The Last Soldier To Die For A Mistake?

The Nation: The Last Soldier To Die For A Mistake?

September 19, 2011 - In the midst of weeks of debate over the economy, jobs, and the deficit, media and public attention have once again drifted from Afghanistan, even as the killing, and the stalemate, go on. I follow that war more closely than most, and even I cannot recall the president's latest promise or when exactly he is supposed to announce the next step. Polls show the public is so obsessed with the economy that few call for getting out of our wars as a top priority, even though our military spending is a prime cause for our budget problems.

Yet when the top media commentators or veteran war reporters do discuss the Afghanistan war — e.g. Dexter Filkins, formerly of The New York Times and now at The New Yorker, on Bill Maher's HBO show last Friday — they almost always describe it as a lost cause for the U.S., or at least beyond our control. So I would like to update John Kerry's famous question in 1971: "How do you ask someone to be the last American soldier to die for a mistake?" read more>>>