Reasons to be Miserable

George Santayana's bromide that those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it ought to be carved someplace prominently in the District of Columbia. I would suggest Foggy Bottom, but no one seems to pay much attention to those poor souls anymore. As we hastily beat our retreat from Iraq, let us count our achievements. Hundreds of Americans have died and many more have been disabled to destroy a threat that was not there. (Another score for our brilliant spooks). Billions of our dollars (unlike Gulf War I, we have received no Saudi subsidy or measurable support from the coalition of the willing save the hapless Brits who seemed to have made the mistake of believing us) have been wasted to destroy an alleged link to terrorism that has not yet been discerned. We have alienated our friends and confirmed the worst propaganda of our enemies. Our disdain for the United Nations has compromised it as an institution to such an extent that it cannot mount an effort to combat the unspeakable genocide coursing through Africa at this very moment. I truly hope that someone reading this will assist me by pointing out anything positive that has come from this shameful exercise in hubris called 'Iraqi Freedom'. Perhaps we can now listen to Santayana, but wasn't "never again" the only good thing to come out of Vietnam? As somewhat of a distraction from the mess that Wolfowitz and his colleagues, both above and below, have created, but more as a lesson, I suggest the article cited below by James Meeks who deconstructs with a keen scalpel Russian attempts at empire. Small comfort that we have not been alone. Smaller still when prior failed attempts at this type of foreign intervention were there for us to study. LRB | James Meek : Reasons to be Miserable