Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Posted here Wednesday, June 02, 2004 at 4:21:55 PM     A very good summary of the state of the new government. not yet definitive, because it can't be, but lays out the issues. http://billmon.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1482 An see the Chalabi article in the New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040607fa_fact1 ********

Posted here Wednesday, June 02, 2004 at 1:22:01 PM     Costs of war..   From the Revolutionary War to the present nightmare in Iraq, 1,200,000 American soldiers and sailors have been killed. Tens of millions more have been marked with the indelible scars of war – physical and psychological – they’ve been doomed to carry to their graves. Veterans who’ve seen action and want to go back for seconds are rare birds, and it’s hard to find a vet who’s a hawk. Those who’ve faced down the dragon know too well the waste, the stupidity and the unmitigated horror of war.              The United States has fought 11 major wars. The vast majority of these conflicts wouldn’t have occurred had our politicians done their due diligence, employed moral courage and not bought into spurious rationales for bloodletting. Certainly our history demonstrates the extreme caution we should exercise before employing the always-ugly, always-costly military solution.   And then ther are the wives, and children, parents, bothers, friends... lost talent, memory, hope. Seas of blood and money. From the revolutinary war to my father, every male down the fatehr line fought in a war.   Then we have the Bush below. ********