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There’s a serious problem with the way the brass work with Afghanistan officials. The current SOP everywhere is to identify and vet all Afghans who come on post. Since the suicide bomber a couple of years ago, Afghans have been very restricted and must be registered before they can get in.

That said, these types of high-level meetings generally occur off post, and these security checks are not performed with regard to the security accompanying local officials. Asking to vet their guards is seen as a lack of trust and our officials (including military) have all bought in to “respect the local culture at all costs” dictum. In effect, our policy is more concerned with political correctness than safety or even the accomplishment of our mission.

The Middle East has a long history of corrupting “allies.” The above bio exemplifies the problem. Senior military officers have been inoculated against common sense. They may be great in the field, but their courage deserts them in the face of political agendas—whether cultural equivalency or sexual equality. It’s the frog-in-the-pot syndrome. Sheer exposure over time brings familiarity to even the most abberant practices or ideas.

It’s a larger problem than most admit, because it undermines that comfortable narrative we prefer that military equals conservative or apolitical to the point of sainthood. Our founders knew that humans are not saints and that’s why they instituted checks and balances and outlawed the very concept of nobility.

While we may not have titles, our dalliance with Middle Eastern “royalty” and the human propensity toward hereditary rule rather than Republic, has resulted in an elitist class in Washington that is indistinguishable from the tyrants parading about with crowns on their encephalitic heads. The stench of privilege that pervades our capital and even infects our military would be anathema to our founders.