wars we don't need to fight

I wrote my poem Iraqnam a few years ago. We are still in Iraq and Americans are being killed in increasing numbers in Afghanistan. In today's New York Times, Bob Herbert questions the futility of these wars and especially of the one in Afghanistan, which is now in its ninth year.
In his column (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/opinion/25herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print) he makes a couple of points that should (must) awaken Americans.

He noted Obama told the Veterans of Foreign Wars that less than 1 percent of this country's 300 million citizens wear the uniform.

"If we had a draft — or merely the threat of a draft — we would not be in Iraq or Afghanistan. But we don’t have a draft so it’s safe for most of the nation to be mindless about waging war. Other people’s children are going to the slaughter."

Quoting President Obama as saying that the war in Afghanistan is "fundamental to the defense of our people," Herbert asks:
"Well, if this war, now approaching its ninth year, is so fundamental, we should all be pitching in. We shouldn’t be leaving the entire monumental burden to a tiny portion of the population, sending them into combat again, and again, and again, and again ..."

We really are slow learners.