In February and March 2022 much of the world has united in pressuring Russia to stop its extremely cruel, illegal invasion of Ukraine.
What if — 20 years ago — the world had united in pressuring the U.S. to stop its extremely cruel, illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq?
MILLIONS OF LIVES would have been saved.
TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS would have been saved (and perhaps used for important purposes such as ending poverty, providing health care for all Americans, protecting the environment and climate, and so forth).
After losing the war, the U.S. is still killing people in Afghanistan:
The US Owes Afghanistan Reparations, Not Starvation: https://truthout.org/articles/the-us-owes-afghanistan-reparations-not-starvation/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=6875f6de-43d4-43a4-92d7-5d893c425565
US Sanctions on Afghanistan are Complicit in Mass Hunger, even as Biden withholds $3.5 billion in Afghan Money: https://www.juancole.com/2022/02/afghanistan-complicit-withholds.html
US Sanctions On Afghanistan Could Be Deadlier Than 20 Years Of War: https://popularresistance.org/us-sanctions-on-afghanistan-could-be-deadlier-than-20-years-of-war/
The U.S. lost the war in Iraq too. The U.S. destroyed Iraq and left it in squalor and oppression:
For decades I’ve subscribed to the very highly informative magazine The New Internationalist (www.newint.org). Each month’s issue features a 2-page feature on a different nation. Pages 38-39 of the January-February 2022 issue focuses on Iraq. It reports the horrible conditions there nowadays. The magazine’s website does not yet allow people to read it online, but you will be able to read it within a few months.
American Colonialism Left Iraq in Environmental Crisis, Polluted, Corrupt and Crime-Ridden: https://www.juancole.com/2021/12/american-colonialism-environmental.html