Two American Defeats

 

Two American Defeats

 Twice, now, within 50 years, our powerful United States of America has been defeated in war, and has turned tail and abandoned countries in which numerous American lives and treasure had been lost.  Who can forget the iconic photo of evacuees crowding onto a helicopter on the roof of a building (not the U.S. embassy) in Saigon in 1975?  And now the picture of Afghani evacuees hanging onto a C-117 cargo plane in Kabul?

 The Vietnam war cost the U.S. 58,200 American lives and nearly $1 trillion.  The Afghan war cost us 2,400 American lives and upwards of $2.4 trillion.

 The Vietnam War was represented by our American leaders as necessary to stop the spread of international communism across Asia and the world.  Once Vietnam defeated the U.S. and unified their country, rather that spreading communism internationally Vietnam fought an internecine war with the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian communists, and Cambodia eventually rejected communism for a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.  Vietnam and Laos remain communist with market economies.

 The Vietnam war, (and racial issues in the 1960’s and 70’s), irreparably split our country, and sowed the seeds for the current Marxist/racist take-over of the country.

 We attacked Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda on the twin towers, to defeat the repressive 6^th century Taliban government, and deny safe haven for Al-Qaeda and other terrorists.  All of these bad actors went underground, or into Pakistan, and continued guerrilla warfare against us for 20 years.

 Like the Brits and Soviets before us, we were ready to end military activities in Afghanistan after 20 years of frustrating war.  We were going to do this on our terms, with rational and orderly withdrawal, protecting our Afghani allies and friends, our diplomats, and our considerable war materiel.

 Unfortunately, as Obama once opined, Joe f---ed it up again.  The clueless Biden and his amateurish administration, jumped the gun with no definitive plans for phased withdrawal, and allowed the Same Taliban of 20 years ago, to waltz in and take over everything in the country before we could get our people and equipment out.  Of course, the continuously wrong Biden, arrogant as ever, pats himself on the back for this disaster, and, --- wait for it --- blames President Trump.

 Pity the women and girls that were free and educated while we were in Afghanistan.  Pity the Western world, now that terrorists once again have a safe haven in a savage, repressive, fundamentalist 6^th century regime.

 Ray Gruszecki

August 17, 2021