The Winners Write History

I remember after 9/11, there was a fervor across America to make the bad guys pay.  It took until 2003, but President Bush was going to make the bad guys pay.  The bad guys were in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Remember the hearings at the UN?  Hans Blick said there were no weapons of mass destruction.  Colin Powell said there were.

Those hearings turned Powell into a Democrat.

Turns out, there were WMD in Iraq and they spirited them out of the country before we got there.  In early battles, we decimated the Iraq army, and decimated the Taliban.  From all news reports, we were “winning”.

Then came an election and Bush put up the banner, “Mission Accomplished”.  That was the tell.  No one knew the mission.  When you don’t know the mission, you can’t win.  They tried to articulate the mission, but even when they said exactly what it was the fighting on the ground said otherwise.

The war was terribly politicized at home.  Every day and week, mainstream media slanted their coverage.

I remember thinking back then that Bush will go down as the President that remade the Middle East, or go down as one of the biggest goats in history-and that doesn’t mean greatest of all time.  Bush didn’t remake any of the Middle East countries formerly trapped by radical Islam to be a peaceful loving democratic republic.

Obama didn’t do much more.  He extended the war.  He was always an uncomfortable war president having no knowledge of military tactics, protocol, or anything like that.  If there was one spot the smooth Obama looked like a total clod, it was around military people.  His administration could have gotten us out but found it politically prudent to keep us there.  He sent pallet loads of unmarked cash to people who wanted to destroy our way of life in order to placate them.  It’s a totally upside-down view of Coase theory at work.

Trump didn’t do a lot better.  The only thing Trump did was formulate an exit plan which he did.  Trump, like him or not, was a cagey politician that could put his finger directly on the pulse of what most people were thinking.  No one in America wanted to be in Afghanistan or Iraq anymore.

I don’t like the Trump criticism of the Afghan army.  I think it’s a bit unfair.

Biden is a disaster.  What just transpired in Afghanistan was an abject failure of leadership.  Biden inherited a pretty crappy situation, but typical of a career politician, instead of being an active leader and taking control he has passed the buck of any responsibility.

I watched his speech hoping we’d see some leadership ability.  We didn’t.  The next day, the stock market told you so.

Actions speak a lot louder than words.  I was in person at a speech once by current Chief of Staff General Milley and it was inspiring.  His actions belie that he is but a mere politician.  He worked the system to get where he is.  If he was an entrepreneur, he probably could sell himself to some investors to get some cash, but I doubt if he could raise succeeding rounds of capital.

Americans want their wars to be fast, efficient and effective.  The Civil War, WW1, WW2 all had clear objectives and were done in less than 5 years.  Our last several engagements have been nightmares.

Our military is in rough shape.  There bickering at the top over how to lead and what to do.  Is it important to teach troops critical race theory or should we train them up to fight?  Should we lower standards so more people can participate and everyone gets a trophy, or should we train to fight?

Every single top general or admiral in the military hierarchy ought to turn in their resignations today after what has transpired.  So should Biden’s entire national security team.

It seems no one in government is honest anymore.

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