The choices have been Bad and Worse since Calvin Coolidge left the White House. Worse currently occupies the White House. We have uninterrupted Bad and Worse to look forward to until the dying empire (proclaiming itself a Republic until the end) yields up the ghost.
Its has been a long road, amazing the generational destructive intent of these marxist socialists. Introduction of federal income tax provided the tools and funding for their intents.
Our "elites" have been rotten and wrong to the core forever. David Halberstam wrote a book on it regarding their handling of the Vietnam conflict published in 1975. This debacle shows its only gotten worse since than. After all the analysis, for the US this was a contracts$$$$ war designed to line the pockets of defense contractors, retiring senior officers going into the private sector, politicians, and on the criminal side afghani nationals who stole wholesale the US taxpayers money - But of every $100 million of this steal, our "elites" got their cut$$. Folks, you have to remember this money our "elites" allowed to be stolen over decades was not their money, it was your money - money you could have used to buy that dress for your wife, that car for your kid, that house in a better neighborhood / school district for your family, that boat for yourself............
Many people have written books about the elites and those despicable America-hating ivory tower leftists share your conspiracy that the US military is merely a tool used to line the pockets of contractors, blood for oil, etc. You are all wrong. We remain at war against Islamic fundamentalism and both wars were instrumental in the fight. American exceptionalism is real and the progress made in Afghanistan was real, and could be measured in various metrics such as access to education, electricity, medicine, safety for women etc. But of course you will piss on such statistics and focus on the pork.
Regarding the young Americans placed outside the wall in a chaotic situation with no security space between them and the mob with known attack threats out there. They need to lie in state at our Capital Building as a show of our gratitude for their ultimate sacrifice and their families undying grief of lives senselessly cut short by leadership that is sorely lacking.
I don't know if you, or most, practitioners of the Afghan conflict deserve as much blame as you give yourself. Whether or not staying in Afghanistan and trying to eventually help build a stable nation and government was a proper mission doesn't matter as that is what we tried to do. It was a slow and painful process but it can be argued that after the war in Irag wound down and resources, effort, and planning returned to Afghanistan, a pretty stable state of existence was created by 2020. We saw the last US casualties (before this evacuation) in Feb 2020 and our forces were down to 2500 or so with the Afghans executing the lion's share of the combat.
We can never know if the previous administration's exit plan would have worked but we know it was never tried. The failure we witnessed was a result of the new administration insisting on doing everything differently than the previous. They wanted their symbolic withdrawal by the 20th anniversary of 9-11 rather than the earlier May timeline. The politicians wanted a force reduction done according to a schedule and the military leaders made very bad strategic and tactical decisions to meet that schedule. The senior leadership must be included in with the political class in being blamed for this disaster. They failed everyone.
I don't know if Milley or Austin and their staffs advised the President and his ilk of this disastrous course of action, but if they did, they should all - all - be looking for work, either having resigned in protest of fired in disgrace. To say this disaster was preventable is obvious. But how? Start sooner? yes. Longer withdrawal time? Yes. Bring out the equipment? Sure. Retain an offensive airbase at Bagram? OK, good idea, arguably. But how could we *prevent* this from happening again? Tougher question. Note that NONE of the Presidents and very few of their 'Think Tank Commando" advisors ever served on active duty (not counting brief preferential Air Guard stint for Bush). If they had, they'd have had a feel for what it's like to be *on the ground* in hostile territory. But, having been cooped up in DC boardrooms for professional chin scratchers, they never knew the smell of blood, the acrid smoke, the screams, the confusion, and death; the gut wrenching grit and grime that textbooks and 2 dimensional camera shots can't show. Colin Powell understood. He tried to advise against unnecessary invasions and nation building. Cheney and his fellow Think Tank Rangers turned a deaf ear. They'd all left the fighting to someone else and made the wrong choices. Ditto Obama, Trump and now especially Biden and his advisors. And that strategy failed, utterly. // Maybe we need to go back to a Draft for all 18 year olds, men and women. Call it National Service, but make It mandatory. Military, Peace Corps, Teach for America, Construction Corps...a hard two years but a constructive avenue for young Americans to pay a little back to their country, instead of coddling the soft, self-focused, iPhone addicted children feathering their nests, complaining about diversity and woke politics while getting a degree in basket weaving at taxpayer expense. It's time for a reality check. Being indoctrinated into the real world at a young age -- being part of an organization greater then self will make for better citizens, better parents, and better leaders who won't continually make these sorts of bad decisions resulting in the mess we're now living through.
Not a single comment meets the elegance or profundity of your essay. It is sad so many Americans have resigned themselves to isolationism and forgotten the fight against Islamic Jihadism does not simply end when we abandon our allies who believed the west could offer something better than a life of brutality under barbarian rule.
The choices have been Bad and Worse since Calvin Coolidge left the White House. Worse currently occupies the White House. We have uninterrupted Bad and Worse to look forward to until the dying empire (proclaiming itself a Republic until the end) yields up the ghost.
This whole descent started with Woodrow Wilson.
Absolutely correct. I should have said since WW but with a reprieve under Coolidge. Thank you.
Its has been a long road, amazing the generational destructive intent of these marxist socialists. Introduction of federal income tax provided the tools and funding for their intents.
That’s an excellent point.
Our "elites" have been rotten and wrong to the core forever. David Halberstam wrote a book on it regarding their handling of the Vietnam conflict published in 1975. This debacle shows its only gotten worse since than. After all the analysis, for the US this was a contracts$$$$ war designed to line the pockets of defense contractors, retiring senior officers going into the private sector, politicians, and on the criminal side afghani nationals who stole wholesale the US taxpayers money - But of every $100 million of this steal, our "elites" got their cut$$. Folks, you have to remember this money our "elites" allowed to be stolen over decades was not their money, it was your money - money you could have used to buy that dress for your wife, that car for your kid, that house in a better neighborhood / school district for your family, that boat for yourself............
Many people have written books about the elites and those despicable America-hating ivory tower leftists share your conspiracy that the US military is merely a tool used to line the pockets of contractors, blood for oil, etc. You are all wrong. We remain at war against Islamic fundamentalism and both wars were instrumental in the fight. American exceptionalism is real and the progress made in Afghanistan was real, and could be measured in various metrics such as access to education, electricity, medicine, safety for women etc. But of course you will piss on such statistics and focus on the pork.
Regarding the young Americans placed outside the wall in a chaotic situation with no security space between them and the mob with known attack threats out there. They need to lie in state at our Capital Building as a show of our gratitude for their ultimate sacrifice and their families undying grief of lives senselessly cut short by leadership that is sorely lacking.
I don't know if you, or most, practitioners of the Afghan conflict deserve as much blame as you give yourself. Whether or not staying in Afghanistan and trying to eventually help build a stable nation and government was a proper mission doesn't matter as that is what we tried to do. It was a slow and painful process but it can be argued that after the war in Irag wound down and resources, effort, and planning returned to Afghanistan, a pretty stable state of existence was created by 2020. We saw the last US casualties (before this evacuation) in Feb 2020 and our forces were down to 2500 or so with the Afghans executing the lion's share of the combat.
We can never know if the previous administration's exit plan would have worked but we know it was never tried. The failure we witnessed was a result of the new administration insisting on doing everything differently than the previous. They wanted their symbolic withdrawal by the 20th anniversary of 9-11 rather than the earlier May timeline. The politicians wanted a force reduction done according to a schedule and the military leaders made very bad strategic and tactical decisions to meet that schedule. The senior leadership must be included in with the political class in being blamed for this disaster. They failed everyone.
I don't know if Milley or Austin and their staffs advised the President and his ilk of this disastrous course of action, but if they did, they should all - all - be looking for work, either having resigned in protest of fired in disgrace. To say this disaster was preventable is obvious. But how? Start sooner? yes. Longer withdrawal time? Yes. Bring out the equipment? Sure. Retain an offensive airbase at Bagram? OK, good idea, arguably. But how could we *prevent* this from happening again? Tougher question. Note that NONE of the Presidents and very few of their 'Think Tank Commando" advisors ever served on active duty (not counting brief preferential Air Guard stint for Bush). If they had, they'd have had a feel for what it's like to be *on the ground* in hostile territory. But, having been cooped up in DC boardrooms for professional chin scratchers, they never knew the smell of blood, the acrid smoke, the screams, the confusion, and death; the gut wrenching grit and grime that textbooks and 2 dimensional camera shots can't show. Colin Powell understood. He tried to advise against unnecessary invasions and nation building. Cheney and his fellow Think Tank Rangers turned a deaf ear. They'd all left the fighting to someone else and made the wrong choices. Ditto Obama, Trump and now especially Biden and his advisors. And that strategy failed, utterly. // Maybe we need to go back to a Draft for all 18 year olds, men and women. Call it National Service, but make It mandatory. Military, Peace Corps, Teach for America, Construction Corps...a hard two years but a constructive avenue for young Americans to pay a little back to their country, instead of coddling the soft, self-focused, iPhone addicted children feathering their nests, complaining about diversity and woke politics while getting a degree in basket weaving at taxpayer expense. It's time for a reality check. Being indoctrinated into the real world at a young age -- being part of an organization greater then self will make for better citizens, better parents, and better leaders who won't continually make these sorts of bad decisions resulting in the mess we're now living through.
Not a single comment meets the elegance or profundity of your essay. It is sad so many Americans have resigned themselves to isolationism and forgotten the fight against Islamic Jihadism does not simply end when we abandon our allies who believed the west could offer something better than a life of brutality under barbarian rule.