I have a problem with my Uncle.

(Side note:Blogger is being slow today so if you are trying to read this and it freaks, try again later)





Yea, he’s got a serious problem. He’s developed a crack habit of sorts. And it is costly, not just in the amount of money it is running us all but also in the pain and suffering. His name? Sam. Yea, my Uncle Sam. His crack habit? War.



Look let me set the record strait about a few things as I see them. If you get pissed easily, well, maybe you should just look for my next update and stop reading now. If you keep reading and get pissed, you were warned.



Stop now, turn back.



Still here? Okay, good.



I love facts, especially trivia. So after making a comment about the US having a crack habit called the War in the Middle East, I decided to do a little more looking about.

So, how bad is the cost of the habit?

Check this out:

http://costofwar.com/



This is our running totals as you read, not counting the cost in human lives.

So lets try to just put the money in perspective. The cost in money to the US for World War 2 was $306,000,000,000. That was not including the Lend/Lease Program. (http://www.faqfarm.com/History/WWII/13565)



Using their calculator at http://costofwar.com , the cost for those living in the city of Athens was $4,405,864. Based upon the census data for the population of Athens, that works out to about $206.45 per person. That is as of today. So, what do we get for this? Look, if you want to take $200 out of my wallet just to play war, you better be buying Warhammer 40k stuff so I can at least play as well. That way when all is said and done, after I beat the crap out of you for taking the $200 bucks I have something to show for it.



I mean look, Saddam was a dictator every bit as bad as Hitler. He deserved to be ousted, drug out and hung by piano wire ala Mussolini. Now, here we are in the middle of nowhere, getting our asses shot off by a bunch of idiots who want to revert to the 14th century. So we oust the asshole and are trying to help make a stable government there. Sounds good and cheery don’t it?

Well, here is my question: Where are the Saudis? Where are the UAE? Where are the Sudanese? There are no Turks, Omani, Syrian, Egyptian, or any of another half dozen countries sending peacekeepers there. Why? Simple, if we are willing to pay for and die for setting up another member of OPEC, then they are going to let us do it. Heck, even most of the UN is not willing to help.



Now granted, this is not a conventional war like WWII, but what the hell are we doing? Has the average American lost his little friggin mind? Half way around the planet is not our back yard. We have enough trouble feeding our own poor let alone taking on another country as a live in poor relatives.



Now consider this, a simple question. If your soldiers are refusing orders, going AWOL, and going to court to try to not get deployed, is there something wrong? Um, YEA! I feel bad for the troops deployed over there. It is a thankless and dangerous job with too much pain, loss and heartbreak for them all. They are doing a soldiers job, following orders. But when the orders are of a type that causes a conflict on moral grounds, then it is a soldier’s duty to question them. From what I have been reading, they are. Good luck everyone, keep your heads down!

I’m not one of the “give them a hug and the whole world will be sunshine and rainbows” crowd. I say kick their ass and then hand it over to the locals. When the French sent troops to aid us in our civil war, they did just that. They helped kick out the British and said “Here you go, good luck, its all yours now.” I’d like to think the average Iraqi is as smart as an 18th century American bumpkin. The French didn’t stay around to help rout out British sympathizers. They did not arm and train the Continental Army. They did not provide for a new national police force. Let them spend some of that oil money they have. Build your own country, we did. It may not be great, but it is ours, not a cheap knockoff of someplace else.



Let me toss in a little quote. Pay attention to who said it:



"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953



President Eisenhower, former Supreme Allied Commander, General of the Army, commander of NATO forces in Europe. I think he knows a little about war. I say let us get out. Bring them home and lets spend my $200 here. I know there are a lot of people who would have a Merry Christmas with an extra $200 to put food on the table with.



Along the lines spoken about before, let me toss out another bone I am tired of. Okay, so there are these funds being allocated by the US for keeping nuclear and biological weapons out of the hand of terrorist from the former Soviet Union. The weapons I mean, not the terrorists. Anyway, it is something to the tune of 10 Billion dollars. So, I wondered what am I getting for my share of the cost? Well, first, let me point something out. No terrorist organization has ever gotten a WMD, ever. Some will shout “Great! See it is working!” Okay, let me point out something else: Nothing has ever been done with that money except meeting. Yeper, 10 Billion and nothing but meetings. Not one weapon decommissioned under the program, not one extra guard. So we are spending this money on stopping a threat that has never happened by having meetings and not really doing anything. Um..er…okay.



So I was reading today on CNN about the possible terrorist threat of laser pointers to airline pilots. (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/09/terrorist.laser.ap/index.html) I can just see a terrorist waling into a Wall Mart “I’d like to buy 10,000 laser pointers please…” Um, guys, jets go real fast. Now, your telling me your afraid some terrorist is going to take a laser with a point of light about .025 of an inch and hit someone in a cockpit, behind polarized glass, in the iris of the eye; a target of less than .25 of an inch. And they are going to do it while said .25 inch target is going more than 200 mph? I never knew terrorists were such good shots! So tell me, why are we not using military forces to protect envelope factories around the world to keep terrorists from putting infectious diseases in the glue they use on the back of envelopes? Makes as much sense.



As for me, I am sick of the government trying to make me scared of the boogie man they call terrorists. Do like the Russians did in Lebanon when their ambassador got kidnapped. Take one of their leaders, castrate him, cut out his tounge, and dump his bloody corpse on the steps of his family home. Within one hour of this the ambassador was returned unharmed. Show them we are not playing and they will pick up their toys and go home. Harsh I know, but it worked.





Till next time,

Be mindful and awake.