October 5, 2011

A new poll from the Pew Research Center says one third of the U.S. veterans of the post 9/ll wars--Iraq and Afghanistan—think those wars were not worth fighting.  A majority think the U.S should be focusing more on problems at home and less on foreign affairs.  I'm surprised the numbers aren't higher.        Nearly 4500 American troops have died in Iraq and about 1700 in Afghanistan.  War costs have topped a trillion (yes, that's "t") dollars.  You have to ask, what for?         And there's another factor.  When I covered the war in Vietnam in the 1960s, we had a draft.  Most GIs did only one tour in the war zone.  Now, our volunteer troops serve three or four.  That's a lot of war for anyone to bear.        And you keep coming back to, why?  What are we gaining in those places?  Beats the hell out of me.  It's been ten years now;  haven't we lost enough?