I think in most cases, we do.

I agree, SM.

Most cases? War isn't horseshoes. Oh, but there are hand grenades...hmmmm.

I'd argue that the two major American wars fought in my lifetime were not unavoidable.

But I'll gladly acknowledge that there have been wars avoided by American diplomacy, detente, and a senile man's willingness to kill us all. So, yeah, "most cases" is accurate but it's the wrong damn answer for me.

My feelings exactly.

I see that just a bit differently. I'd describe it as having a leader willing to stand up to imperialistic bullies, leading the end of one of the most oppressive states (well technically a group of states) to ever curse the face of the planet.

I take it you are referring to Vietnam and Iraq. How about other campaigns such as Gulf War I and Afghanistan?

Lol...I threw that in just to poke you with my troll stick. I know all about your man-crush on Mr. Reagan. I only half believe what I wrote.

I assumed he was referring to Gulf I and Gulf II/Afganistan.

I don't know if it is playing nationally on NPR or just locally but there was an interesting conference on Vietnam recently and they've been excerpts. Jack Valenti in one presentation made an interesting point about how on his own JFK might very well have avoided Vietnam and LBJ probably would have as well. But since LBJ inherited JFK's Vietnam policies it was seen as politically impossible to change them. Not particularly relevant but not something I had considered before.

More on topic, I guess it depends on what you define as unavoidable. Is going to war to aid in the defense of an ally avoidable? Obviously, you can avoid the war by turning your back on them, but is that the right thing to do? Sometimes? Always? Never?

I thought about it for a bit, and because I don't see how assisting an ally in the expulsion of an invader could be considered unavoidable, I figured he must not be referring to Gulf War I.

Of course, I do not even consider them to be separated into Gulf War I and II. It's all one to me, but that's another story which has been discussed ad infinitum.

Were Iraq and Afghanistan considered allies at the time we went to war? Which allies were we protecting?

I consider Vietnam and Iraq the two major wars of my lifetime. (Yeah, I'm pushing it a bit seeing as how Vietnam was raging before I was born and ended before I was old enough to understand war.)



I don't count Gulf I as avoidable even though it was totally avoidable because there's precious little black and white when it comes to the questions you ask.