Now he has learned that many soldiers who have served, in the thousands, and who have experienced combat like him, have been designated as “mentally unstable” as they leave the service which allows the Army to deny benefits for Post Trumatic Stress Disorder. These same soldiers have been asked to repay their signing bonus that the Army used to get them to join in the first place.

This is stunning.

He was seriously injured in May and saw his best friend literally blown into pieces from an IED explosion. He has lost part of his hearing but he’s back on patrol in the outskirts of Baghdad. Now he has learned that many soldiers who have served, in the thousands, and who have experienced combat like him, have been designated as “mentally unstable” as they leave the service which allows the Army to deny benefits for Post Trumatic Stress Disorder. These same soldiers have been asked to repay their signing bonus that the Army used to get them to join in the first place.

I am stunned that I live in a country whose leadership allows such a thing. I ask everyone who has one of those “Support the Troops” magnets on their car, and all the rest of us as well, to write their congressman and demand that this practice stop immediately and we get those soldiers and former soldiers the help they need.

But, I feel because we are there, we have a responsibility to do the best we can.

But we have never been doing the best we can, not even with this “surge.” General Petraeus’s own counterinsurgency field manual recommends for any successful counterinsurgency at least 50 combat soldiers for every 1000 civilians. For Baghdad alone that means 120,000 combat troops. Before the surge, in the ENTIRE country we had only 70,000 combat troops (the remainder were support troops). The surge increased the number by about 20,000 combat troops. But even if you were to put all 90,000 combat troops in Baghdad, you are still 30,000 short. And that is just Baghdad.

We’re basically playing whack-a-mole right now in Iraq. If this is the best that we can do, then we better just quit now, because there is nothing good coming out of this.

But, I believe there is plenty of evidence that the Gadiantons in Iraq will turn those 900 attacks per week towards the Iraqis. They are bombing mosques and markets and funerals now – without an American soldier in sight!

Terrorism is weak when analyzed in terms of military campaigns. It is not primarily a military tactic. It is a propaganda tactic. If we just up and leave with the only concern being “we ain’t there,” the 8000 dead / yr. by American hands, or the 80,000 dead / yr. by the Saddamites, may well be chump change.

What were “our actions” in Bali; in Thailand; in the Phillipines? In the Bin Laden view, “our actions” go back to the Crusades. You might say they have an eternal hatred towards us, or anyone else who doesn’t accept their terms. (Jacob 7:24 & Mosiah 10:17.)

I won’t find any comfort with the disaster in Iraq and the rest of the region following a ill-conceived pull-out. We can expect things from the Iraqis and I think it perfectly acceptable to cut support for them if they are unwilling to accomplish those things. And, I agree they need to hurry. But, I feel because we are there, we have a responsibility to do the best we can. And, I agree that we need to hurry.

It’s like the occasional bowl of ice cream. Not that good for you, but one of life’s little indulgences nonetheless.

If the only options are either more war or more hell, then frankly I want out of this life.

Thankfully there are other options. We are not limited to one or the other. In fact, tragically, the one (more war) leads to the other. War supporters keep trying to justify current action by attempting to equate Bin Laden to Hitler or Stalin. The comparisons are scarce in reality. Yeah, Bin Laden is a bad guy, but his goal is NOT world domination, and he knows it. Why? Because he’s not using tools that would get him world domination. Terrorism is the tool for the weak, not for the strong. He’s nothing more than a piranha in the water, without the ability to control the direction of the river.

The problem, and the reason why he has done so much is that we overhype his power and his influence. Our actions are the very things that bring him recruits. The CIA has said this. Why can’t we see this yet?

Next….

Yes, it is too bad. I don’t like war. But, I don’t want more hell – multiplied – exponentially. Saddam was not guiltless. We won that war. But, we were STUPID by thinking the Iraqi mindset would immediately fall in line with ideas of liberty.

How many Americans go to Mosque and attend funerals in Iraq?