Putin traveled to Syria the other day, and announced the beginning of withdraw of Russian forces after just two years.

Just days before, the Pentagon announced no withdraw from Syria, eventhough we aren't welcome and it's an illegal war.



Pahon says US troops are going to stay to “support our partners and prevent the return of terrorist groups,” both goals which, one must note, are absolutely open-ended, and unlikely to ever be declared “accomplished.”

Though the Pentagon had long been very public about the fact that their deployment to Iraq was a permanent one, the war in Syria is different, in no small part because the Syrian government never authorized US troops to deploy there, and isn’t supporting the idea of them staying.

That got me thinking about Joe Haldeman's novel The Forever War, and how long our war will be.

“You couldn’t blame it all on the military, though. The evidence they presented for the Taurans’ having been responsible for the earlier casualties was laughably thin. The few people who pointed this out were ignored. The fact was, Earth’s economy needed a war, and this one was ideal. It gave a nice hole to throw buckets of money into, but would unify humanity rather than dividing it.”

― Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

We've essentially been at war in/with Iraq for 27 years now. People forget that we bombed Iraq on a weekly basis during the gap between 1991 and 2003.

U.S. soldiers currently serving in Iraq weren't even born when our longest current war started. There is no end in sight for this war.

“The most important fact about the war to most people was that if it ended suddenly, Earth’s economy would collapse.”

― Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

We've been at war in/with Afghanistan for 16 years, and this war is looking even more bleak.



After 16 years of U.S. presence in Kabul, it is an acknowledgment that even the city’s central districts have become too difficult to defend from Taliban bombings.

The capital project is also clearly taking place to protect another long-term U.S. investment: Along with an increase in troops to a reported 15,000, from around 11,000 at the moment, the Trump administration’s new strategy for Afghanistan is likely to keep the military in place well into the 2020s, even by the most conservative estimates.

Unless someone in Washington is capable of admitting defeat, or if a peace movement can spring out of nothing, another decade of war in Afghanistan is certain. Especially since we are training our future enemies.

Our current Afghani soldiers were in diapers on 9/11.

And then there is the wars that we don't even acknowledge, like the one in Somalia.



In a sign that the Defense Department does not envision a quick end to the deepening war in Somalia against the Shabab and the Islamic State, the proposed plan is said to include an exemption to a rule in Mr. Trump’s guidelines requiring annual vetting by staff from other agencies — including diplomats and intelligence officials — of operational plans for certain countries.

Instead, the Pentagon wants to wait 24 months before reviewing how the Somalia plan is working, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

So while Russia declares war, fights the war, and wins the war, inside of two years, the Pentagon will take two years to just decide whether we are winning or losing in an undeclared war.

“Reality becomes illusory and observer-oriented when you study general relativity. Or Buddhism. Or get drafted.”

― Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

We spend $250 million a day for the last 16 years to fight this pointless war.

It appears that it will only end when we are broke.