Meanwhile, there is still an endless war being conducted in Afghanistan in your name.
As you watch the bowl games, hit the fridge for some Christmas leftovers, try to figure out that new Kindle Fire you got Christmas morning, people, some who are soldiers, some who are innocent bystanders, are continuing to bleed and die as this continues to conduct an illegal, immoral war in your name.
While you were waking up to the smell of fresh pine in the air and presents under the Christmas tree, people lay bleeding and dying from an imperial war being conducted in your name.
While you were sitting down to Christmas dinner, drones were dropping bombs on soldiers and innocent children alike. All in your name.
The fact of the matter is that this, the longest war in our history, is quickly becoming war without end. Despite the much touted 2014 withdraw date, the fact of the matter is that Obama signed an agreement with the Afghan government that promises to keep US soldiers in country and in harm's way through the year 2024, and probably beyond then. The agreement specifies that we'll keep twenty thousand pairs of boots in country, supposedly just performing things like training and observation. But as we all know, no soldier in a war such as this one is simply an observer. Our troops will continue to actively engage in the war, killing innocents, and getting killed themselves in return.
Afghanistan is now the forgotten war, the war that flies below public perception and public criticism. It is routinely upstaged by such mundane things as Peter Parker's "death" or the latest winner of American Idol. It may have slipped into the background, but that doesn't mean that its intensity and casualties have disappeared. They are killed, and killing, in your name.
Obama talks a good game about how we need to rein in military spending, but he continues to fund this war without end. That is another good reason for going off the fiscal cliff, it will give us our first real chance to significantly cut military spending in generations. Of course, it is the threat of military budget cuts that are driving negotiations right now.
But the thing is, you don't need Congress to cut military spending. Obama is the CinC, and with a stroke of his pen he could end this endless war, thus sparing lives, improving our image abroad, and saving money here at home.
Let us hope that Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate actually does, finally, live up to his award and ends this war. If not, then we, a country who lived by the sword, will probably die because of a sword.
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