It also makes you wonder. All the best and the brightest, the D.C. in-crowd, as well as the politicians we elect to implement the will of the people they represent, are really among the most clueless people in the country. I’d rather be represented by the average farmer here in rural Florida, or the guy who frequents one of our gun shops, or the vet enjoying a beer at the bar of the nearby American Legion hall. The nation’s civilian leadership at least has the excuse that they can’t be expected to understand military and national security issues because too many are lawyers, pragmatists who lack a solid moral foundation. Unfortunately, they’re certain they’re smarter than everyone else, so they’re unlikely to listen to anyone. They occasionally turn to the clever staffers they hire to advise them on issues that demand some degree of political and common sense. But, sadly, most hire in their own image and hear only echoes of their own skewed, highly malleable beliefs. Should they feel the need, they can also obtain counsel from military and national security professionals, but these too must share their opinions or they won’t be heard. The flag officers at the top of the military structure, if they really understand the strategic and national security issues involved — as most certainly do — have simply proven themselves to be moral cowards. If they had any backbone they would resign or at least retire when asked to implement decisions that imperil our national security. But they didn’t get to that level by being apolitical.
In mid-1976, a little more than a year after that 1975 debacle in Saigon, as a new Lieutenant Commander I reported aboard the USS Okinawa, a helicopter carrier that happened to be one of the key players in the fall of Saigon. Marine and Navy helicopters from the USS Okinawa were the primary vehicles that airlifted embassy personnel and others and flew them to the many ships off the coast. I was fortunate to talk with those who had piloted and crewed those helicopters. Their stories were heartbreaking because they realized so many loyal Vietnamese friends of the United States were left behind. As we later learned, those who managed to survive were either imprisoned or sent to “re-education camps” to become loyal communists. Those who could, escaped or became “boat people” and hoped they’d make it to safer shores.
As for Afghanistan, I suppose I’ve been influenced by my Vietnam involvement. As my wife Diane said to me today, “When I hear what’s happening now in Kabul, I immediately recall that horrible day in Saigon and how very tragic it was.” She said this with tears in her eyes. Memories like that remain, even after 46 years.
Twenty years ago, when President Bush stood before the rubble of the World Trade Center and in effect declared war on Al-Qaeda, few Americans disagreed with him. At the time I had hoped our plan was to take the battle to Afghanistan and attack the terrorists who had attacked us. And that’s exactly what we should have done. We should have done everything in our power to destroy Al-Qaeda and the Taliban who were harboring and supporting them. Once we had done that, we should have left the country and said, “People of Afghanistan, you brought this on yourselves. Don’t let terrorists use your country as a base of operations. If you do, we will come back again and you will not like it.” Instead, we tried to turn what is perhaps the most tribal, fractured, Islamic nation in the world into a Western democratic republic. What foolishness!
Then the American people elect as president a man who has been consistently wrong on every foreign policy issue for the past 40 years. And, guess what? Surprise, surprise, he’s wrong once again.
As one vet put it yesterday: “Don’t blame the boots, blame the suits!”
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