War. What is it good for?

       I have nothing against Ryan Crocker. I do not know the man. I do know that he has served as ambassador to Afghanistan and before that he was a Dean at Texas A&M. However, I am against or at least startled by an examination of his recent remarks.  When he was asked what was the measure of American success in Afghanistan, he was reported to have said "“When I first got here in January 2002, 9 percent of Afghans had access to health care. There were 20,000 mobile phones. Now there are 16 million mobile subscribers and more than 60 percent of Afghans live within an hour’s walk of health care." 

       Is America's military responsible for expanding the mobile phone business in Afghanistan. There are few land lines in many developing countries and, as a result, mobile phone use has exploded. It is a bit  foolish to credit the military with the growth of mobile phones in Afghanistan and even more foolish to list cell phone use as a measure of America's success. The same can be said of health care.  While health care is arguably more important than cell phone use, it is an absurd measure of American war success. The last time I look, America labeled our actions in Afghanistan as a war. In fact early this week, congress voted another $600 billion for the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.

       With respect to the war, it is not going to stop. According to the same source, Crocker remarked that the Taliban will never go away and that America will have to "kill as many as possible." Now there is a war goal. 

       Google Ron Paul and listen to his speech to congress this week on the war or whatever they call it in Afghanistan. Paul remarks that it is discouraging to him and to the troops, he talks too, to claim that the only way to support our troops is to vote for more money to make more war. What is it good for? Mobile phones? Paul argues that stopping the war is another option to show military support. Wait a minute, I thought we stopped it. Then, who is spending the $600 billion? Good question. 

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