Procopius wrote a great post yesterday titled 50 Years Ago On the Other Side of the Globe (And Today, Too)  recalling the first American casualty engraved in the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C.   He also reflected on our engagement in Afghanistan and its apparent futility and said among other things “But I fear we are too distant, and too culturally different from the inhabitants of that part of the world to ever succeed in building a stable society friendly to our interests.”  It deservedly received an EP and is still on the OS cover as of this writing. It also seems to have been largely ignored by much of the readership; however, I could be wrong about this.  

Kind of Blue put up a post titled Thirteen Days in October '62: The Brink of Armageddon about the Cuban missile crisis.  Both of these pieces hit home with me and got me worked up again about our military involvement in Iraq and now sadly, in Afghanistan. In February I posted an open letter to president Obama about the futility of our involvement in Afghanistan, and have edited, revised and am reposting it here as I think it still rings true. 

Military Involvement in Afghanistan is Misguided, Futile, and Deadly 

Secretary of State Clinton (that has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) is on the international road, but where is this road leading? President Obama is again overseas building relationships that have been sorely neglected under the despotic “leadership” of George the W (as in wimp, wuss, woser).   I have a pet phrase that I use a lot that. “If you don’t know where you are going, then any bus will take you there.”  There are trouble spots on many of the continents, and in many countries throughout the world. Famine, governmental corruption, genocide, and civil war are the order of the day. The United States of America (USA) cannot possibly intervene and police all of these inhumane and disastrous situations by itself. Where are we headed in terms of foreign policy and how do we get there?  It requires concerted action by the major economic powers of the free world to intervene on behalf of the hundreds of millions of human beings who are being denied basic human needs  (safety, food, shelter, clothing,).  We can no longer do this alone.  In fact, recent history supports the reality that we have never been able to do this alone (see below).  

We need a detailed and coherent plan before we go any further down the road.  President Obama has increased our presence in Afghanistan by over 17,000 troops with more to follow.  This is a huge and fundamental mistake and he (and we) will regret this.  My first suggestion is to completely rethink and revise our foreign policy there. This has all the makings of the problems we have previously encountered in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. I would suggest that we recognize that our involvement in this part of the world will be futile unless the people that live there want us, AND unless we have a true world coalition involved. Attempting to run the Taliban out of Afghanistan unilaterally will require that we remain there indefinitely much as we are in Korea.  The USA has got to stop doing this world police thing by itself because it doesn’t work. And it is expensive and human lives are needlessly sacrificed. So, my first vote is to withdraw our troops and regroup. I have included here a brief summary below of the issues with Korea, Vietnam and Iraq to support my suggestions.  

 Summary of USA Involvement in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq  

Since the end of World War II, American foreign policy has largely ignored the reality that we cannot police the world by ourselves. Our approach has essentially used fear as the rationale for our behavior. A brief history is in order. We got involved in the Korean War after troops from communist ruled North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. The United Nations (then only five years old) called upon member countries to support South Korea and sixteen countries sent troops, and forty countries sent supplies and military equipment.  Despite this “coalition”, the reality is that about 90% of the aid came from the United States. The Chinese sent troops and the Soviet Union sent equipment to support North Korea, and this war raged for three years until an armistice was reached on July 27, 1953. At this time the president of the U.S. was five-star General Dwight D. Eisenhower.  No formal peace treaty was ever drawn up, and so we have maintained a military force in South Korea since that time.  

During the 1950’s school children in America took home pamphlets on building bomb shelters in our backyards.  Emergency evacuation shelters were designated throughout the country.  We practiced “air raids” in elementary school regularly.  We crouched under our desks, opened the windows in the room (to let the pressure of a blast escape - I kid you not!), turned out the lights, and drew the blinds (this would protect us from the flying glass from a blast!). We (school children) actually talked about the “fact” that we would be one of the first areas bombed in the whole country because of our auto factories (I lived in Detroit).  Mr. President, you were not born yet but this is the reality many of us “boomers” were raised with: FEAR of a foreign menace. 

We’re still in Korea.  The Soviet empire has dissolved. The Chinese have their hands full with a souring economy that may in fact produce an internal social revolution unlike anything since the Chairman Mao led Cultural Revolution of 1966.  South Korea has made great strides.  North Korea has suffered. There is not real “end-game” plan here. 

John F. Kennedy (JFK) became president in 1961. He promptly got entangled in the Bay of Pigs fiasco. This one involved the CIA supported attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro and was an unmitigated disaster.  Many say that this fueled the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.  The Soviets were building missile sites in Cuba and Kennedy ordered a naval blockade that brought us to brink of a potential nuclear conflict.  No wonder we were so scared. 

Having learned very little so far, JFK got things cranked up in Vietnam . He subscribed to the “domino theory” (first advanced by Eisenhower); a theory based largely on fear. Here was a situation where French colonialism was ending (1954) due to the Vietnamese exerting self-control. An international conference in Geneva drew up a dividing line along the 17^th parallel that was not intended to be permanent. Ho Chi Minh came to power in the north, and by the mid 60’s a full fledged war was raging for control of Vietnam.  Kennedy essentially drew a line in the sand in Vietnam.  He thought some guerilla type warfare would put down the communists.  In 1961 he sent Vice President Lyndon Johnson to Vietnam and Johnson promised U.S. support for South Vietnam.  He did not want to send in combat troops; however, by 1963 we had 16,000 military “advisors” on the ground.  There were 900 of these so-called advisors when JFK took office.  The CIA was all involved in this mess.  They plotted ways to take out Diem (South Vietnam’s leader).  One of my CIA buddies has told me extensive stories of the U.S. CIA “bomb throwers” that we had there in an attempt to disrupt the North Vietnamese actions.   

JFK was assassinated (1963) and Lyndon B. Johnson inherited this burgeoning mess.  He was focused on his “Great Society” agenda, and initially did not consider Vietnam a priority.  Johnson and his Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara fabricated the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the war was on.  The 1960’s unfolded, and eventually Johnson realized his mistake. We are still paying the price for this disaster. 

We (USA) engaged in several skirmishes (remember the successful invasion of Grenada?) over the next decades.  The Berlin Wall came down. The Bush family rose to power.  The elder Bush got us into Iraq in the Persian Gulf War . He didn’t finish the job with Saddam Hussein. His son, “W” invaded Iraq looking for Hussein, and the now infamous weapons of mass destruction.  We remain mired there. We seem to have learned no lessons in Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq.  In all of these cases we had no clear plan.  We just went down a road that seemed "right." Without a coherent plan, we never have been able to tell where we are.  So we keep walking and fighting.  For what?  Forever?

If We Stay in Afghanistan, Then… 

Okay, for the sake of discussion, let’s assume the USA is staying in Afghanistan and we are going to prevail.  If we stay, let’s get real and make this war a priority, instead of a pasttime.   

1)      Develop a plan that the American people can understand and support. No lies.  No vague phrases such as “support democracy.” Clearly define our goals in Afghanistan.  What exactly are we going to achieve? How many troops will it take?  What will it cost? How will we know when we have completed the mission?  When and how will we leave?  If Obama cannot answer these questions, then we are ill-advised to proceed. 

2)     Reinstate a draft.  Yes, this is ugly.   Nobody likes it.  If this is so important to the free world, get all of the American people involved.  Expect us to make sacrifices.  Stop contracting out this war.  Any contractor’s primary motive is to make money.  They do not share the same purpose that the military does.  

3)      Make this a genuine “free world coalition” effort and get equal support from all the G-8 nations here.  Going it alone has never worked (see above.)  We are tired of policing the world.  We are tired of living in fear.  We are tired of being lied to about the reasons that we must sacrifice our young.  President Obama is in a position to do something about it. 

4) Get a new Secretary of Defense.  Robert Gates is an honorable and bright man.  I respect him.  He was willing to work for George W. Bush, who was one of the most despicable world leaders of our time.  This is an indication of misguided judgment by Gates. Obama needs someone loyal to him.  This is serious business.

5)  After we develop a genuine coalition, and a draft to support this war, let’s go in and do this thing right.  For God’s sake, run this war like we want to win it – or stay out.  Bomb the hell out of “them.”  Run down Bin-Laden (he’s on a dialysis machine somewhere) and kill him.  Get tough with Pakistan.  Get tough with Iran.  Hell, get tough with Korea and Cuba while you’re at it, or let’s be quiet.  Or, let them take care of their own affairs.  We’ve got plenty to handle right here in the good old United States of America. 

 --The End—(for now)