President Barack Obama speaks to about 150 soldiers during his first official visit to Fort Drum, N.Y., June 23, 2011. The president thanked the soldiers one day after announcing a drawdown of troops from Afghanistan during a televised address to the nation. The soldiers, assigned to the 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, were among the first to deploy to Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. Army photo by Steve GhiringhelliU.S. Foreign Policy: War Fever Subsides -- Andrew J. Bacevich, L.A. Times
As Americans weary of the mission in Afghanistan, Democrats and Republicans alike are raising serious questions about the nation's propensity for multiple, open-ended wars. Finally.
At periodic intervals, the American body politic has shown a marked susceptibility to messianic fevers. Whenever an especially acute attack occurs, a sort of delirium ensues, manifesting itself in delusions of grandeur and demented behavior.
By the time the condition passes and a semblance of health is restored, recollection of what occurred during the interval of illness tends to be hazy. What happened? How'd we get here? Most Americans prefer not to dwell on the questions. Feeling much better now! Thanks!
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My Comment: I must live in an alternate universe to the one that Andrew J. Bacevich lives in. On the morning of 9/11 I called my brother in San Francisco (it was 6:30 AM his time) and I told him of the attacks .... I also told him that reluctantly the U.S. was now at war with (probably) radical Islam, and if so expect a long and drawn out conflict. I made those comments then not because of a "war fever" of the type that Bacevich is trying to imply in his L.A. Times article .... but instead it was an awareness that war had been declared against us, and we had to respond. Like after Pearl Harbor .... failure to respond would have opened a Pandora's Box that would have the potential to make a horrible situation infinitely worse.
But that was then .... this is now. Our enemies have been crushed, and the U.S. is now facing an even greater danger .... a financial/debt crisis that can overwhelm us. So while the U.S. focus is now rapidly becoming inward .... American opponents abroad should not be so embolden .... Bin Laden thought the U.S. was weak and no longer interested in war in 2001, and look at what happened to him.