generation reacted, and Americans old enough to have children of military age would support their service in defense of the country, and many would even join their children in that defense, just as many parents did during WW II.

[wolf58]

John I stand with you brother, although this war is not mine to fight in two of three kids of mine have and like you I have many friends who have and still do. I agree and so do all I know we should never have gone and we should have never stayed. Those who cheerlead for the war yet are to much a coward to serve in the uniform of our nation are like those who hold office that have the power to stop the insanity but choose to line their pockets from the dead and wounded who fight in it are nothing short of being some of the worse traitors that this country has ever seen.

The Other day we lost six in one booby trapped house and the only news that I saw on it was ABC, 20 minutes into the broadcast. I guess Britney and the other crap that is reported these days is more important than those who fight and those who have fallen. I remember when we as a country used to bleed red together. Now this country just bleeds green. But what can you expect from those who think support of the troops means a mall trips to shop as per direction of the biggest traitor of them all.

The next time an able bodied Neo-con, coward, chickenhawk gives you shit, just show him that fine military training you received that his tax dollars help pay for.

Take care friend
an old Vet

[whimsicalpig]

As long as americans are adicted to oil and its by-products, we will be involved with the middle east.

Americans will easily accept hillary's or obama's or huckabee's reasoning for continuing the war, just as long as there is gas for their SUV, jet fuel for their vacation at disneyworld and plenty of junk at walmart that was steamed here across the pacific in supertankers fueled by deisel.

Hopefully a severe recession/depression will jolt them out of their selfish bubbles. but by then it will be too late.

Our future has been mortgaged to china for mr. bush's war

[JBRUHNS]

A must read ...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/11/ED09UC33H.DTL

[peaceandfreedom]

John, watch out--you're becoming radicalized! For most of us, especially during the Hillary crying news cycle, there is no war. The Primaries have taken it off the front page. The Gulf of Tonkin, er--sorry, the Straits of Hormuz encounter pushes Bush's Iran agenda ahead in the public eye. Funny that we can have endless photos and even video of that non-event, but not ONE picture from any photojournalist in the world of our returning dead! Not one.

So where is the freedom of the press in this? As a newly minted Blogger/Journalist do you have any insight around that question? Because without those photos of the dead and dying, America will continue to sit on its smug ass. The only other thing that might mobilize the public is the impending Depression when they realize, as you said, that the money we spend defending Exxon and Halliburton could be put to use helping the citizens of this country survive.

I know it runs counter to their training, mindset, and culture, but when our Military leaders take THEIR pledge to defend the Constitution, do they ever consider that in that defense they might be ethically and legally required to refuse the commands of a morally bankrupt leader? Do top brass ever have Revolutionary thoughts, as in American Revolution and defending the American people? Or are our Military leaders so complicit in the Business of War that there is no distinction between them and the weapons makers?

Many retired Brass have come out against this invasion. Since the American people are still asleep and your personal battle with them is probably the hardest you will ever fight, what are the chances that those former warriors might speak to those still in uniform to change the course of our Country before it does indeed make the next president(s) inheritance one of blood, loss, and anger?

[altohone]

The "success" of the surge means Iraqis must suffer through the equivalent of "only" one Virginia Tech type incident per day instead of three... that's what the 60% reduction means.

Hardly success if you ask me.

Today, it's being reported that Marine commanders are thrilled at the success of the bombing campaign that unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives in the latest "offensive" to subdue violent regions.

Now, five years into the occupation, we are still bombarding the territory we are supposed to have conquered... the fact that we NEED to bomb anything in Iraq suggests failure at the highest levels. Boasting about the success of aerial targeting when it should be completely unnecessary shows the military's lack of objectivity.