Did McCain Learn From the S&L Crisis?

Not a day goes by that we are not told that failing in Iraq is not a option. We are told constantly that we have to win, that failure is not a option, that the war on terror is the transcendental challenge of our generation. And really it sounds good and it sounds right, but is it right. When our President and his supporters like Senator McCain are confronted with the enormity of the problem of trying to change a Islamic Dictatorship into a Democracy they act as though the over 1 trillion dollars that have been invested in this farce is insignificant, and that our nation will not pay a long term price for this ill advised escapade.
When the Old Soviet Union began its escapade in Afghanistan some 30+ years ago they too were a super power but after 10 years of exhausting their wealth and resources in Afghanistan they found themselves facing not defeated people in Afghanistan but defeated people within their own country and the internal break up of their own empire, which was the direct result of neglecting the critical needs of their own people and their internal national infrastructure. The Soviet Army like the American Military in Iraq today found themselves fighting not for a well defined national goal that was supported by and understood by its citizens but essentially they fought purely to revenge their fallen comrades a sentiment often expressed today by our band of brothers in Iraq.
It has been said that we are fighting a guerrilla war now in Iraq, and guerrilla wars are not about power and hardware, but they are more a contest of will and endurance. The question that must be answered is whether our desire to build something , a form of goverment that the Arabs don't want is greater than their desire to destroy both it and us. In Afghanistan the Soviet Military was unable to overcome the will of the Mujaheddin and in Iraq the American Military may not be able to overcome the will of the multiple splinter groups that fight against the Iraqi puppet Goverment or against the American Military itself.
Finally it was the double whammy of the lingering effect of a stagnant economy caused by a 10 year war in Afghanistan , and the sharp drop of oil prices that broke the back of the Soviet Union. And unless something gives in a hurry its going to be the double whammy of the more than quadrupled cost of oil and the rising energy and food cost as well as the continuing cost of a ill advised war in Iraq that is threatening the long term stability of the United States as a world power.
War is and has always been a tremendous undertaking requiring massive investments of both manpower and material. But the real cost of war can only be measured by figuring what else we could have done to improve the lives of our citizens and to repair our infrastructure here at home with the extra 5 trillion dollars spent over the course of the last 6 years that has increased our national debt from 4.9 trillion to over 9 trillion dollars fighting what can only be called Bush's Folly in Iraq which only the most naive and partisan members of the Republican Party will not admit was started under false pretenses using hyped and distorted evidence to sell it to the American people