Kaboom: Embracing the Suck

I am reading an excellent book right now that ought to be required reading, for highschoolers, politicians and the damned Commander in Chief. The title is "Kaboom: Enbracing the Suck in a Savage Little War." I encourage you to go to Amazon.com and buy this book right now! The author, Matt Gallagher, writes of his experiences in Iraq. I have read a few books on that dirty little war but none have been written as eloquently as this one. I just finished the section on Dear John letters and it touched me personally, as did the dear john letter I got while in Vietnam in 1968. Well one was a dear john letter and the other was just a copy of the wedding ceremony of a young woman who stole my heart and a major part of my soul.

What are we doing over there? I no longer even believe it is for the oil. It has the foul taste of lies and betrayal to our troops and the people here at home. It has all the appearance of the death throes of a decaying empire. When an empire crumbles the emperor always trys to keep his armies at the hithermost outposts for his own safety. Its time that we retracted the tiger's claws, withdrew from Iraq, afghanistan, korea, germany, okinawa, cuba, and all of the other pestilent outposts around the world. Instead of empire building let's focus on nation building.

Please read Matt Gallagher's book, read some books by different authors and see whether you still believe that the wars we are engaged in are vital to our nation's interests. Bring our troops home, and this time lets give them a warm welcome, not like the one the Vietnam Vets got when they returned home. PS, I am the man in the photos with asteriks, or at leaast I was 40 plus years ago.