After 13 years of war, are we ready for more?

2014-09-07T12:13:21-04:00

Larry Gatlin recently wrote an open letter to the President in which he indicated that we are in the middle of WWIII and need to rally the American people behind a fight that isn't done yet.

As we begin reductions of our forces and a transition to a 2025 vision of the military, are we being presumptuous that the war is over? Are the American people unable to stomach more war? Or do we need to go back and finish the fight?

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/09/03/open-letter-to-barack-obama-world-war-iii-is-here/

An open letter to Barack Obama: World War III is here | Fox News

In the name of that same God invoked so eloquently and powerfully by President Roosevelt, I ask that you, President Obama, if you're not too busy playing golf, campaigning, and just being cool, could again declare war on the enemies who have unleashed unprovoked and dastardly attacks on the United States.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 7 at 2014 12:14 PM

2014-09-07T12:14:55-04:00

This is definitely a double-edged situation. If we go, means president broke his promise of leaving the war with 'them'. If we stay, well, I guess it's gonna be just a matter of time until we resume. By then however it might be a much tougher war

Response by SGT Richard H. made Sep 7 at 2014 12:24 PM

2014-09-07T12:24:49-04:00

I agree with the double edged sword analogy. More war would definitely mean broken promises, and dragging it out with ROE that prevents meaningful, decisive victory is just more of the same.
At the same time, when people have given me the "it's not our fight" argument, I've always responded by saying "would you walk by a woman being raped or beaten in the street and do nothing?" I suppose you could argue that it's not the same thing, but in my view, it is the same thing.
Once we entered it, I believe that the only real conclusion is to finish it.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 7 at 2014 12:48 PM

2014-09-07T12:48:25-04:00

We damned well better be ready.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 7 at 2014 7:30 PM

2014-09-07T19:30:29-04:00

War?...Slaughter?...either. We follow rules when we war, "don't shoot unless the enemy is giving accurate fire towards you" that's the ROE. Let's go now, let's go later, it doesn't matter. Not until we allow warriors to treat war as it is will this War truly end. Hearts and minds do not win wars, they win elections, Warriors win wars. If we close up and secure our borders, we will endure as a country, this is true, but if we flood the enemy and take no prisoners, as our enemies do, we will remain a beacon of freedom and justice.

Tango!
Doc.

Response by PO2 Tony Casler made Sep 7 at 2014 9:04 PM

2014-09-07T21:04:54-04:00

Short of another homeland attack on the scale of 9/11 I don't see any chance of getting the support needed for more war.

Response by Cpl Peter Martuneac made Sep 9 at 2014 1:07 AM

2014-09-09T01:07:47-04:00

13 years of war that has, hard as it is to admit, accomplished next to nothing. We should always be prepared for a fight, but let's not go looking for one, especially when it's not our business. A lot of us, myself included, have the warrior spirit, and seeing the things that people like ISIS do make us want to go over there and put a stop to it, but again that is not our business. No nation can be both a Constitutional Republic AND the World Police for very long. Eventually, we'll have to decide which role is more important to us.

Response by MSG Jeff Anderson made Sep 9 at 2014 8:52 PM

2014-09-09T20:52:15-04:00

The majority of the American people I feel think that the war is over but of course it is far from it. Previous wars ended with the belligerents surrendering but in the case of the terrorist organizations there will never be a surrender or armistice. Defeating a terrorist organization is a very long and deliberate process but after splintering the group likely leads to the formation of other groups as was the case with the splintering of Al Qaeda in Iraq forming into ISIS. As long as these organizations continue their morphism they will never be truly defeated.

In addition the majority of the American people have not been subjected to the sacrifices of war so in my opinion are not as committed to the end in order to achieve peace. Only if the nation is fully committed to the war effort will their be long term support to finish the fight. Even with WWII I think there would have been eventually limited tolerance if no end was in sight.

Fighting terrorist organizations gives that impression that there will never be an end in sight. Israel serves as a good model given it has been in a constant state of war since its inception and I see that continuing with us. The only way to fully commit the American people is that they must feel their is a legitimate threat and they must be convinced that the threat must be destroyed.

Response by SPC David Hannaman made Mar 31 at 2015 5:43 PM

2015-03-31T17:43:54-04:00

I firmly believe the American public will support a true war.

Let me quantify that by saying (and excuse my use of colorful metaphors) that they will never support a politician run, bitch slap fest, where service members are left twisting in the wind handcuffed by ROE until frustration breeds war crimes.

Response by COL Vincent Stoneking made Apr 3 at 2015 10:06 PM

2015-04-03T22:06:47-04:00

It takes two (or more) to have a peace.
It takes only one to have a state of war.

To quote a dead white guy, just because you don't take an interest in politics (or a given fight) doesn't mean it doesn't take an interest in you.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Apr 4 at 2015 3:03 PM

2015-04-04T15:03:41-04:00

This is not world war three. This is the Pax Americana. We are fighting the continuous moderate level wars empires fight as they seek invulnerability.

Response by MSgt Robert Pellam made Apr 4 at 2015 5:34 PM

2015-04-04T17:34:18-04:00

Deep breath. This is not a clear cut, "Crush their skulls and we win" type situation. None of this is. If it were we would have troops in Africa fighting against Boko Haram and his atrocities, along with the Middle East. We would be deployed all over the world to stop the senseless slaughter of Innocents.
But this is a political field, and we must assume that the countries these atrocities are taking place are responding in the best means available. Iraq is slowly capturing its once held cities. Jordanians are fighting ISIS and so are Kurds. There are many factions involved.

By the way, I am sorry for the 2 journalists mentioned in the letter and it is tragic, but let me put it this way. In the 5 minutes that i have typed this, more Americans died in Car Crashes caused by Cell phones then that have died against ISIS this last month. Should we have a war on cell phones?

I am against everything ISIS stands for. I would love for us to mobilize and drop into that region and wipe the floor with them. But while this is a physical manifestation of ISIS. We also have to win the Ideological war with them too. How do you go to war with an Idea?

There is no ready made answers to this. It is fortunate that the US has authorized bombing in the area and even this risked political backlash. Getting involved in Syria would send a message to those who hate us that they are right and the US is there as an Imperial power to push and Influence us. This would only stoke their Ideology. Again how do you fight an idea?

Response by SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. made Apr 5 at 2015 9:14 AM

2015-04-05T09:14:36-04:00

There is far too much money being made by the MIC for peace to break out.
Unless every single mother and father in the U.S. has a equal opportunity for having a son / daughter return home in a box, this conflict will continue forever.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 5 at 2015 11:10 AM

2015-04-05T11:10:47-04:00

We have not gone to war since WW II. We have fought limited fights. We have sent our military into harm's way with restriction on how and when they could fight.

Yes, the country is tired of this and so am I.

Go to war to fight to allow our military to fight war or stay at home.

Response by SPC Angel Guma made Apr 5 at 2015 5:32 PM

2015-04-05T17:32:14-04:00

Ma'am-

With respect, this is another PR campaign. Its like poo-pooing another man's achievements as a failure, but hailing a failure as a victory. Its just a mind-game to play on people, because the human-race never learns. The only thing that changes here are the clowns, not the circus.

1. Today's Nintendo generation is at a near historic (if not the lowest) currently serving or having any direct prior military experience, of any generation in American history. The only time I can think of in American history when the rising youth generation has had this sort of disconnect, was maybe in the period before the Civil War. With such a low participation rate, we are only asking for more trouble because more of them are going to rise into successful and influential positions, then support or pass policies without any regard to what is feasible or not. War is always going to be regarded as fun and games for people with no dog in the fight.

2. None of the wars have ended. The only thing that has ended is the tag that leaders have slapped on the issues. Its like downgrading or upgrading stock. A company may have poor stock prospects, but if the ratings agencys like Standard and Poor or Moody's are constantly giving bad companies strong Buy ratings, but only a few with Boards of Directors they just don't like Sell ratings, nothing about the worth of the stock has changed, only what the ratings agencies have slapped on the table. So here, all that is happening is that we have slapped the wars as "almost" over, while all the conditions that led to the wars are still there, just as strong as ever. I would say World War I never really ended, World War II was all about because too many people at the end of WWI bought the kool-aid without bothering to think that all the nasty conditions that led to the wars were still there.

3. The American Military (I ets'd, so my current understanding will be dated) is moving in the direction of more robotic weaponry. It kind of reminds me of Ender's Game. Meanwhile, the Islamic 'enemies' are moving in the direction of far greater recruitment, and they are only refining their tactics of warfighting outside US 'rules' and regulations. Our weapons become more sophisticated and expensive, Muslim war fighters however clearly have the discipline to live within strict budgets. They can do more with less. We however keep trying to do less with more. We have EOF to live within and strict accountability, ISIS doesn't. I don't think they'll ever be able to take territory from the US within our life times, but sending in robots to do the job with a few infantry battalions sparsed here and there will always backfire, because they will always slip through the cracks.

4. The wars are only truly ended with all the conditions that led to it are resolved. Distrust is a huge reason that led to the first America vs Islam crash. None of the administrations, and definitely not Clinton before 9/11, put any real effort into 'building bridges' of trust and respect with the Islamic world. The Islamic world as well hasn't made much of an effort to clean up their act either. They absorbed us in Iraq and Afghanistan, now ISIS has turned out to be far more vigorous than Al Qaeda ever was. Its like our current war fighting methodology is encouraging natural selection among them, and we are continually facing more capable groups.

5. This is not mentioning Russia or China who have become far more assertive with us in recent times. Here it is worrying, because both are also moving in the direction of robotic warfare and they have the money and minds to match us. China is the 2nd largest military spender on the planet and between them and Russia have enough money and brainpower to put robots equal to our own. We still have the edge because we have battle hardened soldiers and that counts for a lot.

No matter how its spliced and diced, there's a lot more fighting and dying that's going to happen. I would love it if honest effort was made to address all the issues that led to the wars, but as military members we fight, its not our job to be diplomats.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 5 at 2015 7:12 PM

2015-04-05T19:12:41-04:00

No way is this country ready for more years of war. All of this election's presidential candidates would have to run on false promise, essentially lie through their teeth.

The public doesn't care about the ISIS threat and the nation would also love for us to get the heck out of the Middle East.

Sad to say but we're headed back into a reactive nation and not a proactive nation