Since the dawn of history, there have been wars. During some stretches in time, wars lasted a long time. In ancient China, during the "Warring States" period, there were constant wars for over 200 years, from 475 BC to 221 BC until China was finally united under one rule. But even then, there was always warfare against the constant invasions by northern barbarians, the nomadic tribesmen of Central Asia. It culminated with the conquest of China by the Mongols in 13th Century. But that wasn't the end, in the 18th Century the Manchus invaded China, and in the early 20th Century China was constantly at war, either amongst its own numerous warlords, against the invading Japanese, or Nationalists versus Communists!
The great Roman Empire which was supposedly established in 27 BC lasted as a whole until 285 AD when it split into two, Western and Eastern Holy Roman Empires. The Western Empire lasted until 476 AD while the Eastern lasted longer. But during its roughly 12 Centuries as a Roman Empire, it was constantly at war. At first it was constantly fighting wars of conquest and expansion, later it was wars of survival, as the Roman Empire was attacked, invaded, by outside forces as well as from within! During the first Century BC, Rome was engaged in over 20 wars! The Hundred Year War between England and France lasted from 1337 until 1453, more than a century!
For comparisons sake, let's look at the United States. We have fought five major wars in the 19th Century: The War of 1812, The Mexican War, The American Civil War, The Spanish-American War, and more or less the on going Indian Wars. In the 18th Century we were not a nation yet so the Revolutionary War and the French Indian War do not count. In the 20th Century we began with the Philippine Insurrection, the First World War, and the participation in Russian Revolution with deployment of troops to Siberia and Arctic Russia during the Russian Civil War. Then, of course, the world changing World War Two, quickly followed by the Korean War and a decade later the Vietnam War. We then became engaged in a couple of small wars, the Grenada Invasion and the Invasion of Panama, then the First Gulf War (Desert Storm). We closed out the century with involvements in Kosovo and Bosnia, Somalia and a bunch of other small, undeclared "brushfire wars" such as the one in El Salvador where only our Special Forces participated. But we did participate and American lives were lost, although most of the American public hardly paid any attention to those conflicts. Only when they were made into movies, like Blackhawk Down, did most of America learn of our involvement in Somalia . Not counting the undeclared "brushfire" type conflicts, we were involved in nine wars. In all, there were about dozen wars.
Now we begin the 21st Century with Invasion of Afghanistan, followed by the Second Gulf War with Iraqi Freedom. Those wars ended when we pulled out our troops prematurely, so now it is the Third Gulf War and the Second Afghani War. In addition, we have been involved in Philippines, the Marines and the 1st Special Forces Group out of Okinawa are very active in Philippines and the Special Forces has already lost several lives! We are now also involved in Syria. We may not have boots on the ground but we are using our air power and supplying arms to rebels. So, essentially, in this infant century, we are involved in four wars and have fought two earlier, from which we pulled out too soon and now are facing a mess! But that isn't all! Our 3rd Special Forces Group has been involved in several African countries surreptitiously, for over a decade now, and the 5th and 10th Special Forces Group have been sending teams to Yemen for a number years to fight Al Qaeda and other Islamic Extremist groups! The 7th Special Forces Group has been involved in Latin America in anti-narcotics operations since the 1970s! So, once again, we are involved in more conflicts than the American public is aware. Sadly, the situation is not going to improve, if anything, it will get worse. As long as we don't go into these conflicts with full force and eradicate the problem, and as long as we continue to fight these wars with half measures, our enemies will simply grow bolder and grow in numbers. It is in human nature that when you experience some success, you are emboldened and usually increase your effort.
In Afghanistan the Taliban has gained strength when we pulled out. Now we are facing not only Taliban with some residual Al Qaeda as well, but ISIS, the new evil force! We have beefed up our Special Forces numbers somewhat, but it is still far below what we need to do some serious work to stop the Islamic Terrorist groups. Iraq is even a more serious problem. Earlier, before Kerry struck that wonderful Nuclear Deal with Iran, as part of the deal, we allowed Iranian Special Operations forces to enter Iraq to help us fight ISIS. I was dumbfounded at the time when I learned what we had done. Well, now we are paying for it. The "new" Iraqi government that we helped establish, that we support financially and otherwise 100%, are allied with Iran! Yes, they are buddies with Iran! I am amazed that the news media is not covering it! The new Iraqi government will not allow us to bring in combat troops! They just want our air power and prefer to have Iranian help! We are caught in the middle. We can't put boots on the ground even if we wanted because the Iraqi government will not "allow" us. Yet, they can't handle the situation. Despite some glowing reports coming out of Iraq about Iraqi government successes, don't you believe the hype, the situation is desperate! Iranians are not all that great and they are not all that willing to risk Iranian troops in Iraq! Despite the billions that we spent and are spending, and American lives that were lost and maimed in that land, we are locked out, so to speak! Russia has partnered with Iraq and Iran and they have their own headquarters in Baghdad for fighting ISIS. We are just confined to our "green zone" and are essentially cut out!
The only ones worth their salt as fighters in Iraq are the Kurds, the Peshmergas, and they are our only true allies, despite the fact that we have betrayed them a few times! However, we cannot even supply arms, medicines, food, etc., to the Kurds directly. All supplies destined for the Kurds must first go to the Iraqi government supply distribution. The Iraqis are supposed to distribute these goods to Kurds. You can guess how that is working out. The Iraqi system is so corrupt that they won't even distribute supplies to their own troops, do you really think the Kurds are getting the needed supplies? Some Iraqi generals are getting very rich, probably selling the same supplies and munitions to Taliban and ISIS!
Despite what the so-called Iraqi government, the one that we helped establish and are financing 100%, are saying, denying us "permission" to bring in combat troops, we can deploy troops if we want, Nobody, except this same Iraqi government and Iran will object! Everyone can see clearly that the situation is hopeless and the Iraqis cannot handle it themselves, so despite their obstruction, we can, if we want to win this war against ISIS, deploy our combat troops. But we won't. Our leaders are too "politically correct" and will not risk criticism, even if it is only coming from the corrupt Iraqi government and Iran! Russia might oppose too, but they won't do anything, contrary to the fears of some in our government! Additionally, there will be too much opposition domestically from those opposed to war anywhere and for any reason! But even if we did deploy combat troops, without the resolve to finish the fight, to carry the fight until all ISIS is removed and destroyed, the deployment of ground troops will be a waste. It will be a waste of American lives and financial cost as well. You cannot fight wars with restrictions and half measures. We tried that in Vietnam and did not do so well. It is the fact of life that in war innocent civilian lives will be lost. Smart bombs are an improvement over the bombs we used in Vietnam, but they are still bombs that can kill and destroy innocent bystanders. Also, we cannot allow the enemy to have sanctuaries that they can slip into to avoid our bombing and carrying out the attack against them. We allowed the NVA to have sanctuaries in Cambodia and Laos, and look what it got us! We allowed Al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, they are still around!
Until we decide to carry out a campaign to destroy ISIS and other Islamic Terrorist groups to the finish, not just make speeches about how we will destroy them, etc., but actually carry out a war that is meant to seek them out and destroy them, we will never be rid of this latest scourge on our society, our safety. We fought World War Two with the idea to destroy and defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. To that end, we carried out our plan. Many innocent lives were lost in bombings, millions, in fact, but the end result was the complete defeat of our enemies. We were not at war with France, but because France was occupied by Nazi Germany, we bombed certain targets. Over 70,000 French civilians, innocent bystanders, lost their lives in our bombings, but the French welcomed us with open arms when we marched into their country. No Frenchman criticized us or pointed an accusing finger at us for innocent lives lost, it was just the sad fact of war, innocent lives will be lost, war is terrible. As long as we understand that, and our leaders understand that and are willing to accept the responsibility, we will be able to defeat ISIS or anyone else. If we don't? Then we end up with stalemates at best, like Vietnam, or in today's case, worst, an ISIS that is a true country, a state not only in name but in size and population. Do we want that? Do we want a country whose sole purpose for its existence will be to destroy us? I don't think even the most liberal minded individual in America would want their own destruction!
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