Shooting marks a turning point in Afghanistan; let's speed up withdrawal

My column in the March 13, 2012 Sky Hi News
I recall an epiphany during the Vietnam war. I was born on the eve of World War II and I was politically aware of events in the Korean War. I took for granted that our political and military leaders were wise enough and able to carry out the mission they announced.

I had firmly believed that if Vietnam fell to the Commies, the rest of southeast Asia would fall as well … and we as a nation would lose the Cold War. What the U.S. did was also in the interest of the South Vietnamese people, so we were told.

My disillusionment came with one iconic photo: A naked child, screaming and running from a U.S. napalm attack on a village. It was at that point I began to question the mission.

The unraveling came later with admission by those as part of the Johnson administration that they had lied to us about many aspects of the war in order to rally public support. Since that time, I have followed the “grain of salt” rule and I realize that skepticism is not a bad policy; it is not disloyal to question the mission or the judgment of our leaders.

Another kind of epiphany happened last week with the horrifying killing of 16 innocents in Afghanistan by a single U.S. soldier gone berserk. Abu Ghraib humiliation of prisoners by other deranged U.S. soldiers and the accidental Koran burning last month are also tragedies. It is not the fault of our troops as a whole, but the acts of a few are a blot on all of our brave and awesome military. We owe our troops our undying gratitude for carrying out the orders of our leaders and we must understand the action of a few should not blemish the whole. That is another lesson we learned from Vietnam when we wrongfully vilified returning vets.

The other lesson is that judgment calls by our nation's leaders are the most important element in a mission's success and failure. Neo-cons beating the war drums to attack Iran without a plan to extricate ourselves from the consequences of invasions are frankly nuts. Like most Americans, I am no isolationist nor am I opposed to intervention, but we must ask the question never answered before we invaded Iraq: What is our exit strategy” Have we not learned from Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan? The war advocates must be shouted down by those of us who do not want to repeat history.

The Afghan mission has morphed over time to move a culture from an ancient one into modern times as a way to prevent a resurgence of the Taliban and al-Qaida. What we failed to grasp is that what we consider corruption is the way that area does business; what we think is proper governance, liberal democracy, cannot be imposed on a society whose allegiance is not to a nation, but to their family and tribe.

Most Americans could accept the original mission that we invaded Afghanistan because it was the true source of Sept. 11. Our invasion was in part to destroy the forces that emanated from it and in part, unstated, revenge. We got our ounce of flesh with the killing of Bin Laden; that mission was accomplished.

To continue our occupation under the banner of “helping the (non-Taliban) Afghans develop the ability to govern themselves” is open to re-evaluation. We can take pride and satisfaction in helping them develop businesses and infrastructure. We educated a decade of their women and saved them from oppression. But we cannot “cure” Afghanistan forever; that is a mission impossible. The longer we are there, the more likely we will turn Afghans into long-term enemies instead of allies because isolated incidents like the one last week can happen again, making the return of the Taliban and al-Qaida more likely. We need to speed up our withdrawal timetable before we make matters worse.