I don't know if you folks know this by now, but I am not a fan of war. I have not been in support of any war since I have turned 18. Not only because I don't want to fight, but because I have never seen the reason.

Desert Storm was about the liberation of Kuwait. That sounded good, but really, no one knew where Kuwait was except for oil men.

That European/NATO/breaking up Czech genocide war in the 90s? I couldn't figure out what the deal was except different people from different religions hated and killed one another. The US just bombed the hell out them. No ground troops. Clinton knew the art of fighting without fighting. I still couldn't say I enjoyed it.

9-11 begat Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq had nothing to do with the 20 or so terrorists, and Afghanistan is so backwards and war-ridden that they really can't be held responsible. Or can they?

I'm all for revenge and retribution on individuals. Some people just do wrong and deserve their comeuppance. We know Osama bin Laden was behind the 9-11 attacks, and what happened? Saddam Hussein was hung for it. Well done, war machine.

Eight years after 9-11. Thousands of deaths to Americans and Middle Eastern folks. Billions of dollars. Supporting the troops. And what do we have to show for it?

..., ..., ....

No Osama bin Laden on a stick. No satisfaction for killing a bunch of brown people. No definitive victory.

We're going to leave Iraq. Next year. Maybe. The news stories are toward the end of the front section of my newspaper. A suicide bomb here. 15 dead there. There is and never has been the media coverage that occurred during Vietnam. There never will be again. We are bored with Iraq, and boring wars are lame. Bad for ratings.

We're still in Afghanistan. Fighting the Taliban. Fighting the same group of people we armed to fight the Soviets in the 1980s. Irony? Poetic Justice? Stupidity? We might send more troops. We might not. Sigh. Who's really in charge?

I will say this. The long war does create complacency in the American people, or more to the point, me. I used to speak out in these columns with great fervor about how what we were doing as a nation was wrong. WRONG! I told the blind fanatical patriots where to stick it. I exposed the evils of our administration.

And then, little by little, day by day, you realize that war's only goal is to continue. To stay alive. To feed itself. More bodies, more money, more bullets. War doesn't care if there is a winner or a loser. War wants to live. The war machine makes it happen. My shouts became comments. My comments became thoughts. My thoughts drifted to other things. War rolls on regardless.

What would happen if we stopped the wars? Would we cry over a confused Iraq? Would we shed a tear for the Afghan girl who will be mistreated? Would we see a TV movie called Two Tears for Afghanistan?

What we have really done is create the professional soldier. We have men and women who will continue to fight these wars because that's what they have been doing for over five years. They are really good at it. If and when these wars end, they will look for another one. Civilian life will be too boring. Not for all of them, of course, but many. Many many many.

George Bush always said the goal of war was victory. Simple and vague. A word that inspires without any specifications. Obama does not say what the goal of war is. Because not even he will admit that the goal of war is to continue. Hey, if you want that peace prize to mean something, how about creating a little peace? If you accept that prize, you better back it up.

So here is my plea, for the 1000th time. END THESE WARS. No good will come of killing each other. You may lose power in a region where you've never been in power. If you could have solved their problems at the barrel of a gun, you would have done it already. The brown people will continue to shoot at you as long as they can and as long as you are there.

We don't owe Afghanistan anything. We don't owe Iraq anything. Except maybe a time when they don't have to see America as a big gun pointed at them.

Chris Jungle has been driving a cab since America invaded Iraq.