Are we ever going to STOP fighting????

For almost the better part of my life, America has been involved in some sort of conflict. Whether it is the end of the Cold War, the initial invasion of Iraq, the War on Terror, or now the "New" Iraqi War, America and our western Allies can't seem to "stop the bleeding".

Now, I know there will probably be the bloggers who shower me with numerous reasons why we need to be at war, or who upon reading this will cast me as unpatriotic, but still. Are we really going to gain from these conflicts?

Focusing on the present, yearly the Iraqi war costs an estimated $50 billion of taxpayer money. If you manipulate that statistic then you would get a daily total of $137 million. Those are just the costs of IRAQ! Could this monstrous bill be worth it? If so, then what is the financial motivation? We must remember that America as a whole is basically a business. We are running our military campaigns on barrowed Chinese money. If you owned a business would you borrow money from your competitor to keep up your overspending?

"According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion dollars by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money. 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."

That seems like a hefty price tag considering our "mission" is to bring democracy to Terrorist hot-spots.
Would you keep fighting? Currently we are the biggest supporter of China’s global strangle hold on manufactured goods. We import more goods fromChina, than we export. Atop of the billions in debt it seems the current President Bush is missing the armed man sneaking in the backdoor, because of a few trouble makers on the front yard.

“We can probably assume that the Chinese have heard rumors that American banks are writing off billions of dollars in debt-related losses. I'm guessing that it's no secret around the globe that American debt may currently be a sucker's bet. So are we to assume that Chinese financiers are ill-informed of the facts or shall we believe that they are just stupid? Is it simply a matter of Chinese bankers having a special talent for choosing safe debts to invest in? Should we think that the Chinese believe in us, or is this simply a matter of China's cheap purchase of global political power? I'm thinking that the latter explanation is the case. China carries a large debt portfolio and that about 70% of it is American debt.”---Gary Sattler—Bloggingstocks.com

In connection with the mounting financial concerns, there is also concern for the soldiers themselves. America, since WWI has been known for the best combat troops. All around our troops are better equipped, trained, and rested. Not so much in 2008.
Have you ever heard of battle fatigue?
“On the battlefield, there's no such thing as an eight-hour shift. Soldiers can go for days without a break - leaving them physically, mentally and emotionally drained.

The subtle changes aren't noticeable to the naked eye, so researchers are developing a series of tests to chart the changes in tired individuals.”---CBS News

If individual fatigue doesn’t ruffle you feathers, then let’s take a trip down memory lane. Remember World War I? How about World War II?
In each of the aforementioned wars, one of the world powers (Russia WWI, Germany WWII), began to fatigue after long sustained two front wars. Currently, some would say that we are in WWIII now. This is alarming, considering we are the world power sustaining a two front war (Iraq/Afghanistan).

Throw in the fighting between the Taliban (formerly of Afghanistan) and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine, the always entertaining Iran, and countries like Syria and Lebanon, and you have a cluster muck of war. A war we need to get out of. What happened to the days when Americans watched warring nations from across the pond, and dared one to threaten our ocean protected borders? Yes, we might get hit once in a while, but when we retaliate, one it will take a declaration from Congress (something that has yet to happen with our War on Terror), and two our soldiers will be properly rested and ready for combat.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama has made bringing our troops home a centerpiece of his campaign strategy, but Republican presumptive nominee John McCain has another plan. It seems as though we as American people are at a crossroad. In one direction, we have a path that is presumed to lead us back to diplomacy, fiscal responsibility, and military restraint, and the other path is the same path we have been traveling since the devastation of 9/11. Which will you choose?

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