I have an Impromptus for you today — a parade of personalities, a parade of points. Find something you like (and dislike). I begin with two kings, or sort-of kings: Juan Carlos of Spain (who abdicated in 2014, in favor of his son, Felipe) and Constantine II of Greece. The former is in the middle of a corruption scandal. The latter is living peacefully, as far as I know, but I thought of him the other day when I was reading about the Elgin Marbles.
WFB had Constantine as a guest one night at an editorial dinner. I questioned the worthy Greek about the marbles. An interesting experience.
Among my other subjects in Impromptus today is Afghanistan: our deal with the Taliban; its secret annexes; and so on. I would like to publish a letter from a member of our Armed Forces, serving in a faraway place. Many readers will not like the letter, or at least parts of it. They may like the criticism of Obama but not of his successor. They may not like what my correspondent says about the American people today.
But this fellow has earned his views, you might say, and we should not begrudge his right to speak — to “vent,” as he says.
People like me get to sound off all the time. Our servicemen, not too much — not in public (except anonymously, as now).
Okay, that letter:
. . . Have you lost faith in the U.S.? Or has your faith in the country diminished since 2016? Mine has. There’s a story I once heard about an ODA returning back to the U.S. when Mattis made a point of getting on their C-130 to talk to them. This was a team that had lost several guys and had really been in the sh*t for most of their nine months.
Mattis reminded them that upon returning home, it was important not to hold the ignorance of the American people against them. The civilians the team would encounter — extended family, neighbors, acquaintances — wouldn’t understand the stakes, the circumstances, or the implications of what the team had done. Mattis advised the team to be charitable to them.
I find it harder and harder to follow that advice.
When Obama snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in both Iraq and Afghanistan, I could comfort myself that when an adult became president again, maybe the damage could be reversed or at least mitigated. Clearly we’re not getting an adult in the White House again anytime soon.
But even more disappointing is the general public reaction in the U.S. The blasé attitude that seems to be the common response to our “peace deal” with the Taliban is a harsh reminder that most Americans have so little skin in the game when it comes to their own security. Americans seem to think that we chose this war and we’re free to leave whenever we want. We are living out the Biblical quote, “peace, peace, when there is no peace.” How degraded our morale has become since 9/11 and how fuzzy our thinking. I am afraid we are going to have to relearn history.
More and more often, I consider Americans spoiled children who do not realize how good they have it. We let televised media and politicians rile us up by exaggerating grievances and wallowing in self-loathing. So few Americans have any idea what real political problems look like — what it looks like when national politics actually affects one’s day-to-day life. So few consider America an idea worth fighting for. I see this ingratitude — an unearned cynicism — even in 20-somethings in the military, which is demoralizing and shows how ingrained the propaganda is.
A few years ago, a partner and I were working by ourselves in the capital of a very violent African country. For one year, we navigated the tribal conflicts, the deep-seated hatred based on class, race, and ethnicity. Then we’d get on the Internet and read about Michael Brown or Black Lives Matter. It seemed so artificial, so manufactured.
My partner and I used to laugh that most American journalists would look at our work situation and think it was the story of two white Americans and bunch of black guys — when, in fact, it was a story about class, lineage, and ethnicity among the locals. Me and my partner’s race and nationality were irrelevant to the story. Maybe “irrelevant” isn’t the right word — we certainly had an effect. But, if anything, our nationality — the fact we were American — was nothing but a blessing to the good people in that country.
I’ve spent 21 months in African war zones and I’ll tell you, Africans love Americans because we treat people as equals. The French sure don’t. The Russians or Chinese? God, no. White South Africans? Of course not. Even the Brits can be wildly condescending. But we were a colony just like Africa was. We are inherently egalitarian. We treat Africans — and Afghans, etc. — like equals because we can picture them in our country. We see that they are only a lucky bounce away from being Americans. . . .
The American public’s myopia and lack of perspective, as well as instinctive self-flagellation, are suicidal. Over 99 percent of Americans have not been affected by the war in Afghanistan, except to reap the rewards of terror kept at bay. Their “war-weariness” is psychosomatic — they simply regurgitate what they hear and imagine they have a problem. They will learn differently. Afghanistan hosts a rogues’ gallery of international terror groups, external geopolitical actors, and local facilitators. I hope relearning what we never should have forgotten will not be as bloody as it was 18.5 years ago.
Sorry for my clumsy venting . . .
Not very clumsy, I would say.
A few points:
(1) That phrase “lucky bounce” is wonderful. “We treat Africans — and Afghans, etc. — like equals because we can picture them in our country. We see that they are only a lucky bounce away from being Americans.” So true. So very true.
(Almost every day, I meet people, or see people, who have bounced luckily. I’m lucky in that my forebears who immigrated to America bounced luckily.)
(2) Our correspondent says, “So few consider America an idea worth fighting for.” The very idea of America as an idea is highly controversial, as you know. In my life, the Left has rejected it, soundly. I think that more and more on the right are rejecting it too.
(3) The letter I’ve published is only one soldier’s cry — and please note that I am using the word “soldier” loosely. I don’t necessarily mean a member of an army. I mean one who is skilled in the military arts, and practices them. So, this is just one soldier’s cry. Others will have their own, to be sure. But this one is not atypical, I wager.
Which leads me to . . .
(4) Whenever I express skepticism about our deal with the Taliban and our impending withdrawal from Afghanistan, my critics say, “Well then, why don’t you strap on a rifle and go over there and fight, you cosmopolitan libtard? America First!”
Okay. But survey the men and women of our Armed Forces. See what they think. See what they think about the connection between Afghanistan and U.S. security. See what they think, more broadly, about the problems of the world and our own well-being. The results could be surprising.
To be continued, of course . . .