The Longest War in American History

ABC Article

The Afghan war was enormously popular when it began on a fall Sunday eight and a half years ago. Less than a month had passed since the September 11 attacks, and President Bush could draw on deep wells of support when he ordered air strikes against Kabul , Jalalabad and the Taliban stronghold at Kandahar.

On the one-year anniversary, in October 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told CNN, "The Taliban are gone. The Al Qaeda are gone."

And yet here we are, nearly a decade since that October Sunday, and the end of this often-tabbed "Other War" is hard to see, or fathom. Under the order of a new commander-in-chief, the U.S. is now "surging" forces into Afghanistan; a new and complex mission looms in Kandahar; and the Taliban are "surging," too – to devastating effect.

For today, we remember this "other war"'s duration. 104 months ago, when those first bombs fell, anthrax was terrorizing the nation; Barack Obama was a little-known Illinois state senator; and soldiers now "surging" to Kandahar were in junior high. We didn't have YouTube, or IPhones. And we had not a single soldier in Iraq.

The war in Afghanistan is now the United States longest war. Vietnam lasted 103 months, from the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, until the last of our troops withdrew. Afghanistan is now at 104 months. I still remember the first days. I, personally am getting War Weariness.....

104 months and what has been accomplished there? Sure, we killed plenty of Taliban, but have we won anything? Recently, we have been losing more and more troops. The attacks have been getting deadlier and this summer looks to be one of the worst.

I remember sitting in class in middle school watching the tv as they talked about the first bombs falling. Now Im in college and not much seems to have changed. How much longer are we going to be there? There dosent really look likes theres and end in sight....

Heres another article - Article 2

reply to post by buni11687


Heck we have race wars longer than that.
And our class war has been going on way longer than that too.

Sorry to make light of this but we are a war machine that needs war to make money for the elite, is this news? Beware the military industrial complex; Were we not warned? There are vast sums of money to be made in the service of making machines of death.
Where have you been these last 2,000 years?

WAR WAR WAR WAR WAR!

If you were to take the solders of two warring nations and place them in a room with no leaders they would emerge as comrades after an hour of food and drink.

That is unless you allow a few politicians in with them to stur the pot.

[edit on 8-6-2010 by Absum!]

[edit on 8-6-2010 by Absum!]

Afghanistan ??? I thought we were at war with Iraq ??

even then, what's going on over there doesn't really seem like a standard war, ... i man technicaly it's over, the regime has been destroyed. Right now their basicaly playing cops while they rebuild the city.

Their not fighting another army, their fighting the people of iraq who don't want to live under foreign rule, especialy how the US soldiers behave, killing innocent civilians and all.

It seems saddam fell only to be replaced by another tyrant, ... us.

When was the last time America actually won a war anyway? Panama? And the Pacific theatre of WW2 before that? All the other ones they just blew a crap load of money, got a lot of their service men killed and then left.

Good thing no one seems to be keeping score eh lol

The longest war for the United States, and what has come out of it other than money and death? Do I feel safer in my everday life since the beginning of the war? Nope. Is the war helping me with my career or education? Nope. Does it make the streets I drive on safer? Nope. Does the war help me put food on the table? Nope. ..........Im wondering what the war is actually helping for the everyday regular citizens..........



[edit on 8-6-2010 by buni11687]

Originally posted by buni11687
Does the war help me put food on the table? Nope.

It does if you're one of the higher ups at one of America's many war profiteering companies, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, etc, etc, etc.

War is a business venture for American corporations, it's not about freedom, democracy, or terrorism, it's about making money. Ending the war isn't profitable, so why end it?