[V8] V8's and $3 a gallon....well, sort of...

[Roger M. Woodbury]

I was really glad to hear from someone who has actually been there and done
THAT.  As a veteran I mourn for the boys and girls who we have wasted in a
foolish gunfight that we started and can't 'win'.  

The reason that we can't 'win' it, is that there is no 'win' in this one,
only various grades of loss.  If we stay there ten years or so, we will
suffer more dead than we lost in Vietnam.  In the end, the various tribes
will still be shooting each other over insults and degradations that we in
this country and this "culture" can't even begin to fathom...less now than
in the past, since we no longer teach history or geography or any sort of
political science in the public school system.  

So we will eventually find a way to declare 'victory' and withdraw, leaving
the Suunis and Kurds and the others to continue to kill each other off, only
this time they will be able to do it within the framework of a "democracy"
that we installed.  Presumably, we will be satisfied because they will be
able to do it in their democracy, one which will satisfy "us", although dead
will still be dead, and old sores and scores will continue to fester.  Been
that way for thousands of years, and the mighty United States isn't going to
change it, because in the end, we will not just bleed and bleed and bleed
for the generations needed to make the change.

But what really pisses me off, as a Vietnam era veteran, aside from the pure
waste of the lives of young men and women who gladly wore the uniform of
this country, and would and DID do everything that an ignorant, arrogant and
incompetent civilian leadership asked of them; and aside from the billions
of treasure that we are simply wasting into the desert sands...billions that
my grandchildren will still be paying back...what REALLY pisses me off is
that the majority of Americans haven't been told yet that the true cost in
terms of American people is concerned, is the horrendous cost that the
maimed and wounded soldiers represents to the future of this country.

Unlike the terrible sight of the black bags returning from Vietnam, as bad
as they were, the cost of the maiming of US soldiers, and the destruction of
the health of so far, untold tens of thousands is a debt that will saddle
the economy of this country for a generation.

I personally believe that we will all be paying $3.00 per gallon of gasoline
for a long time to come.  If the cost of the fuel actually does decline
some, the government will likely levy an extra tax on every gallon to pay
for the added medical cost of our wounded who bled out red blood to insure
an increased supply of black gold.

Roger Woodbury, USAF, ret.