The clip above is one of several excellent news clips done by Al Jazeera English‘s Clayton Swisher. As i was watching this, I realized that Americans hardly see images form the field and front lines in Afghanistan.
Americans don’t feel directly the financial costs of the war. They don’t pay a direct tax to support the more than $100 billion a year effort (after the surge is in place), and the US still has a volunteer army — so the impact that might have been felt by society from a large scale draft is not there.
America is engaged in big time, significant, long wars with a light footprint on the American psyche.
I think that Swisher’s video clips are a small but important corrective. We need to see more of what is happening in Afghanistan.
We need to pay for wars we engage in — not just leave the debts of conflict to the next generation. We need to feel the real sacrifices involved with what has become for too many a casual game.
— Steve Clemons
Update: Here are video clips from Swisher’s series on Afghanistan following the one above.
Marines Hunt Elusive Foes in Helmand:
Afghan Training a Challenge for US Marines:
Transporting US Wounded in Helmand:
— Steve Clemons
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