The April 30th announcement is clear and
unambiguous: Sixteen U.S. servicemen, including a general officer, are to be
disciplined for their involvement in an attack last October on a hospital in
Kunduz, Afghanistan. The military’s
central command confirmed none of the persons charged “knew they were striking
a medical facility,” and acknowledged the attack was the result of hundreds of
errors compounded by “process and equipment failures.” Nonetheless, the punishment to be
administered will include suspensions, letters of reprimand and removal from
command. Apparently even this official
redress does not satisfy the various human rights groups who accuse the
servicemen of war crimes and demand criminal action against them.
There’s poetic irony in this pronouncement on
April 30. It was on this date in 1974
that North Vietnam forces swept into Saigon, consummating their conquest of
South Vietnam and thereby achieving victory over the U.S. Not since 1945, at the conclusion of World
War II, has our nation achieved clear-cut success in any military endeavor. Despite our economic and technological
superiority, we consistently falter and lose to our enemies. General Douglas MacArthur explained why: “It
is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” Yet in every conflict we’ve entered over the
past seven decades, we’ve deferred to the critics, pacifists and
apologists. And we’re continuing to
function this way now. As a case in
point, Secretary of State John Kerry is now scrambling to resuscitate a defunct
Syrian truce by turning for help to Russia—an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
What in God’s name are we doing?
Possibly we have no business in the Mid
East. If so, we ought to withdraw. If, however, our best interests require an
armed presence and active participation, we should be involved with a will and
presence to prevail. And accusations
which accuse us of employing excessive force deserve to be ignored. We once functioned in this manner. Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman
stated it clearly: “Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in
humiliation and disaster. War is
cruelty. There is no use trying to
reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner
it will be over.”
One thing is clear. If we, as the most powerful nation in the
world, have not the willingness to exert the military superiority we possess to
further our national interests, then our enemies deserve to best us in Syria,
Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
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If you enjoy this
weekly Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, you’re invited to check out my monthly
Financial Newsletter, as well as my new book, The Road to Prosperity
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