For
a preview of what we're stepping into in Iraq and Syria, consider how badly
things turned out in Afghanistan.
Here we go again — into yet another war in a tumultuous swath of
the world we still don’t comprehend. For a preview of what we’re stepping into
in Iraq and Syria, let’s remember Afghanistan.
In the yesteryear of the Cheney-Bush regime, the promise was
that our Afghan excursion would promptly dispatch the Taliban, give al-Qaeda
the boot, and create a stable democratic government.
But it turned into both the longest war in American history and
a costly failure on all counts — with more than 2,000 U.S.
soldiers killed, nearly 20,000 maimed, and three-quarters of a trillion dollars down
the drain. What have we won?
The good news is that the Afghan debacle is scheduled to end
this year. The bad news is that it won’t.
A contingent of nearly 10,000
U.S. troops will remain in 2015, and we’re likely to keep
shelling out endless piles of money to fund that country’s bankrupt government,
including at least $4 billion a year for
the next three years to sustain the Afghan army and police alone.
So hi-ho, hi-ho — off we go to Syria, Iraq, and beyond for what
is already being called “a long war.” The tab just for the direct military cost
of this latest misadventure will be as much as $22 billion a
year.
How much good could that money do if we invested it here at
home?
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the populist
newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org