I could have alternately titled this post from the Lou Reed song Last Great American Whale...
"Don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear..."
It is interesting to me that when someone is "woke" or thinking they are "in the right" they can just spew whatever venom they feel or wish to infect upon another, because they feel so justified. Except...the facts don't always align. It has been said...facts are tricky things. I believe that was John Adams. He that might be spinning in his grave right now, regardless of his worth as a President. We can be certain that we've seen no one of his ilk in any of our lifetimes, as President or any other.
And so we continue on as if this is all just normal. Two parties. Each hate one another. We get involved at whatever level and somehow...just believe what they say. Smart people! People I know with great intelligence! And yet the chance to throw something on social media is overwhelming, I suppose, and so we get something like this:
It should come as no surprise that this post and my words have to do with the situation in Afghanistan at the moment. My pedantic self wants to fix the punctuation. There are quotes that someone has enjoined to the meme, but they don't quite fit. Did Trump himself say that Biden couldn't stop the process? Maybe he did. I certainly wouldn't put it past the man. Donald Trump is the most shameless President of my lifetime and would say whatever and whenever anything that came into his brain at any given moment, regardless of the veracity. And yet...again...he is wrong. As is the person that put this graphic together.
I'd also say, I beg a question because it suggests 21 years. We've only been there 20. But whatever. It's the internet. Things get muddled, right?
Here's the thing (for those of you smarty pants that like to use that phrase)...Fox "News" isn't the only one blaming Biden. The world is. The Afghan people are. Allies of the United States are looking and wondering who or what is in power given this circumstance. A horrible circumstance. The Taliban is looking and seeing a perfect opening for whatever it is that they wish to do, regardless of whatever posturing they are doing right this minute. China is certainly seeing an opening, especially given their words to Taiwan in the wake of this. Russia? Sure, why not? Iran? You bet.
You know who else is blaming Biden? CNN. MSNBC. Obama's former Sec Def Leon Panetta. Biden's own top Generals and Intelligence Agencies (and more about them later.) And why? Because he fucked up. Royally. I won't get into the whys and hows of his former ill advised theories on geopolitics, but Sec Def Gates suggested he was wrong on nearly every situation of the sort over his lifetime and an apocryphal tale is that even Obama suggested that one should "never underestimate Biden's ability to fuck things up." This would have been when he was Vice President. I'll leave it to you to decide if that was true or not.
The fact remains that there is only one truth in the above meme. Trump did indeed start the latest push to end the "War in Afghanistan." I use quotes only because it is a murky thing. Let the reader consider what is a war. WWII ended in 1945. We still have U.S. troops in Germany and Japan. Korea is indeed an armistice and factually that war is still ongoing. Since 1953. It's not a hot war, regardless of what North Korea might wish from time to time (and they don't...they just like to rattle the sabers.) Yet our troops remain. Under Obama, we were to get our troops out of Iraq and he did attempt. Which led to the rise of ISIS. A contingency seen by all with actual eyes and when it flared up, they were defeated. And so we remain with soldiers left in Iraq and Syria (as well as many other places within the Middle East.)
So what exactly was the impetus for the current President to get out of Afghanistan? Let us also remember that this was the "right" war as opposed to Iraq (which Biden voted for as Senator, by the way.) Was it to end an endless war in a far off land in which we had no stake and had spent countless lives and money? Or was it to score a political point...somehow? I put it to you that it was the latter. An ill advised attempt to score something that was not readily available (if one actually gave a shit about the actual geopolitical environment of the world.)
The fact is, we went into Afghanistan after 9/11 to scour the country and root out the terrorists that had been given safe haven and carried out that atrocity. We also desired to keep that from being a safe haven going forward. Now I will be honest (intellectually and otherwise) and say that many of the perpetrators came out of Saudi Arabia and we needs must continue to keep them honest, but they are at least willing to work with the western world. Sneaky about it, true. But they at least attempt to play as world actors. The Taliban does not give a shit about legitimacy. They don't care. Strong horse, weak horse. We've heard that for at least 20 years.
I don't want to relitigate the last 20 years, but some things must be made certain. We rooted out the terrorists. We "got" Bin Ladin (which Biden opposed, supposedly.) We made it so that the Taliban has fought to a stalemate with the Afghan forces propped up by the NATO alliance (and yes...it's not just the U.S.) There has not been an American casualty in country for over 17 months. The situation was stable, if not ideal. So the only reason to "bug out" was and is political. Trump made the promise because he ran on it. Ill advised, perhaps, but at the least he made it conditional. Biden did not make that promise but went so far as to make the bug out date 9/11! Really and truly? Let's just give them another fucking win??
And so let us look back at the meme above...so Biden had no choice?? The Iranian deal Obama made and then dumped by Trump. Biden had no problem trying to get back into that. The Paris Climate Accord that Trump got out of? Biden had no issue going back into that. The World Health Organization that excused everything that China did in the lead up to Covid? Trump was not a fan. Biden apparently is. There is chapter and verse of things that the previous President did that were wiped out on day one (so important!!) upon Biden getting into office and yet...he is beholden to a semi-peace deal with the Taliban? The fucking Taliban? Trump should have never met with them in the first place (anymore than anyone should with North Korea) but now...this is a thing that is set in stone and we "just can't get out of it!"
It would be laughable if it were not so serious.
The truth is, we are living with decisions made under four different Presidents and four different administrations, all of which have failed us poorly. Every single one of them are paid by our tax dollars and work FOR us. Choices made since 2001 that are coming back to haunt and choices not made are really coming back to haunt! The truth is that Afghanistan has become a political matter and so we deal with it as such. No need to really solve it. The American public won't remember. Just keep it as a ball to tumble for the next election. Except this one isn't. Not this time. No one gives a shit about Benghazi...why would they? What does it matter at this point, right Hillary? Maybe they don't, but the numbers of families that have fought and lost loved ones fighting in country for these last 20 years do. Those of us (and yes...I supported it) that thought we did the right thing in 2001 are left with an incompetent military infrastructure and more importantly intelligence forces...are left woefully disappointed.
And more? A President that wants to blame everything on someone else. Trump. He didn't say it but implied...Obama too. Why not throw Bush on the brush fire? Certainly the Afghan people and their armed forces, right? Pretty much everyone but himself...and the Taliban. But no...let's just put it on Trump. That's the meme, right? That's the one that plays. That'll get the votes. And people will forget. That's all that matters.
It's a Republic...if we can keep it. Can we? I'm having my doubts.
That is all.
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