Fair enough. That post is from 2009; links break, but I still mean it. I understand your concern; hopefully I might have one more ride in me. If I do, it’s getting close to time to take it.
I certainly admire and appreciate your commitment, and would like to think I'd do the same (though I don't think they'd take me). I have to ask though, in light of recent conversations, how Iran is a fight worth having, but Venezuela is not? I am sure rape is a weapon there too, among many others. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I am seeking clarity here.
I’m not sure if I have adequate clarity myself. It’s a vision of beauty, which you follow where it leads. I came to that conclusion in 2009 and it still seems right to me. I believed in a lot of things in those days that have lost their luster, but not this one.
I trust neither the information, nor the goals. We have better things to do than squander lives in some middle eastern country. We are not going to change anything over there, using any method short of "war crime" levels. Iraq and Afghanistan taught that lesson well. Thanks to mass infiltration, that war will be here anyway, soon enough.
That’s probably true. Probably all of it is. But a man’s got to die of something, which might at least be something noble and good; and, so I once heard in a song, he’s got to do what he’s best at. I’m not in charge, so whether it happens or not isn’t up to me. I’m just a volunteer if it does, for reasons that seem sufficient to me.
Eric will possibly be by to remind us that this is how Europe lost its heart in WWI. But it is also how we got Tolkien, and all his sorrow. It was only he who knew how to write “I will diminish… and remain.”
I'm probably not that Eric, but I will suggest, not entirely tangentially, that we lost Iraq the second time and Afghanistan and, I'll add, Vietnam because of really bad broad mission creep (not that a little mission creep isn't also very bad) and an utter lack of defined victory conditions.
Europe lost its heart--or at least western Europe did--in WWI, for much the same reason--lack of defined victory conditions which facilitated mission creep. It's true we got Tolkien, too, and some others, but we also got WWII.
Wrt to Iran, some things are worth fighting for no matter the surrounding circumstances. The safety of the women of Iran, of women in general, is one. If that makes me a chauvinist, hand me the noose, I'll place it myself. If that makes me a war criminal, shoot me, but that won't make me wrong or the shooter right.
Time, opportunity, even valor, has limits- spend it one place and it won't necessarily be available for others. The level of threat we face in the next few years, in this country, from a combination of communists and islamists, is great enough to preclude any desire to mess about overseas, at least for me. The defense of the USA is absolutely #1. Nothing else even comes close- if we go down, that is the end.
Absolutely, it is. And the best defenses are two: 1) an overpowering offense and the ability to use it, 2) conducting that defense, whether as defense or offense, overseas rather than here at home. War is destructive hell, and I choose not visit that on my homeland.
14 comments:
The link to the interview in your linked-to earlier post seems dysfunctional, taking us only to the Jerusalem Post.
Might this be the interview? https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/irans-brutality-women-and-children-first/
I would join that fight, also, were I not more likely to be a burden on my fellows than on those enemies.
Eric Hines
Fair enough. That post is from 2009; links break, but I still mean it. I understand your concern; hopefully I might have one more ride in me. If I do, it’s getting close to time to take it.
I certainly admire and appreciate your commitment, and would like to think I'd do the same (though I don't think they'd take me). I have to ask though, in light of recent conversations, how Iran is a fight worth having, but Venezuela is not? I am sure rape is a weapon there too, among many others. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I am seeking clarity here.
I’m not sure if I have adequate clarity myself. It’s a vision of beauty, which you follow where it leads. I came to that conclusion in 2009 and it still seems right to me. I believed in a lot of things in those days that have lost their luster, but not this one.
I appreciate the response, both that you gave it, and your sense of it. I get it.
I trust neither the information, nor the goals.
We have better things to do than squander lives in some middle eastern country. We are not going to change anything over there, using any method short of "war crime" levels. Iraq and Afghanistan taught that lesson well.
Thanks to mass infiltration, that war will be here anyway, soon enough.
That’s probably true. Probably all of it is. But a man’s got to die of something, which might at least be something noble and good; and, so I once heard in a song, he’s got to do what he’s best at. I’m not in charge, so whether it happens or not isn’t up to me. I’m just a volunteer if it does, for reasons that seem sufficient to me.
Eric will possibly be by to remind us that this is how Europe lost its heart in WWI. But it is also how we got Tolkien, and all his sorrow. It was only he who knew how to write “I will diminish… and remain.”
I'm probably not that Eric, but I will suggest, not entirely tangentially, that we lost Iraq the second time and Afghanistan and, I'll add, Vietnam because of really bad broad mission creep (not that a little mission creep isn't also very bad) and an utter lack of defined victory conditions.
Europe lost its heart--or at least western Europe did--in WWI, for much the same reason--lack of defined victory conditions which facilitated mission creep. It's true we got Tolkien, too, and some others, but we also got WWII.
Wrt to Iran, some things are worth fighting for no matter the surrounding circumstances. The safety of the women of Iran, of women in general, is one. If that makes me a chauvinist, hand me the noose, I'll place it myself. If that makes me a war criminal, shoot me, but that won't make me wrong or the shooter right.
Eric Hines
Sounds like DJT decided to protect the women of Venezuela first.
If that's what he was trying to accomplish, I suppose.
I was thinking of longtime commenter Eric Blair, who hasn't been around much lately. He used to make the WWI point fairly often.
Time, opportunity, even valor, has limits- spend it one place and it won't necessarily be available for others. The level of threat we face in the next few years, in this country, from a combination of communists and islamists, is great enough to preclude any desire to mess about overseas, at least for me.
The defense of the USA is absolutely #1. Nothing else even comes close- if we go down, that is the end.
Ain't found nothing better so far?
- Tom
The defense of the USA is absolutely #1.
Absolutely, it is. And the best defenses are two: 1) an overpowering offense and the ability to use it, 2) conducting that defense, whether as defense or offense, overseas rather than here at home. War is destructive hell, and I choose not visit that on my homeland.
Eric Hines
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