there is a bit of skewed information in the op. when the statistics of the percentage of total american citizen involvement in wars are given, the figures don’t take in to account the differences in population then and now.
a half percent today is probably more than two percent of the population in the 30’s and 40’s. i don’t feel like looking up the census data to do the math, but i would think it is a safe bet.
also, who cares if we can’t sustain military action in the middle east?
what have we accomplished so far?
we do have saddam (supposedly. google saddam look alikes, take in to consideration the intel of the group carrying out his death and see what you think)
capturing saddam wasn’t that big of a deal either. he posed no threat to us or our oil, as saudi arabia has the clout in the middle east anyways, and they are our allies.
we don’t have bin laden, the region hates us more now than ever which leads to greater attack risk, our country is torn on political beliefs so much so that the bullshit patriot act was passed which effectively undermined the check and balance system, we are spending billions of dollars per year on what? forcing soldiers to camp in 120 degree deserts?
all we have really done is a favor for people who couldn’t rid themselves of their own dictator, and at a huge cost to us.
terrorism can’t be the concern. if it was, we would leave and let the situation cool down. we have found that flexing military might against religiously motivated guerrilla warriors does not present the same results as fighting a military with a military. it only solidifies the enemies stance.
wmd’s are not the concern. we now know, and bush has admitted, that iraq had none.
so we are rebuilding iraq? bullshit. they are humans with brains, and the new regime can come up with their own gov’t. we already did them the favor of removing hussein.
the only benefit reaped from iraq is financial and for privately owned companies. halliburton being the primary gainer, and dick cheney, a friend of bush sr’s a huge benefactor of halliburton’s financial growth.
interestingly, in a fruitful new oil drilling zone, our gas prices have risen exponentially. so, with more oil available on the market, why are prices rising at the pump? apparantly we aren’t in iraq to secure cheap oil prices either.
if we were, it would make sense that we also ousted hugo chavez and took over venezeula’s oil, toppled the mexican gov’t and took their over their oil production, and then nationalized all of our own oil production to set standard, low prices. none of this seems to be an issue at all.
so why exactly are we in iraq? maybe a lack of willing soldiers says something about majority opinion, and maybe our political leaders should do their jobs and represent the majority of the public like they were voted in to office to do.