To be perfectly honest, prior to writing this column, my knowledge of the War on Terrorism was pathetic at best. Like many other people my age, I knew the war was going on, but my interest in the specifics has dwindled as the fight has seemed to drag on and on over the past eight years. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Wrong. It might feel that way to those of us living our nice, cushy lives here in America, but what about the people of Afghanistan and our troops? Regardless of why we originally set out to invade Afghanistan, we have to face facts. Things simply aren’t getting any better there. But will Obama’s plan to send more troops really help things or are we just following in the footsteps of the Vietnam War?
As a Los Angeles native coming from a family of Democrats, I have been groomed to associate Bush and his wars with bad. I never really questioned that. But, now that Obama, the Democratic Party’s beacon of hope, is president and he is planning on sending more troops to Afghanistan, I’m a little confused. However, upon research, I discovered that I’m not the only one. Over 90% of U.S. funding in Afghanistan goes toward the military, yet Obama has promised to “forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan”. I’m no genius, but I’ve seen enough “Make love, not war” t-shirts to know that war and peace are not one in the same.
Things have actually gotten much worse since we’ve invaded Afghanistan. Those looking to get up close and personal with just how bad the situation is should take a look at Robert Greenwald’s documentary Rethink Afghanistan. In his film, Greenwald asks Afghans if they believe that the American troops are actually making things safer, liberating women, and progressively rebuilding their shattered country. He finds that the answer is a resounding no. The film also shows horrific scenes of mutilated women and starving children for sale in displaced people camps.
“One of the most shocking things to me in making this film was to see the conditions for many women—so much worse now than under the Taliban,” Greenwald explains in an interview with Daily Beast reporter, Gail Sheehy, “The corrupt Karzai government we represent is legitimizing the Taliban, and women and children are bearing the greatest brunt of our bombing.”
Some are even going as far as to say that the War on Terrorism is becoming the Vietnam War of our era. Since we’re only 8 years into this war (Vietnam lasted 16 years), it may seem a little bit premature to call this our Vietnam. However, the similarities are almost astounding. With a president who aims to do whatever it takes to “win”, efforts concentrated on a greatly divided nation with a corrupt government, and no easy way out, this is looking an awful lot like Groundhog’s Day.
You might think that since Bush has left office, the situation might start getting better. But, you’d be wrong. Currently, there are about 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, but both Obama and Bush seem to agree that this number needs to be doubled within the next year or so. Even if this number is doubled, we still have a ways to go until we reach the 500,000 soldiers sent to Vietnam during the war’s peak. Plus, we’ve only lost 642 people so far in comparison to Vietnam’s 58,000. But, we have lost more troops in these 8 years than we did in the first 9 years of Vietnam and, with no end in sight, who knows how many more we’ll lose as we send more troops overseas?
So is this our generation’s Vietnam? Simply put, not yet but it has the potential to get there. Obama already seems eager to continue the Vietnam policy of “when in doubt, escalate,” as Newsweek reporters John Barry and Evan Thomas put it. True, more troops can sometimes be beneficial to the outcome of a war, as long as there is some sort of strategy to back it up. But that’s just it. We have no strategy and the clock is ticking.
A wise man once said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Perhaps someone should pass on these words of wisdom to the current administration.
Picture courtesy of theweek.com
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