Scodiddly said:
JohnRoberts said:
Scodiddly said:
JohnRoberts said:
This is just a glowing example of the gross mismanagement, and gamesmanship whenever government takes the reins over anything.
Indeed. We should get out of the war business as well - two wars still going on from the previous administration, both been going badly for several years now. That's a hell of a lot of money we could put to better use in our own country.
Funny, war is the one thing IMO too important to sub contract out, The Brit's used merc's against us in our little squabble and that tuned out poorly for them.
OK, so are you changing your position? Your quote at the top here seems to indicate that you believe that the government will screw up anything it runs. Now you're saying these two wars, which have both lasted longer than WWII, are *not* the result of everything you're accusing the government of being?
No, not inconsistent.. Politicians are terrible at war, as evidenced by the history. That's why we hire generals, they are good at war. There are several interesting examples of this in Sun Tzu's, The Art of War, but we don't need to get into the business of warfare. The trouble is generals are too good at war, to be allowed to pick their own wars, so they need civilian oversight. But the civilian leadership needs to tell them the objective, give them the resources, then get the hell out of their way.
Iraq was arguably ill informed, especially the civilian management of it, since we (Rumsfeld) tried to do it on the cheap, and diverted resources needed to finish Afghanistan prolonging that train wreck. The only thing worse than they job they did, would be losing, which almost happened. For us losing pretty much means giving up, so our public's will to see this through is what matters. That's why the terrorists go for the gory visuals to play well on the news. We haven't walked away from a fight since Viet Nam (and Lebanon, and the Cole bombing, and a few embassy bombings.), and I hope we don't start doing that again. Despite the very flawed start, Iraq appears stable and on a good track now.
As bad as our politicians are, their actual job is protecting their citizens and national interest. Appeasement only delays the inevitable, and I don't see someone waiting in the wings to step up, if we give the sundry bad actors cart blanche to run amok in lawless regions. Perhaps if they (government) weren't trying to do so much, they would be better at their important work, and wouldn't cause so much other mischief with their tinkering.
Of course opinions vary.
JR
