Posted on 08/16/2021 1:39:59 PM PDT by RandFan
This weekend the US experienced another “Saigon moment,” this time in Afghanistan. After a 20 year war that drained trillions from Americans’ pockets, the capital of Afghanistan fell without a fight. The corrupt Potemkin regime that the US had been propping up for two decades and the Afghan military that we had spent billions training just melted away.
The rush is on now to find somebody to blame for the chaos in Afghanistan. Many of the “experts” doing the finger-pointing are the ones most to blame. Politicians and pundits who played cheerleader for this war for two decades are now rushing to blame President Biden for finally getting the US out. Where were they when succeeding presidents continued to add troops and expand the mission in Afghanistan?
The US war on Afghanistan was not lost yesterday in Kabul. It was lost the moment it shifted from a limited mission to apprehend those who planned the attack on 9/11 to an exercise in regime change and nation-building.
Immediately after the 9/11 attacks I proposed that we issue letters of marque and reprisal to bring those responsible to justice. But such a limited and targeted response to the attack was ridiculed at the time. How could the US war machine and all its allied profiteers make their billions if we didn’t put on a massive war?
So who is to blame for the scenes from Afghanistan this weekend? There is plenty to go around.
Congress has kicked the can down the road for 20 years, continuing to fund the Afghan war long after even they understood that there was no point to the US occupation. There were some efforts by some Members to end the war, but most, on a bipartisan basis, just went along to get along.
The generals and other high-ranking military officers lied to their commander-in-chief and to the American people for years about progress in Afghanistan. The same is true for the US intelligence agencies. Unless there is a major purge of those who lied and misled, we can count on these disasters to continue until the last US dollar goes up in smoke.
The military industrial complex spent 20 years on the gravy train with the Afghanistan war. They built missiles, they built tanks, they built aircraft and helicopters. They hired armies of lobbyists and think tank writers to continue the lie that was making them rich. They wrapped their graft up in the American flag, but they are the opposite of patriots.
The mainstream media has uncritically repeated the propaganda of the military and political leaders about Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and all the other pointless US interventions. Many of these outlets are owned by defense industry-connected companies. The corruption is deep.
American citizens must also share some blame. Until more Americans rise up and demand a pro-America, non-interventionist foreign policy they will continue to get fleeced by war profiteers.
Political control in Afghanistan has returned to the people who fought against those they viewed as occupiers and for what they viewed as their homeland. That is the real lesson, but don’t expect it to be understood in Washington. War is too profitable and political leaders are too cowardly to go against the tide. But the lesson is clear for anyone wishing to see it: the US global military empire is a grave threat to the United States and its future.
1) Members of Congress - Both sides.
2) Liars in government, particularly generals and those in the intelligence services.
3) The military industrial complex who fleeced the taxpayer for 20 years.
4) The MSM parroting the propaganda, many connected to defense companies. He says the corruption runs deep.
5) American citizens for accepting it and not rising up.
Agree or not?
Agree with most of them. Rising up how?
Ron Paul is an idiot. Always has been. The point is not whether Afghanistan was winnable, but rather how it ended, and the complete and utter incompetence of the withdrawal. That is all on the Biden Admin.
Somebody supported that stupid son of a bitch Biden.
I totally agree with Paul.
He nails it on all points.
Not relevant to the current evac crisis.
Blame America First Ron Paul speaks! Don’t blame Biden for the decisions he and his administration alone made in the last few months!
They put up the rainbow flag at the US Embassy in Kabul on June 1, 2021.
They might as well have put up a Nazi Flag in Tel Aviv.
A headline to grab attention. RP is not adding much to the evac discussion.
Agreed.
I blame Biden for screwing up the withdrawal, but the fault of this mess lies at the feet of Bush and Cheney — along with virtually everything that grew out of it that turned our free country into a jack-booted surveillance state.
Here that Liz — you worthless bitch...?
Sorry Rand. The issue is execution. Biden failed. Period.
Cheney/Bush set the table to be sure. But Biden botched the exit.
So angry, I misspelled “hear”...
You left out all of the American Presidents since 2000.
Paul is an isolationist. I don’t agree with that policy.
The issue at hand here is the desertion of civilians
Mr Paul
It is a disgrace
No one that was paying attention thought this wouldn’t happen form the word go. From the time I was told in my living room, “they want guys over in Afghanistan. Can I go?”, and I answered, “knock yourself out”
I know that we had no further 9/11s and that there was a peace.
It is the graveyard of empires not for nothing
But you don’t leave, military first weapons and ammo behind and civilians last.
To what? Bribe the taliban?
The taliban are not the Iranians.
That’s the issue.
It’s not even a country
They’re not going to listen to the UN
Save it Ron paul
Ron Paul has always been senile.
Sorry Ron but I’m not seeing the profit margin from Afghanistan.
Yeah have to agree. Nobody is blaming Biden for starting the nation building. We are blaming him for the messed up withdrawal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.