In light of VP Pence's statement of 'We're here to stay' in Afghanistan, I'd like to take you on a short 7 tweet journey:
In the winter of 2010 I was in a place called Sangin, in Helmand Province. I arrived to support the 3/5 Marines, shortly after this: wbur.org/npr/141724272/…
I don't know why we were there, other than someone had told some general that's where people they considered their enemies were. We fought because they fought, they fought because we fought.
It wasn't fun and I don't have any good memories of it. Eventually we went home, I left the military, and life went on.
A couple years ago I came across this article: nytimes.com/2017/03/23/wor… None of it had mattered. All those people died and mixed their blood into the dirt with thousands of years of conflict for nothing.
The only thing America will get out of continued war in Afghanistan is dead sons and daughters, and the assurance of profit for Boeing and Raytheon. We're just making sure the next generation of Afghans hates us. They'll have good reason to.
Read Smedley Butler's 'War Is A Racket'. It's only a few pages. ratical.org/ratville/CAH/w…
