July 24th, 2010
A Gringo’s View of the War
Hola loyal readers. Last post Bruce was little full of himself, “wanting it all”, he said. As Mary pointed out to him, their lives are not so perfect. They still work for a living and have the normal stresses of everyday life (although certainly not to the level of their old lives). Although they have had much serendipity in their escape to Mexico there are some things they cannot escape and one is the fact that they are still Americans. Please permit Bruce this rare foray into American politics.
My morning routine has me opening my email (after I check my online chess games, and it looks like you have me in this one Kevin) and a twice daily email I get is from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Strib, many call it, and today the headline is “Five US Soldiers Die in Afghanistan Blasts”.
I’m going to keep this short.
As many of you know we moderate a Canadian news site and the war in Afghanistan is in the news every single day as Canadian forces are a major player. I can tell you that public sentiment is strongly in favor of pulling out. One common post is simply the listing of the names of the 151 Canadian soldiers who have given their lives to this “cause”.
Who understands this war? I have read a couple novels that have given me some insight to the region. One, in particular, West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamin Ansary showed me that Afghanistan and surrounding states are not countries as we westerners perceive such. They are coalitions of tribes with constant power struggles pretty much being the order of the day. In my mind there is no hope for a Democratic US allied country emerging from this mess and we should just get the hell out and let the tribes sort it out.
In conclusion I will let the tragically deceased Minnesotan, 23 year old, 1st Lt. Christopher Goeke, sum up my feelings in what the deeply patriotic soldier, shortly before his death, told his father Randy, “It doesn’t matter what we do over here, when we get pulled out, it’s going to go back to the same way it was — it’s just useless.”
Thanks for visiting, gentle reader. Bruce hopes that you will express your feelings on the war, pro or con. Healthy debate is the backbone of a strong democracy. To comment or view comments, double click the post title and scroll down. Hasta Pronto!
July 25th, 2010
Deb Dyer Says :
So sad, but true my friend. Thank you for sharing. It is and will remain incomprehensible to me that we think we can change thousands of years of history and culture, just by being there. (like our society is perfect…uffda, another place we don’t want to go!)
I know there are strong arguments on both sides, but ya know…God (the universe, my inner voice…whatever), grant me the courage to change the things I can change, and accept the things I cannot…and the WISDOM to know the difference.