Quagmire anyone?

Dude.

The war in Iraq has lasted longer than US involvement in World War II.

Not that comparisons to WWII are even mildly relevant, but it does make you think.

Comments

  1. MikeAugust 22, 2006 at 6:48 PM

    Interesting. But spinnable. You see Tom, the military involvement in the second world war was shorter, but that armed conflict occupied almost the entirity of the War on Fascism (Second World War is so 20th century.

    A better comparions would be the Vietnam conflict. Not because there are any similarities between Iraq and Vietnam, of course, but because Vietnam was arguably the longest and largest US military action the context of the War on Communism (Cold War is similarly out-of-date).

    So far, Iraq seems to be the largest and longest military action in the context of the War on Terror.

    So surely the more important point is not how long the armed conflict goes on, but how long it is in proportion to the wider war of ideas. So let's just keep up this war against terror, and the relative duration of Iraq won't be so bad, right?

    Sorry? What about all the human casualties and ruined infrastructure and whatnot in the meantime?

    Well, I'm sure Iraq will be all sorted out soon. After all, we learned how to fight ideas with bullets in Vietnam, so the lessons of that war should help us in this one, right? Right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. SnoozeAugust 22, 2006 at 10:58 PM

    If you're desperately searching for a Look-over-there-That-mess-is-even-worse kind of distraction, then look no further, Spin Doctors.

    The War on Terror: Iraq Chapter is still in chubby-cheeked infancy compared to the War on Drugs - now entering it's 38th glorious year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TomAugust 23, 2006 at 1:00 AM

    And let's not forget the cleaning-company-sponsored War On Germs...

    ReplyDelete

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