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.
The higher ups were told to not put troops in Afganistan or only for a short time...by the special forces that chased Ban Ladin out..
Horse Soilders..the book
If it had been recognized in the beginning that it was not winnable, there would have been no exit, in triumph or defeat.
That is what Ron Paul is trying to get people to recognize, and he is right.
With 1-4.
And I do think Biden had a lot to do with it.
He’s the president, officially the Commander-in-Chief.
We could have gotten the same results if we had left in 2002 or 2005. Or 2011, after Bin Laden was dead. Most effective if we had left in 2002, after scorching and salting the poppy fields.
Same here, the one thing from the Bush 1 Presidency to Obama Presidency that was a constant was interventionist and regime change foreign policy. Not 1 iota worth of difference.
Trump will whether his critics will admit it or not was correct that Wars of regime change are not worth it. It is always someone else’s kid who has to go fight these darn wars, never the elites and foreign policy leaders of “BOTH parties who constantly get the USA into these regime change wars.
Where Biden screwed up was not already starting the evacuation of US citizens and Afghan allies who served as scouts and translators, and their families, for the US Milatary
I blame Biden for how it ended.
Like Biden, he’s confusing the issue. It’s not a question of whether or not we should leave; it’s a question of HOW it was done. And the blame falls squarely on Joe Biden and those who committed fraud to give him the presidency.
He's probably right. The odds of turning Afghanistan into a decent country have always been slim.
Paultards are isolationists that want to bring back Bill Clinton's foreign policy and that was as big as disaster as the neo-con foreign policy.
RON PAUL SAID “9/11 BOMBINGS” DURING HIS FAREWELL SPEECH 10 YEARS AGO.
What a pathetic response.
The Taliban are there. Deal with it.
Taliban would not exist without popular tribal support.
You clearly know as much about Afghanistan as Gen. Milley i.e nothing.
Last year of his 1st term is considered incident free by the military. Practically all of 2020.
It is true with respect to the Taliban. The truth is the Taliban feared consequences if they acted against the Afghan government.
I would not be opposed to that though I think when they announced OBLwas dead why didn’t Obama bring them all home?
You know the answer: He was in the pockets of the contractors as well.
Took a president like Trump to end this.
2020 we lost guys to insiders. Just like now, that is the way of the rags. The military recognizes their sacrifices, as do I.
But this ongoing disaster is all on Joe Biden.
Sould like Ron’s just havin the “soft bigotry of low expectations”.
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.