The LuLac Edition #4, 567, Augist 18th, 2021

 WRITE ON WEDNESDAY 

Our "Write On Wednesday" logo. 

This week we look at the tragedy in Afghanistan from a letter writer to The Citizens' Voice. American hubris..indeed.  

AFGHANISTAN AND AMERICAN HUBRIS

Editor: The scene in Kabul may stir memories of asylum seekers rushing embassy gates, helicopters ascending from the roof and, just maybe, watching helicopters tossed off aircraft carriers.

The neocons got their war in Afghanistan. It did not turn out the way they promised. Their myopia saw what was not there. These chicken hawks failed, once again, to understand the history, culture and politics of the area.

To all those corporations that supplied from guns to concrete to advisers, the milk cow has died. The think- tank warriors will need a scapegoat for their ill-advised policies. The gung-ho politicians will avoid all responsibility while pushing new military adventures. Among the 2,300 dead and 20,000 wounded U.S. military personnel, no CEO, no think-tanker, no macho politician’s son or daughter can be counted. War is easy when someone else pays the butcher’s bill.

How much money was wasted? That will be tricky. There will be the official number. And then some intrepid news reporter will uncover the hidden as well as public expenses.

Of the eight rules of Colin Powell’s Doctrine, Afghanistan may have failed them all. Empires are not cheap. The price of hubris goes beyond money, men and material. It also impacts the empire at home. As James Jones wrote about war, “It poisons the soul.”

Joseph Elias

Wilkes-Barre