I hate war. War is hell. And any other combination of words you want to make that says that I despise war. But I maintain that if are involved in war then your country’s primary goal must be to finish that war and get back to the business of running a country. Your country has already had the arguments for and against war so stop that once you’ve made the call to do it anyway. Now focus on getting your sons and daughter’s out of harms way, bring them home.
However I’m also of the mind that no matter how advanced we become or how enlightened we think we are we have to stop pretending that war is anything but a brutal and barbaric way to settle arguments. So while you’re doing it, do it right and go all in. Stop talking about nation building, stop saying it isn’t about the oil, stop all the talking. Shoot to kill and finish it quickly. And when you’re done making a mess, take the gold. Or the oil, or whatever it is that is that country’s resource. We don’t fight in places that have nothing of great value. It just happens to be how it works. Take the gold and stop pretending you are compassionate. People are dead and you’ll never convince the survivors of anything else. One man’s collateral damage is another man’s son. You can fool the people that are safely back home but not anyone else. So take the money, how much worse can that be?
There isn’t any way to have a nice war so go all the way and finish the job by stealing the resources. You’ve already destroyed everything else. Now go home with the booty. And then fix your economy or whatever it is that you keep talking about instead.
