Can you remember when?

Can you remember the last time we won a war? I mean a real war. I’m not talking about the little dust ups in places like Grenada, Panama, Bosnia-Herzegovina , Mogadishu or even the Bay of Pigs. I mean something where we really got it on. Well, if you were born anytime after September 1, 1945, you have not witnessed a single “win” on our part.

In less than half a decade after V-J Day (September 1, 1945), we became embroiled in a war with North Korea. After three years of intense fighting that cost the U. S. more than 54,000 killed, the war ground to a halt and an “armistice” was signed on July 27, 1953. Notice that I did NOT say a “peace agreement” was signed. And of this writing, there still is not formally declared peace.

Not only did we lose 54,000 killed, more than 103,000 were wounded, some 8,100 were Missing In Action, over a million Koreans and Chinese were killed and one of our greatest generals, Douglas MacArthur was fired for wanting to win the war. This is the same cantankerous, vain, self-aggrandizing general that led this Nation to victory in our war against Japan during World War II.

When it was all said and done, the division between North and South Korea ended where it began, at the 38th Parallel where Korea was divided after World War II. More than 28,000 U. S. forces are staring at an unknown number of North Korean forces across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) established in 1953. Interestingly enough, on both sides, these are more than likely the grandchildren of the folks who were there over a half century ago. And that includes me!!! An interesting side note—several years ago, I went to Russia on a mission to the Russian Military Medical Academy, which is the oldest military medical school on this planet. I met a physician whose grandfather had been a USSR advisor to the North Koreans during the period I was there. We both wondered if we had ever stared at each other across the DMS and we drank a few vodkas to celebrate!

But before the little “dust up” in Mogadishu where we got our collective asses kicked, we engaged in the first Gulf War (aka Desert Storm/Desert Shield). On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq, launched an attack against Kuwait. Kuwait was quickly overrun and Saddam challenged the world to do something about it saying that this was, “The Mother of all Battles.” We quickly rose to the bait. The U.N. Security Council immediately instituted economic sanctions against Iraq and some twelve states joined us in sending naval forces and eight countries sent troops in varying numbers. We sent seventeen heavy and six light brigades of the U.S. Army and nine Marine regiments, with their large support and service forces. Four countries had sent combat aircraft, joining the local air forces of Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. Air Force. The goal of all this firepower was to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait and back to Iraq. Well, we did that and then we signed an agreement to cease fighting, but we allowed Iraq to keep some armored helicopters, which were eventually used to brutally suppress Shiite and Kurdish uprising. The U.N. mandate had not allowed coalition forces to pursue Iraqi forces into Iraq to put an end to Saddam Hussein in 1991 so what was there for us to do but pick up our toys, lick our wounds and go home. Little did we realize that just over a decade later our Nation would be devastated by the events of September 11, 2001. And what we also did not realize was that members of the Bush 41 administration didn’t forget what they considered unfinished business with Saddam Hussein.

Oh, and by the way—we had a big victory parade in Washington, D.C. to celebrate our ”victory” and to make up for the ones we didn’t have after Korea and Vietnam.

Now we are engaged in two major “wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan. We claim that we are winning in Iraq and it seems to have fallen off the front page of most newspapers but that is because our current brushfire is in Afghanistan. Depending on what you read and who wrote what you read, we seem to be in very deep trouble in Afghanistan and General Stanley A. McChrystal says that if he doesn’t get more troops immediately, there is a very good possibility that we could once again get our collective butts kicked by the Taliban and al Qaeda. Or, if McChrystal is correct that his new strategy can turn the whole thing around in an unknown number of years (or decades perhaps), then the American people have to decide what price are they willing to pay in blood to see if McChrystal’s plan will actually work.

There is much tug and haul going on between the civilians in the administration and the military professionals in the Pentagon and on the battlefield. Vice president Joe Biden and Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee don’t want to put any more troops in Afghanistan, but want to strengthen the Afghan Army and police. Senator John McCain, the Ranking Member of the same committee sides with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General McChrystal in pushing for 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan to implement McChrystal’s new strategy.

What is this new strategy? Perhaps that will become more clear in the coming weeks.