Friends and Enemies

In our (the USA’s) role as the World’s Cop, we have often changed sides. In Iraq, we supported Saddam Hussein in his fight against Iran. He was our friend. In a relatively short time, he was our enemy and one where we have spent: “According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion by 2017 including interest. The CBO estimated that of the $2.4 trillion long-term price tag for the war, about $1.9 trillion of that would be spent on Iraq, or $6,300 per US citizen. For details, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War

A total of 4,488 U.S. service members died during the Iraq War, which includes both hostile and non-hostile causes across Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

We supported the Taliban in their war against Russia and provided them with many of the weapons that they turned against us when they were no longer our friend.

“The Afghanistan War (2001–2021) — also known as Operation Enduring Freedom — cost the United States an estimated $2.3 trillion in today’s dollars over its 20-year duration. This figure represents direct spending on military operations, personnel, contractors, reconstruction, and intelligence, but does not include future costs for veteran care or interest in the debt incurred.”

We spent 20 years on this conflict, and the Taliban retook the country in 11 days. 2,461 US service members were killed. 20,752 wounded. An estimated 176,000 total deaths, including Afghan civilians and security forces.

After our debacle in Vietnam, what did we learn? My take is that doing the same thing over and over again with the same negative result is just plain………..

This was a case of our enemy at the time, who is now our friend after we lost the war. That war cost us 58,200 lives at a cost to the taxpayer of $1.3 trillion (in today’s $).

And we wonder why the defender of democracy is not so popular even among our allies. Are these the times when we were great MAGA?