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Sunday, November 30, 2008 12:00 AM

The Dangers of Revisionism: Tom Friedman tries to hide his "very big stick"

Re-writing the history of the Iraq War threatens to suppress the vital lessons that should be learned from it.

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  • Sunday, November 30, 2008 10:27 AM

    walter_map

    Just keep in mind that when the press reports 19 cents for defense versus 81 cents for everything else, the split really is 68 cents versus 32 cents. Defense is not one-fifth of federal spending but two-thirds of it.

    Yes, and that is what we know about. Large parts are "hidden" in the budgets of other departments.

    The real question is if we can ever get that information out on the table where normal Americans can see it and make judgments about it. Must the working poor and homeless suffer for the next 1,000 years just so the generals in the pentagon have toy soldiers to order about in every corner of the globe?

    After Vietnam was over, the bill came due and we had some hard times in the 70s. You could not get people to see that the main reason was the mis-allocation of resources that was the war. The reason for the hard times was never the main topic of news shows night after night.

    But, at some point the country will fall totally if we do not make it clear to the public that there is a heavy price to pay for military adventures. Always has been.

    Who could do this? Glenn? A few rational bloggers?

    I think, under current conditions, only the unitary executive can broach the subject and be heard.

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