Unfortunately, Afghanistan is not Vietnam.  The Vietnam War was a horror.  Americans sometimes remember that we lost upwards of 50,000 American lives there, and more than that to suicide and drugs once the soldiers came home.  Estimates of Vietnamese deaths are upwards of a million, though less often mentioned here.  People who lived through the era remember the insanity of all this going on in a place that America had nothing to do with.  And when it was over?  Nothing happened.  America licked the wounds of its national pride.  The economy went catty-wampus with war debt.  Vietnam went its way, slowly rebuilt and is now a capitalist economy run by a Communist Party.  In short, a giant, “So what?” on the world stage.

Afghanistan is another matter.  A Taliban / Al Qaeda victory will have real consequences.  In my view, the Taliban represent much of the worst the human race has to offer.  These are people who throw acid in a girl’s face if she dares to go to school.  I cheered when the Taliban fell.  And then watched in horror as the great A.D.D. President dropped the ball on rebuilding the country.

Of course, this is nothing new for American policy in the region.  Here is what Mauldin had to say about the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

While they were there, we were glad to fund and train and arm the likes of – yup, you guessed it – Osama Bin Laden.  And once the Soviets were out, “Oh, Afghanistan?  Where’s that?”

So I am afraid I am not one of those who thinks the answer is “U.S. Out Now!”

But I’m afraid I’m not optimistic, either.

Sources:

Bill Mauldin,  I’ve Decided I Want My Seat Back

Bill Mauldin, Let’s Declare Ourselves Winners

“Dirty Laundry” by special guest artist Colleen Nelson.

A lot has happened since we first started bloviating about this.  Depending on your view of Obama, he either a) Tried to sanitize the situation by releasing the memos but promising not to prosecute CIA agents who tortured “in good faith” (!!!) or b) knew that once the memos were out, the shit would hit the fan wthout it looking like he threw it.  Regardless of his intentions, the shit has hit the fan, and a good thing, too.  We are, finally, a nation where this kind of shit will not stay swept under the rug and good for us!

I’d like to put in my 2 cents here: The anti-investigation crowd is framing this as “looking forward” vs. “retribution”.  This is pure spin.  If you like it, you call it “justice” or “accountability”.  If you don’t like it, you call it “retribution.”  The point is not retribution — as emotionally satisfying as that might be.  The point is deterrence.   And deterrence is “looking forward”.  It’s looking forward to 2017 or 2035 when some yet-unkown President is once again tempted to grab un-Constitutional powers.  I want him (or her) and his henchmen (or women) to stop and think.  I want them all to think, “Wait a minute.  We could go to jail for this.”  That, my friends, is looking forward.

American Presidents