Hindsightful history

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Yet history is littered from Queen to King

With examples of how

Those supposedly in the know

Manage to Royally screw everything.

Take for example Vietnam,

That was invaded as far back as 1289

By no other than the great Kublai Khan,

Leader of the great Mongolian Army.

These mighty warriors could not succeed,

The Vietnamese repelled them with ease.

Attacking their foes with horses and bows

The Mongolian army simply froze.

Guerilla warfare had them completely thrown.

So why on Earth in 1965

Did the Americans try to win hearts and minds?

The Vietminh in the Northern jungles

Adopted the same combat and the USA crumbled.

You’d have thought that this would teach them a lesson

But no, to Afghanistan the mission was taken.

They fought the Taliban,

Harbouring Osama Bin Laden,

Who insidiously blended into the normal population.

Over a decade later and the losses ever greater.

For what?  Not even a gravestone to savour.

The body of Osama thrown into the ocean,

Was it really worth the lives ripped apart and torn open?

But still the Americans continue to wage

A war on terror that unshakenly rages.

Yet the innocent lives lost in the Middle East

By far outweigh the 9/11 deceased.

But there is hope for the future

As the rebels in Libya

Were able to organically displace their ruler.

Though Assad in Syria continues to murder

The west should refrain from embroiling deeper.

One foot in the wrong direction

Might stimulate further extremist aggression.

Iraq is a perfect case in point,

Invasion has simply caused greater disjoint.

So let’s not send any more troops...  what’s the point?