Bruce E. Jones: Republicans beating the war drums, ignoring the cost

The smell of gunpowder is in the air. Republican presidential candidates are blaming President Obama for military losses, but offer only more intervention. The most extreme is Sen. Lindsay Graham, who, with Sen. John McCain, would send 100,000 conventional forces back into Iraq. And there is former senator Rick Santorum, never in uniform, who would double current advisers in Iraq and bomb Iran “back to the 7th century.”

Jeb is dangerous because his defense advisors are the “neo-conservative” hawks who literally planned the Iraq invasion years before Cheney/Bush took office. Bush III was so confused about his brother’s Iraq war that it took a week to produce a consistent position.

Now comes mega-patriot Rick Perry, who declared his candidacy on June 3 surrounded by military imagery, veterans and rhetoric. He called for the nation to “project American strength again” and was a whisper from vowing to veto an Iran nuclear agreement. Perry does not understand the cost of projecting our strength.

We kept escalating in Vietnam, claiming more “boots on the ground” would turn the tide. It couldn’t and didn’t. Going to war must be a decision made by all American families, since so many will return in flag-draped coffins. That requires reinstatement of the draft.

This story was originally published June 12, 2015 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Bruce E. Jones: Republicans beating the war drums, ignoring the cost."