Lessons Unlearned and Histories Repeated
Vietnam could have been blamed on overconfidence stemming from victory in WWII: A mistaken belief that the U.S. was invincible and the delusion that with government all things are possible. What was formerly America’s “longest war” could have been blamed on ignorance: We did not yet know, realize, or understand just how difficult nation-building actually is. It could have been motivated by a desire or perceived need to defeat Communism: In retrospect, however, Communism is in most instances a self-defeating philosophy (as evidenced by its routine and repeated failures and its “success” only in the most authoritarian and oppressive regimes).
But what of Afghanistan? The undeclared war in Afghanistan has continued for twenty (20) years. In contrast, direct U.S. involvement in WWI was less than two (2) years, and in WWII it was less than four (4) years.
Ask yourself: What was the state interest, which necessitated not only the initial invasion but a protracted presence in Afghanistan? Despite a conflict spanning two (2) decades, I am confident that many Americans would have trouble finding Afghanistan on a globe.
How was “victory” to be defined? What were our national objectives? Were those goals and objectives likely to be fulfilled? At what costs? Was victory in America’s longest war ever an established priority or viable objective? Was it even possible? What was the exit strategy?
ALL of those questions should have been answered definitively and conclusively before committing money, (wo)men, and materiel to war. If those questions could not be answered satisfactorily (at the outset or at any point thereafter), then war should have been avoided or ended. In the absence of a clear objective, unwavering commitment, and a viable exit strategy, failure was always a foregone conclusion.
What were the costs of abject failure? The lives of nearly 2,500 U.S. military personnel and even more American “contractors” (approximately 4,000). Also sacrificed was the “quality of life” for tens of thousands more, who fought and continue to suffer. The financial costs? Roughly $1 TRILLION to date, and that dollar amount will continue to increase for decades due to care and benefits to thousands of veterans, who served in the region.
How does government justify the loss of life and limb? All of those financial costs have been debt-financed, so the interest costs will amount to billions if not trillions more. How is it that those costs are not in vain?
Do we just give a pass to multiple administrations, who either poorly performed the cost-benefit analyses or who blatantly lied to the American people? Do we continue to blindly trust a government, which cannot adequately define and successfully advance its own interests much less simultaneously know and advance the incompatible and conflicting interests of 330,000,000 citizens?
This failure should have been evident from the outset. Even if one were to concede arguendo the need to “respond” to the attacks of 9–11, the seemingly incessant war in Afghanistan was fueled by fits of hubris, and it was prone to unrestrained demonstrations of arrogance.
The “greatest minds” in government failed to learn from Vietnam. They failed to learn from the histories of the British and Russians in Afghanistan itself. Despite efforts in both the 19th and 20th centuries, those nations also failed to tame Afghanistan. Admittedly, it took the British THREE (3) “Anglo-Afghan Wars” to learn their difficult and costly lesson.
In ignoring centuries of history and by refusing to learn from cautionary tales, politicians condemned America and Americans to repeat destructive histories of the past. And … this is just a single example of such failures, which are prevalent throughout government.
Yet, we the people also seem determined to ignore history. We ignore the long and consistent history of governments as oppressive forces. We forget that government is, at best, a necessary evil. We naively trust political minions to be perpetually benevolent and forever benign. Motivated by ignorance or deception, those minions assure us that THEY and they alone hold the keys to success and know the path to “victory.” Without foundation or evidence, they assure us that they are not susceptible and not likely to succumb to the corruption, which befalls nearly all others.
We embrace government power or allow it to expand unchecked forgetting the inevitably corrupting influence of unrestrained power. We expose or condemn ourselves to abuse, oppression, and tyranny by political classes. We sacrifice liberty freedom in return for empty promises of “safety” and based upon illusions and delusions of “security.”
Unfortunately, some difficult lessons are never taken to heart and are oft repeated with potentially dire consequences. Those difficult lessons apply both to international relations and domestic policy.
