On August 25, 1945, General Charles de Gaulle, led the liberation march down the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Eisenhower, leading American troops, could have done the victory march. We knew better than to do that.
Charles deGaulle led the French Resistance. Symbolically, the French were not given back their country. France liberated itself.
Some things cannot be gifted.
(Americans shouldn't feel slighted. Every schoolchild learns our independence from Britain was won by American minutemen and Continental soldiers under the command of George Washington, not by the blockades of the French navy.)
The war in Afghanistan has been described to Americans as the good war in the Middle East, as opposed to the mistake-war in Iraq. Our purpose was to end Afghanistan serving as a refuge and staging area for Taliban terror attacks on the USA. We were on the side of a strong, stable government there. We wanted a government that led a loyal army to oppose Taliban insurgents. We were on the side of Afghanistan's oppressed people. America had a moral cause.
President Joe Biden this week said we are leaving promptly. Biden gets the predictable criticism from military hawks, saying he is soft on Muslim extremism and weak on protecting women. We are going to leave. It will be ugly but most Americans don't care. Former President George W. Bush gave the moral case for staying, calling our leaving a "mistake" and saying that atrocities will follow, that "Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm." He said that Afghanis who worked with Americans in good faith will be targeted by Taliban troops. “They’re just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks my heart.”
It is a credible worry. Americans trained and armed Afghan troops. Upon announcement that America is leaving, those troops are folding immediately to Taliban forces and turning their weapons over to them. They have no heart for opposing the Taliban. After 20 years we are re-learning the lesson we learned in Vietnam. People will fight for their own national pride and to protect their own culture, but they won't fight and risk death for ours.
Meanwhile, University of Oregon researchers quantified what any observant Oregonian noticed, that Governor Kate Brown was the least credible spokesperson to expand COVID vaccinations into vaccine-resistant Oregonians. I don't consider it her "fault." She was dealt a tough hand, trying to enforce COVID shutdowns and mask rules in a state where in rural places nearly half the people are Trump supporters. The cards stacked against her combine resentment of Portland, Trump's signaling and leadership in opposition to COVID shutdowns, a partisan divide, and misogyny. People inclined to dislike Kate Brown will interpret whatever she says and does negatively. They will consider it scolding. Or pressuring. Or dictatorial. Or meddling. Or a Democratic pedophile chip-inserting effort to do mind-control to pave the way for gun confiscation.
Someone else needs to be the messenger on vaccinations. Someone with credibility with White rural people who drive pickup trucks with stickers showing a little boy pissing on Kate Brown or other anti-Kate Brown sentiments.
Yesterday my blog post described Olivia Rodrigo volunteering to be a vaccine-advocate. She has credibility to say getting vaccinated is cool for young people to do. That was smart and realistic. Joe Biden recognized his limitations.
Sometimes the messenger is the message. Only the Afghans can shape the behavior of Afghans. We had twenty years to learn that lesson. Rural Trump-supporting people will continue to resist vaccination until they decide they want it, and as long as it is defined as an issue of freedom vs. oppression, they will oppose it. Only Trump or Fox or someone they trust can make it about proud Americans practicing self-defense with a concealed-carry weapon.
Democrats will feel frustrated and helpless over vaccine opposition and Americans generally will feel some guilt when we watch Afghani girls be beaten or killed for going to school.
Isn't there an obligation here? Can't we do something for them? No, we cannot. That is the sad, frustrating lesson. It is in their hands.
5 comments:
Thanks for today's viewpoint, Peter.
Our failure to extract Afghan translators and their families will reverberate for years as a punctuating stain on our "legacy". We had plenty of time to get our Afghan team members out before exiting and failed to do so. They're now on the run for their lives and most will suffer immeasurably at the hands of the Taliban while the State Department fails to act on their Special Immigrant Visa applications.
While I agree that we needed to leave, why is it that we didn't properly train and equip the necessary air power assets (e.g. Apache attack helicopters) to protect our ground troop allies now left so exposed?
As many are predicting, I believe this will end far worse than our Vietnam experience.
"It will be ugly but most Americans don't care."
I agree with everything but that. It's not a matter of caring. Of course anyone with a shred of empathy is torn up by the barbarism in the Middle East, no less than the barbarism in Texas, or anywhere else in the World. This is at the heart of Progressivism and certainly part of why we stayed in Afghanistan until now.
I would fault the international community, and in particular Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and the other Islamic nations for allowing extremism to flourish in the region. My guess is that they tolerate the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda the same way Republicans pander to evangelicals.
David Landis; how I wish I could argue against your points, but I can't.
I wanted to throw something destructive
At my radio when I heard the Shrub bemoaning about the end of his 20 year war. So enlightening to hear form a former Coward in Chief.
To address only one subject, it seems we have only two choices to end the pandemic in USA. One is to issue stamps on driver’s licenses, passports, etc, verifying that the holder has been fully vaccinated, and start requiring said verification to travel, attend movie theaters, go to university, etc. Gradually, tighten the policies.
The alternative is to continue on our current path, allowing airheads to continue believing that the vaccine will make them grow extra limbs, vote against trump policies, or simply die with 48 hours.
Once these fools all die from Delta Variant, virtually all our problems will be solved, including a huge drawdown in the number of republicans on the loose.
No "like" button here, but you have a very workable solution to a problem created by the Anti Vax and Anti Demicr as cy Coalitions. Let them scream, and let Darwin reign.
Post a Comment