Iraq and Afghanistan

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher the other night (I've been stewing on this since Friday night) and an interesting point about sacrifice and the war was made. When you think about it only a small number of Americans have truly sacrificed for the War in Iraq and the War on Terror esp. when you look back at previous wars, most notably World War II. World War II was won largely because of the sheer industrial strength of the United States. People were willing to give up certain goods so that they could help win the war. For example auto manufactures switched many of their plants to produce tanks, jeeps, planes, etc so that the soldiers had all the equipment (and then some) that they needed when they needed it. Jump to today. Why are the major auto companies laying people off, recording profit losses, and closing plants when there is a very large and very rich consumer (the U.S. military) who desperately needs, both at home and abroad, the goods these companies can produce rapidly and cheaply? Which would find more use: a new car that sits in a car lot for months, if not longer, waiting to be sold, or an armored personnel carrier for the military? I mean think about it. If the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan were able to drive armored vehicles that can withstand and protect the people inside them from IEDs and other attacks far better than the HMMWV then what would happen to the casualty/injury rate? They would drop. Now if those attacks are far less effective then what happens? The frequency of them are reduced. I believe this country has the ability to win any war it gets involved in but only if it uses ALL of the resources available to it (diplomacy, military, industry, etc).