Afghanistan hysteria
As the sewing circle gossip over Afghanistan spins into the upper atmosphere of histrionics, there are some relevant facts worth keeping in mind as we each settle on a personal position regarding the matter.
For instance, whether or not you voted for him, our current commander in chief is the first White House occupant to make the difficult decision to keep his campaign promise to end our nation’s longest war and bring our troops home. Noteworthy, too, is the fact that withdrawal of an occupying military force in situations like this is always politically difficult on the domestic front and logistically nightmarish on the ground, irrespective of who steps up to the difficult task of making it happen. (Was the Soviet Union’s 1989 extrication from Afghanistan any more graceful or less painful as U.S. Stinger missiles dropped young Russian men from the sky?)
As armchair national security advisers and amateur foreign policy wonks decry the decision and the process on social media platforms, it may be useful for us all to adopt a bit of foreign perspective on Uncle Sam finally stepping out of this two-decade-old conflict.
Simply put, in the eyes of many abroad, we are a bellicose nation. Founded in the smoke of musket fire, our history is taught to our smallest of children using armed conflicts as waypoints, to define eras. At war since late 2001 on two fronts that straddle yet a third adversary (Iran, with which we broke diplomatic ties), in formerly sovereign nations that we invaded, we have raised an entire generation that has not known a single year of peacetime (though modern warfare and our technological superiority ensure that, for most in our nation — unlike those in the conflict zones — the experience of war is limited to watching television news clips of the associated violence and death while comfortably seated in a recliner in an air-conditioned room while noshing on a bag of chips).
And do not forget that we are the only nation to ever have used atomic weapons on another country — the rest of the world has not forgotten.
Irrespective of your religious or philosophical or political leanings, consider that militancy, though necessary at times, does not have to be our foremost national characteristic and that all things have a shelf life, armed conflicts included.
There was good and bad to our going into this conflict; there was good and bad to us staying in place as long as we did; and there will be good and bad to us withdrawing now. Let’s maintain a broad perspective as our nation navigates this latest challenge, among others.
John Atwell
Kurtistown
Reform needed
I wrote the U.S. Senate a question regarding campaign finance reform. The response I received stated the only thing Congress could address on that issue was “direct political corruption.”
I don’t know about anybody else, but Citizens United immediately came to mind. Money from anywhere can be drawn into our elections that could even originate from a foreign source, and we may never know.
It seems whenever transparency is requested, someone from the ethics supply department can only find opacity.
Dave Kisor
Pahoa