Sixty-six years ago the combined allied forces of England, Canada, and the United States of America, with the aid of French resistance fighters launched a massive amphibious invasion of Europe on the beaches of Normandy.
This was the beginning of a military campaign that would eventually result in the liberation of Europe from the grasp of the mass murdering regime of the Nazis led by Adolph Hitler. On that day ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances acted courageously to establish a foothold on occupied Europe.
Those men had one mission. Kill Nazis and push them back to Germany. 73,000 Americans participated in this mission. And 2,499 Americans paid the ultimate price for freedom on that day. Eleven months later, Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies and the war ended in Europe. Three months later Japan also unconditionally surrendered. Good triumphed over evil. World War II was over. Which brings us to our current conflict called the "War on Terror."
After the attacks on 9-11, America launched an invasion of Afghanistan. The mission was to eliminate the Taliban who provided aid and comfort to those responsible for 9-11, Al Qaeda. Eight years and eight months later, the Afghan theater of the war in terror has become Americaís longest war. And after billions of dollars and too much American blood, we are still no closer to victory in Afghanistan than when it started. The worst part is that there seems to be no end in sight. The tragedy is that this is only one part on the "War on Terror."
In Iraq, US forces are still in harm's way. In fact it is now seven years since the start of Operation Iraqi freedom, a misguided military operation justified by falsehoods, intelligence manipulation, and lies which diverted resources from the Afghan war. We have been told that we will not leave until victory is achieved. We have been told that the end of Operation Iraqi freedom is coming soon.
But we still don't know what victory is. And the truth is that it doesn't matter. As soon as our troops leave those who opposed them will claim victory. That will happen whether our troops leave today, tomorrow, or 100 years from now. And whichever political party is out of power, they will use the claims of victory by the enemy to score political points.
And because of that, American military and political leaders are reluctant to remove our troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. The missions were to defeat the terrorists and their supporters. But unlike World War II, there will be no formal surrender. Who will represent all the terrorists and sign a formal surrender? In other words this "War on Terror" will never end.
So now the mission is to save face in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is that a good enough reason for America to send more American soldiers to die in the desert? Is it a good enough reason to spend more billions of dollars? Money that could go to improve our infrastructure and invest in the industries of tomorrow is now going down the proverbial drain. We have spent billions with nothing to show for it. And the same crowds who rally against government spending and the growing deficit see no problem with America continuing to hemorrhage billions in two wars they don't want to pay for and apparently, gauging from their silence, don't want to end.
