ALWAYS KILLING THE WRONG PEOPLE …
While America’s “leaders” bitch and moan about Russian aggression in its own sphere of influence, a U.S.-led military intervention far afield of its sphere of influence has been going on for nearly thirteen years.
Why? Good question …
We suppose the easiest answer is that the “War Gods” are strong in America … even if their bank account is running $17.4 trillion in the red.
Anyway …
In the latest example of American “military intelligence” at work, a drone strike accidentally killed five Afghan soldiers (our “partners in peace”) and injured seven others.
“We can confirm that at least five Afghan National Army personnel were accidentally killed this morning during an operation in eastern Afghanistan,” a statement from the American-led occupation force noted. “We value the strong relationship with our Afghan partners, and we will determine what actions will be taken to ensure incidents like this do not happen again.”
Sheesh …
The “mistake” comes as U.S.-Afghan relations have reached an all-time low. Afghan president Hamid Karzai has refused to sign bilateral security agreement between the two nations that would open the door to a sustained American military presence in the region, and the Obama administration is not happy with him.
Oh well … at least S.C. First Gentleman Michael Haley did his job over there, right?
Ummmm … not so much.
America’s failed military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan are bleeding taxpayers dry. In fact a recent Harvard University study determined the true cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to be in the neighborhood of $4-6 trillion – much higher than the $1.5 trillion figure frequently cited by anti-war activists.
“The large sums borrowed to finance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will also impose substantial long-term debt servicing costs,” the report found. “As a consequence of these wartime spending choices, the United States will face constraints in funding investments in personnel and diplomacy, research and development and new military initiatives. The legacy of decisions taken during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will dominate future federal budgets for decades to come.”
Oh … and thousands of Americans are dead, too.
For what? What did all that blood and money get us?
12 comments
Sic Willie, can I borrow your copy of the US balance sheet? You know, the old “T” balance that shows assets on one side and liabilities on the other. You obviously have only read from the liabilities side, so I was just curious what is on the assets side.
IOU’s
Really? IOUs are “assets”? Please explain the origin of these markers. So you discount the value of all the land and buildings owned by the US?
Stop it! Attempting to use facts and logic on this site can you give one a massive headache. Got any Excedrin?
Sorry chief but any savvy real estate investor will tell you that you can never outrun the interest. Therefore, the interest on the money borrowed will certainly exceed the appreciation of the land held. As for the property tax collected, well there are no federal property taxes. I.E, the non-performing assets still require maintenance and management such as the guys in little brown hats and lime green pickups who wonder dirt roads looking for God knows what. To head off your argument that so and so bought a corner on credit on Rosewood and sold it to Blockbuster and outran the interest to make a few hundred large I say to you that the majority of the land that the Fed. govt owns is highly rural and often times uninhabitable unless one feels the call to live the Unabomber lifestyle. Furthermore, any of the real assets such as the natural resources from timber to fossils, water to wind are all leased out to corporations who do not contribute to the national debt. You know, the crony capitalism argument constantly being made on this site. Damn FITS, is sucks having to defend anyone who promotes Mark Sanford and T-Rat so get your sorry ass together and choose a path.
And if you argue that the corporations do contribute in the taxes they pay, well, that goes back to the original calculation of the national debt, the shortfalls and thus the need to borrow in the first place. As for the buildings, well, they are so expensive to maintain and therefore such a financial drain, it speaks for itself. If we pay men and women to “manage” a patch of woods, etc. etc.
Obviously you are not aware for the real estate that the US owns. How about 33 Liberty St in NYC. Not too rural for you is it? How about the Presidio in SF. Oh sorry, I guess it is rural being next to the GB Bridge. You need to expand your thinking.
Ahhh yes, Dronezzzzz, the kind of whiz-bangs along with satellites that Carter insisted obviated any need for human assets gathering intel. Same pathway that led to Comrade Clinton blowing up baby milk factory, aspirin factory and millions of dollars of fireworks blowing up tent in Afghanistan. Barack Osama is still making that pair look like Mensa material.
Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet don’t ya?
Not to the main thrust of your article, but a couple of quick bits in regard to the friendly fire incident:
1. As we always said back in the specops game, “Friendly fire…isn’t.”
2. Wars are horrible, nasty things (regardless of scale). These “blue on blue” incidents happen in almost any size conflict (even cops do it sometimes), but in far flung, complex ops like the ‘Stan, there occurrence is a certainty.
3. The US, for all the protestations to the contrary, genuinely does everything possible to avoid these, and investigates the hell out of them when they do occur for lessons learned.
4. They are hard on both sides: Obviously, getting blown up or shot almost always sucks pretty hard, but the the trigger pullers almost always end up in counseling (or doing the proverbial “laps in brown liquor” to work off the guilt).
5. I had a buddy in the ‘Stan who was involved in one (on the giving end, not the receiving end). We pulled him through it, but these things just suck.
Sorry for the borderline extraneous rambling.
You said “thrust”…heh, heh, heh
I saw a flock of drones in Greenville yesterday at the park. They looked just like little blackbirds. They even shit on the cars and stuff. But I know it was a National Guard exercise.