US Sen. John McCain: Could it be time to intervene in Syria?: WTF?

US Sen. John McCain: Could it be time to intervene in Syria?: Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what partial military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria,” McCain (R-Ariz.) said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Jordan. “The Assad regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder. Kadafi made that mistake and it cost him everything.”

What the hell is wrong with us? We screw with Syria and we have the war with Iran we have been instigating since we attacked Iraq to ultimately go after Iran. America: Living to fight as it appears or Fighting to Live as we are told?

I have to admit that our action in Libya is the first war in my time where I feel we had no choice if we did not want to sit by and watch the genocide of his own people by Colonel Kaddafi. However I have been listening to many say we had no right to interfere. I feel we had to in good conscience but people are right when they say there is no balance as to what we base the decision to go to war on.

Knowing I have been thinking of this for years and I based it on a book written in 2003 in which it was pointed out that we have been at war since our founding, 227 years. that is now 235 years so I had to revisit this thought.

Years ago now I was consumed with the crazy thought that my son who is an EOD (explosive ordinance Disposal) Team Leader just got home from Afghanistan then volunteered for Iraq. I was very concerned as to how many civilians and American soldiers were going to lose their lives in what many of us considered an illegal war.

I was listening again to the number of Americans killed in past wars including the civil war where some 562 thousand lost their lives as you know, fighting amongst ourselves. At first I was focused on the wasted lives in Iraq and was wondering how many there would be when all is said and done as well as feeling there is no foreseeable end and we still have to wonder, then I went to this list and I wanted to compare how many lives were lost in wars in contrast to how many we lost fighting amongst ourselves.

The numbers were getting too convoluted for me to come up with anything tangible I thought. I then was looking at the immense numbers of conflicts and wars we were in and I decided a comparison of war years to peaceful years would be best to tell our story. I couldn't figure it out. I was floored by the number of conflicts and wars America has been in since our founding and thought I would say we have only had approximately 50 years of peace and supply this link on our war and peace History. List of America's wars

Then I went back to Google and I found this compelling story by Jon Stanton showing that America has been at war openly or clandestinely essentially since we were founded. I merely want you to see what is out there and think about the whole story. Having read what he wrote I thought there was something at least worth reading, thinking about, and putting in perspective.

I never read him so I researched him and found him to be a Virginia based writer that writes from a left wing perspective and I am afraid I agree with much of what he says. In fact I have written much of it myself in the past. I am not a warmonger I am a peace lover so I thought I would give you the link to Jon Stanton's book 227 years of warfare written in 2003 and you could tell me what you think. 227 years of warfare

It did make me remember that I did a diary a while back in which I said the U.S. has a war economy and some took exception to that but looking at our History of wars our fault or not I really have to wonder, what are we? I am a peace lover willing to fight for my country as are my sons as you know but are the leaders of America fighting to live or living to fight? what is happening to us? How are we supposed to feel?

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com