Why we keep losing wars

President Al O'Bama (seen here in a 1980 photo) has announced that he's going to "draw down" 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan. What, Walt wonders, does "draw down" mean? Years ago, when you were approved for a loan, you could draw it down. But we're talking about a war, not a financial deal.

I believe the Prez means he's going to bring the troops home. Or we could say he's going to "withdraw" them. Or we could say he's going to take them out of the war. Or we could say "retreat".

The fact is that the Excited States of America hasn't won a war -- with or without the help of other countries -- since 1945. Korea was a stalemate. Vietnam was a quagmire which ended in an ignominious evacuation. The First Gulf War was hardly a war at all and never really got finished. Iraq is still dragging on, much to the boredom of all concerned.

And Afghanistan? No matter how brave a face Hussein tries to put on it, 1000s of lives and billions of dollars have disappeared into the sand with nothing whatever to show for it.

What's the problem? It's not lack of resources. Although it's evident that the money could have been spent better at home, dollars have been found to pay for mercenaries, equipment, bribes to the "friendly" Afghans and so on. America has the best tools money can buy but can't seem to pacify a bunch of towel-headed Muslim fanatics armed with home-made bombs.

No, gentle reader, the problem is not that we can't win. It's that we WON'T win. What is lacking is the political will to hit the perceived enemy with everything we've got.

It started just after the defeat of Japan, when Truman wouldn't heed MacArthur's advice to stop the Communists before they got started. Then in Vietnam, Curtis LeMay said we should just "nuke [Charlie] back to the stone age". Walt doesn't agree with this, but LeMay was right in that if we really wanted to win, dropping the big one would have done the trick.

Vince Lombardi said that winning is not everything, it's the ONLY thing. Walt says, if you don't intend to win a war, don't start one.