Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 08/26/24

Day of infamy. Former President Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery this morning to take part in a wreath laying ceremony honoring the 13 American service members killed three years ago today in the horrible Abbey Gate attack outside an airport in Kabul during the the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. For his part, President Biden issued a statement via the White House website. 

IMHO: Looking back, I believe the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan was marked by one horrible decision after another ever since we justifiably invaded the country to oust the Taliban following 9/11.

First, there was the late U.S. Defense Secretary’s Donald Rumsfeld‘s inexplicable decision to allow Osama bin Laden to escape by relying on Afghan militias and Pakistani troops, rather than American forces, to seal off escape routes. Fortunately, President Barack Obama had the guts to do what was necessary some years later in a raid that that then Vice President Joe Biden advised against.

Before the takedown of bin Laden though – and following initial success – rather than focusing on keeping Afghanistan under control and building up trust with its people, President George W. Bush, at the urging of Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld, opted to launch a horrifically ill-advised invasion of Iraq that not only took the Administration’s eye off the ball in Afghanistan but removed a strategic bulwark that kept Iran in check. Incredibly stupid. Rumsfeld, who once famously gloated “I don’t do quagmires” tragically turned out to be a quick learner. When, after much destruction and bloodshed, a surge in American forces in Iraq brought the situation at least somewhat under control, President Obama decided to follow through on a planned withdrawal of American troops that created a power vacuum filled by ISIS – forcing America to go back in. We shouldn’t have gone in in the first place – and shouldn’t have pulled out when we did.

More recently, President Trump decided to start the process of withdrawing from Afghanistan, a decision that was disastrously executed by President Biden. While I don’t personally don’t agree with the decision to leave, it’s defensible. It’s also hard to imagine any president managing the withdrawal worse than Biden. Frankly, he should be relieved by the Supreme Court‘s decision offering protection from criminal prosecution for presidents in the carrying out of their official functions because, in my view,  the way he handled things amounts to criminal recklessness.

All that aside, I also think President Trump’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan was mistaken. As in Iraq, prior to our withdrawal, the situation was finally coming under a reasonable degree of control. Not a single American soldier was killed in combat in the 18 months prior to the withdrawal. I wish some American cities could lay claim to the same. Moreover, after all the destruction, all the deaths and dismemberments of our service people and others, human rights were taking root in Afghanistan. People were voting. Women and girls were receiving their God-given right to an education. Things were moving in the right direction – but, instead, all that progress and sacrifice was tossed aside for politics.

People talk a lot about endless wars but it seems to me that keeping American troops deployed in places like Germany, Korea and Japan after violent conflicts has resulted in enduring peace. It’s the premature pulling out of troops that creates endless wars. Maintaining peace requires patience and resolve. It may feel good but it is not moral for politicians to discard the sacrifices of our warriors – or to set them up to have to fight another unnecessary war.
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Dream team. Former GOP presidential candidate and successful entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has joined Sean Wolfington, whose many credits include Cabrini and Sound of Freedom, as a executive producer of City of Dreams. Inspired by true events, the film drama tells the story of a Mexican boy whose dreams of becoming a soccer star are shattered when he’s smuggled across the border and sold to a sweatshop in downtown Los Angeles. The film opens nationwide in theaters this Friday.