How about the British occupation of India? They didn’t cut and run, they held onto their empire as they lost generations of young men. Some years it seemed to be going quite well.

Of the ten young men I knew who went to Vietnam from my high school graduating class, four were killed, two were horrifically physically wounded, and the other four were so transformed emotionally that it was as though I had never known them.

Hatred is not a beneficial emotion. Still, sometimes….

It’s always the old to lead us to the war,
It’s always the young to fall.
Now look at all we’ve won, with the saber and the gun;
Tell me is it worth it all?

Phil Ochs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5pgrKSwF…