Dear Students,
There comes a time, rarely, when it is reasonable to interrupt a class, move up or off the syllabus, and address our current social context which, tomorrow, will be part of history.
This is long. I am not demanding that you read it. It is an invitation.
Of course, our broad context is set up by the endless wars around us, financial crises, the terrible pandemic, the electoral spectacles, the emergence of neo-fascism around the world, climate disasters, and much more.
I want you to have a future, perhaps despite those challenges. I am certain that learning the processes of history will help you locate yourself, in relation to others, and make better choices.
So, I am going to take this moment to do some relating the past to the present and embed that will a call to think and act in the future (that is part of what history is).
I will demonstrate my standpoint (everyone has one--but is it rational?), never expecting anyone to share it.
Some of you, from previous classes, know I have opposed all of America's wars since WWII. That does not mean I don't support the troops (that is a post-Vietnam political trick). I have had dozens of troops (no officers) in my San Diego classes. We get along great. Sadly, they often call each other, "Cannon Fodder." True, but terrible.
13 US troops died needlessly today. Dozens of Afghan allies were killed and wounded. It didn't have to be this way.
The ongoing dishonorable US flight from Afghanistan will not, as promised, "end perpetual wars."
That is one lie, among many. The US is an empire (imperialism is the relentless search for cheap labor, markets, regional control, raw materials (oil) that every empire must conduct--always leading to war.
Empire? The US has more than 1000 military bases scattered around the world. One current flashpoint is the South China Sea (pay attention!)
The parallels to the wars on Vietnam and Afghanistan are notable, from the beginning lies (Gulf of Tonkin and the relation of AQ to the Taliban) to the endgame lies (helicopters fleeing the Saigon embassy, abandoning allies, and the re-run in Kabul now (even though Biden promised that would not happen--it did).
Hubris--overarching arrogance drove both wars. US mis-leaders refused to believe Vietnamese peasants could defeat them, as with Afghan (the "graveyard of empires") superstitious often illiterate fanatics.
As many of 250 thousand US allies in Afghanistan are being left behind.
Perhaps 150 Americans are trapped in Afghanistan. If IsIs--Khorosan (a region in Afghanistan and Iran) can find them, we may see hostages beheaded on the coming September 11.
Lies, bet on it. All the American Generals in Vietnam lied ("we are winning") and all the idiot US generals in Afghanistan lied ("we are winning.") See the parody movie "War Machine". Most of it is true.
In Vietnam, the US murdered around 2 to 3 million people, in Afghanistan, nobody kept count--millions homeless now.
Nearly 59 thousand US troops died in Vietnam, almost all poor youths--far too many young people of color---it was a racist war.
In Afghanistan, about 2500 troops died (most of them poor) and about 30 thousand were wounded---to come home to a very unhelpful VA.
During the Vietnam Wars the entire US political class lied. Same now, but for a very few.
Biden said he relied on his generals to determine the timing of the US flight from Afghanistan. They told him he had 9 months to two years before the Taliban could take over. He relied on those lying morons like Petraeus (who later called today "worse than Dunkirk, worse than Saigon"?
Moreover, some generals denied this advice.
I knew.
I said in public presentations that the Taliban would take the country in two weeks. It took eleven days. Biden didn't know? This was their exit plan? Run away in sheer panic?
Of course, more than Biden are to blame--Bush II, Obama, Hillary Clinton, Trump, but Biden is the one who triggered the final double-cross.
The Afghan betrayal is worse than Vietnam. Americans were promised that part of the exit deal was the absence of Al Quada and ISIS in Afghanistan. That was never true, obviously ISIS has conducted 5 times as many bombings in Afghanistan this year than last.
Afghanistan is going to become a nest for jihadists (insane holy warriors) from everywhere. And other jihadists are going to try to duplicate Afghanistan in their home countries.
We will study the analytical tools of "similarity," and "difference" in our class.
Vietnam is different from Afghanistan in that it is not landlocked. Afghanistan is. It was much easier to flee to the sea in Vietnam.
In order to free the tens of thousands of people who needed, and need to leave, the US should have kept five airports open.
Baghram air base, a huge defensible base (and torture center--see "Taxi to the Dark Side") was closed, as were three other bases. This left Harmed Karzai (complete corrupt former puppet president of Afghanistan---like all the US' puppet leaders in Vietnam) Air Base, very hard to defend, surrounded by tens of thousands of Afghans trying to get away from quasi-religious, corrupt, drug dealing Taliban.
As in Vietnam, the US relied on air power and technical capability, creating an Afghan army in the American image. In both cases, when the air power stopped, the two armies evaporated.
Like in Vietnam, in !975, April, the US puppet leader, Thieu, fled the country, drunk, stealing millions. So in Afghanistan, the US puppet Ghani, fled the country.
Both country allies were completely corrupt, corrupted knowingly by the US.
The US never had a grand strategy in Vietnam, like Afghanistan.
A grand strategy is long, long term goal. For you, maybe it is "I want to be a doctor."
For bin Laden, it was sharia law (law by the Koran) everywhere--the world.
The Vietnamese, who were never communists, it was national liberation.
The US had no answer to either.
Thus, the US had no strategy (for you that might be getting all A's, scholarships, and a good med school).
Thus, in both Afghanistan and Vietnam, the US had only tactics, leaving the initiative to the enemy. (all of this is described, and warned against, in your Sun Tzu book).
What is the answer to Sharia Law? It is something no American politico can say.
"People make gods. Gods don't make people. If you god is telling you to kill people, maybe your god is evil. How could you ever know? You can't."
Instead, Biden is reading his Bible on CNN. Remember, another religious fanatic, Bush II, said the US was going on a "crusade," that is, a holy war.
You do not have to be a victim of this maelstrom. You can learn history and think and act your way through. I will do all I can to help.
If you want a personal zoom, email me. Good health and good luck to you every one. RG
I am adding a few links to offer differing perspective.