Another Look Back

On June 23, 2005 I posted a blog "A Look Back". I compared some aspects of the war in Iraq to our war in Vietnam and police action in Bosnia. I commented that our troops were ill prepared to prosecute an urban war in Iraq. My comments were based upon my anti Iraqi war beliefs from the time that President Bush first made it clear that the U.S. was on the road to war to avenge the atrocity of 9/11. But I, like most Americans, were blind sided by the political rhetoric. Talk of WMDs and harboring terrorists overwhelmed logical reasoning. Iraq, it was pounded into our heads, was the true enemy.

However, the President in his 2002 State of the Union Address, made it crystal clear that we faced three fronts in the war on terrorism. The "axis of evil": Iran, North Korea, Iraq, had designs on destruction of America and its way of life. Why then was Iraq and Saddam Hussein singled out for a regime change and North Korea and Iran allowed a pass? Was the administration reluctant to enter into an altercation with North Korea and Iran, when Iraq was in it’s grasp?

In recent months Iran has been sternly warned not to proceed with its uranium enrichment program or face the possibility of sanctions. North Korea has recently tested a nuclear device and plans to test another. Do they appear to be concerned that sanctions have been be imposed? Not really, for they have been allowed to conduct business as usual with impunity. The sanctions are minimal and do not include military action. Madmen don't worry about what others say about them.

North Korea most likely held an untested nuke or two as the administration planned the attack on Iraq. Although there is no evidence that Iran actually holds a nuclear device, it has had ample time to create one since we have just recently denounced their plans to go nuclear. Iraq , on the other hand, had nothing. No WMD; no links to terrorists. It’s common knowledge now. Yet, the administration insists that we “stay the course”. Why then Iraq? A more practical plan would have been to attack those carrying the bigger stick. Instead we hung a stick to the ceiling and beat it with a piñata.

In the midst of all the saber rattling, the military has lowered the enlistment standards for new recruits. History repeats itself. During the Vietnam War, a program called “Project 100,000” was instituted with the same objectives. Are there more military options being formulated?

We have dug a hole not in which to hide, but to bury ourselves.