So I think that instead of "Afghanistan" we should call it "Lockheed's War" or something like that.
If we must have wars, let them be remembered as a black mark on the names of the people who profited from them. A cautionary tale about how not to weild power.
On the flip side: I have no ill will towards the people of Iraq or Afghanistan or Vietnam, so I feel bad attaching a negative connotation to the name of their country. As if my tax dollars didn't do enough harm to their homes, now my speech is making it harder to let go of. Yuck.
I've been saying things like:
> The justification for Putin's war feels even flimsier than the justification for Cheney's war, but then again I'm not the target audience.
So far people just raise their eyebrows at me, but I like to imagine it'll catch on.
That's why it was so important that it come from someone like a 5 star general and Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II. No one was going to mistake Eisenhower for a tinfoil-hat wearer, a pacifist, or an appeaser.