{"id":4641,"date":"2021-08-27T07:44:57","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T11:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4641"},"modified":"2021-08-27T07:45:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T11:45:01","slug":"always-did-always-get","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/08\/27\/always-did-always-get\/","title":{"rendered":"Always Did, Always Get"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Old Sayings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a \u201cwise\u201d old expression:  \u201cIf you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got\u201d.   I heard the retired Generals on TV decrying what\u2019s happening in Afghanistan.  One even proposed that we should send in troops to support those few regions where Afghans are fighting the Taliban.  And many are issuing a stern warning:  we cannot, with \u2018Honor\u2019 leave those that helped us behind to the mercy of the Taliban.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honor is a funny word here.\u00a0\u00a0Most of those generals had the opportunity to really make a difference in Afghanistan.\u00a0\u00a0They could have \u201cchanged\u201d the course of America\u2019s involvement when they were in charge.\u00a0\u00a0But time after time, their only answer was:\u00a0\u00a0we need to stay, we need more troops, we need more money, we need more, more, more, more.\u00a0\u00a0So now when two opposite Presidents, Biden and Trump, say it\u2019s time to get out \u2013 all the Generals can still say is the same \u201cmore\u201d. (What \u2013 I\u2019m saying that Trump was right?\u00a0\u00a0Well, in principle yes, but don\u2019t get carried away.\u00a0\u00a0His \u201cgreatest deal ever\u201d with the Taliban wasn\u2019t worth the paper it was printed on.\u00a0\u00a0And there\u2019s always another wise expression, something about\u00a0\u00a0\u201ca monkey, a typewriter, and Shakespeare.<\/em>\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore\u201d is not the answer here: \u201cDifferent\u201d is.  We need to do something different.  And it\u2019s not an \u201cunknown Different\u201d.  It\u2019s called \u201cover the horizon operations\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to get as many folks out of Afghanistan as we can now.\u00a0\u00a0We have already evacuated more than one hundred thousand, with thousands more to come before the air operations end.\u00a0\u00a0But that ending has to come soon, whether it\u2019s President Biden\u2019s August 31st, or a few days later.\u00a0\u00a0We are leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired Four-Star General Barry McCaffrey agrees with the President.\u00a0\u00a0He said it straight: \u201cThis war is over\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0He opposes sending any further troops.\u00a0\u00a0The old Iraq War Corp commander wants to wrap up this mission, and get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what of those who can\u2019t get to the transport, who \u201cmiss the flight\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0Well, for some, it may require Special Operations Forces to go in and get them.\u00a0\u00a0That ain\u2019t easy, and it\u2019s expensive.\u00a0\u00a0But it can be done \u2013 ask Osama bin Laden (oh, maybe not him).\u00a0\u00a0If we can find and kill him, we can find and rescue who we need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Target<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

That was an \u201cover the horizon\u201d operation, and may be what we need to do (and probably are doing now. It\u2019s not like Admiral Kirby will get up there and announce it to the media).  And those can go on.  But the target of six thousand US Troops, and near one hundred flights a day, in the middle of a hostile zone; cannot go on for much longer.  A bomb went off this morning, several were killed, among them thirteen American Marines, and dozens more injured, including more US troops.  But what happens when a shoulder launched anti-aircraft missile hits an Air Force C-17 with six or seven hundred passengers in it?  The US is pushing its luck, every extra day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had twenty years to figure out Afghanistan.\u00a0\u00a0We broke up al Qaeda, and we removed the Taliban rulers.\u00a0\u00a0Then we helped set up a government and a military to hang onto what we established.\u00a0\u00a0It didn\u2019t work:\u00a0\u00a0our fault, their fault, nobody\u2019s fault (that\u2019s John Wayne from\u00a0Big Jake<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0It is time to get out and let Afghanistan do what the Afghans have done for generations:\u00a0\u00a0tribal struggles for power and wealth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defining Democracy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We can talk about what we did wrong \u2013 as many have said there will be plenty of blame to go around.  And we can recognize that the American notion of \u201cnation building\u201d has not worked.  It didn\u2019t work in Vietnam, nor in Iraq, nor in Afghanistan.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not an \u201cAmerica Firster\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0We have legitimate reasons to be involved in the world, and we should support democracy wherever it exists.\u00a0\u00a0But we cannot create democracy out of whole cloth.\u00a0\u00a0It must first have a foothold that we can encourage, not an ideology that we force on another nation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It must be inherent within, not externally imposed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot \u201calways do what we always did\u201d, in spite of the many \u201cOld Generals\u201d. We need to find new means to achieve our goals:\u00a0\u00a0a secure America and world, and fertile ground for the \u201cself-evident truths\u201d of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.\u00a0\u00a0None of those goals will be achieved by staying in Afghanistan.\u00a0\u00a0As President Biden stated \u2013 except for Osama bin Laden, would we never have invaded Afghanistan in the first place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Old Sayings There\u2019s a \u201cwise\u201d old expression:  \u201cIf you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got\u201d.   I heard the retired Generals on TV decrying what\u2019s happening in Afghanistan.  One even proposed that we should send in troops to support those few regions where Afghans are fighting the Taliban.  And many are issuing a … Continue reading “Always Did, Always Get”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAlways Did, Always Get : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We lost 13 Marines in Afghanistan on Wednesday. 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