This was the first story I heard on NPR this morning:
U.S. military officials have lost track of at least 110,000 AK-47 rifles and 80,000 pistols sent to help Iraqi security forces fight insurgents, according to a federal report.
It appears that some of these lost weapons are now being used to kill civilians and to fight U.S. military personnel.
Not only has President Bush created one of the most unstable military situations in a generation but the incompetence of his government has helped to arm people intent on killing Americans.
Just today I picked up John Dominic Crossan's God & Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now. Check out this paragraph from a discussion about the Roman Empire:
Augustus knew the difference between war and diplomacy. He understood about a river too far. He settled for imperial boundaries on the Rhine, not the Elbe, and for imperial limits on the Euphrates, not the Tigris. He also learned another vital lesson, this one from Arminius: when you train and arm tribal forces to fight for you, they can use that knowledge to fight against you as well. (pg. 27)
How does that old saying go?
"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
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