The Iraq War, an analogy

But he had been so much hurt that something inside him had perished, some of his feeling had gone. There was a blank of insentience. ~ Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence

Picture your neighborhood, a bit dry, somewhat wealthy, nice large brick homes 3 car garages, 5+ baths, hardwood floors, ceramic tile and granite countertops dominate. Down the street is a nice home which over the years has been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Police are always coming around because the father is decidedly not a nice man, he constantly beats his wife and multiple children. There is even a very credible rumor he is keeping illegal substances in the home. He became involved in a property dispute with his neighbor which resulted in a lot of damage and injuries between the two families. And a family member who fled the home stated the father purposely killed one of his children.

You as a righteous person. You support the decision to have the Police use force enter into the home, in order to end the father's multiple crimes. The father is captured and imprisoned awaiting his trial. Unfortunately, during the raid one child is killed, another seriously injured and one of the officers dies. But the man is captured, the wife and other children are free of him. Expectations are they will be able to live a happy life, free of the tyranny of the father.

But, then, instead of leaving, you learn, the surrounding neighborhood is beset with drug dealers, pimps and murderers. The Chief of the Police decides to have the Police stay and set the house up as a trap, using it to lure drug dealers, users and other unsavory characters to the house in order to rid the neighborhood of them and end their crimes and violence.

The vast majority of the Police are noble upstanding people. But, they are put in a very difficult situation. The family wants them to leave, one of the sons attacks an officer one day and kills him, the Police in defending their lives kill the son. Additionally, the Drug Dealers who sneak into the house engage in multiple short gun battles with the Police. The wife is wounded and two of her daughters are killed in the crossfire because the Dealers use them as shields.

The Police find they are becoming hated by the family while defending themselves and actively killing the murderous scum who have been drawn to the house.

Many of the rooms of the house became damaged. The Village Board decides to rebuild them but use substandard materials and shoddy contractors for the work, resulting in the money allocated being basically lost. It also turns out the food and water supplied to the Officers on duty in the house is contaminated and the injured Officers end up not being taken care of when the leave the home at the end of their shifts.

The Village budget is severely compromised by the escalating spending needed to sustain the open-ended "crime" fighting measures. And none of the Board members is brave enough to stop the excursion because some citizens call them Weak on Crime.

Eventually after several long years and the deaths of many innocents and Officers, crime begins to subside. But, the citizens of the Village learn it's because the Chief of Police and Village Board decide to pay the criminals money to stop attacking the Officers. The Chief of Police retires, leaving the incoming Chief the task of what to do...