Stop Listening to Irritated Neocons
I didn’t want to make a post about Afghanistan. We’ve all been inundated in recent weeks with news and political commentary about the fallout in Afghanistan.
That being said, neoconservative politicians and pundits forced my hand. Hearing Dan Crenshaw and Lindsey Graham whine about pulling out of Afghanistan really annoyed me. I can’t stand neo-con talking points anymore. We’re going to settle that here.
Before we being, let me briefly explain what a neo-conservative is. A “neo-conservative” is a member of the political right wing. Historically, “neo-cons” tended to be former liberals in the 1960s and 70s. They generally emphasize abstract values such as “democracy” and “free trade” over preserving concrete realities–the traditional American family and the nation-state.
The main feature of American neo-conservatism is its attachment to interventionist foreign policy–namely in the Middle East. Neo-cons claim that invading nations like Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan was justified in order to bring “democracy and freedom” to the people of these nations. In fact, they believe that America’s mission is to fight tyranny and ensure democratic governance throughout the globe.
Here we are today, the United States military currently has no presence in Afghanistan–for the 1st time in over 20 years. Of course, many war-hungry neo-con politicians and profiteers in the military-industrial complex were unhappy about leaving Afghanistan.
Here are just some of the stupid takes I’ve heard from the war-hungry Neocons in the Republican party/right-wing:
–Dan Crenshaw: America is now in a worse position than on September 10th, 2001
-Dan Crenshaw: People wanting to pull out of Afghanistan are responsible for the 13 dead American soldiers killed in the Kabul Terror attack (on August 16th, 2021)
-Lindsey Graham’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal: “the U.S. must act. We cannot ignore the threat a Taliban government poses to our national security; doing so puts us at risk of another 9/11-type attack”
-Lindsey Graham on CBS: “Whose decision was it to pull all of the troops out?” (Hint: Trump)
-Nikki Haley tweet:
-Max Boot’s op-ed in the Washington Post: Who’s to blame for the deaths of 13 servicemen in Kabul? We all are.
-Todd Starnes tweet:
-Karl Rove op-ed in the Wall Street Journal: “Set aside the question of whether the U.S. should have left. (I say no; Presidents Biden and Trump were both wrong in advocating withdrawal)”
-Statement from George W. Bush: “… You [veterans of the War in Afghanistan] kept America safe from further terror attacks, provided two decades of security and opportunity for millions, and made America proud. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and will always honor your contributions.”
My brain hurts after reading those terrible takes. Enough of the absurdity.
After 30+ years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East, these “neoconservative” are still shilling for continued war and for the Military Industrial Complex. They don’t want our nation to end our reckless engagements in the Middle East.
Never mind that the United States never suffered from issues with Islamic terrorism before we became heavily involved in the region in the 1990s (under the George H.W. Bush administration).
Here’s my issue with the recent “neo-conservative” takes on the Afghanistan withdrawal: the neo-cons gloss over the actual history of American foreign policy in the Middle East.
When’s the last time you’ve heard a neo-con foreign policy expert mention this fact: the USA funded Afghan resistance fighter groups (i.e the “Mujahedeen”) in the 1980s. At the time, the Soviet Union invaded and spent most of the 1980s fighting for control of Afghanistan. Consequently, the United States funded/trained Afghan militant groups to fight the Soviet Union.
Unfortunately, many of the Mujahedeen fighters later joined the now-infamous terrorist group–the Taliban–after the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in 1988.
So, we’ve spent the last 20 years fighting an enemy that we created ourselves. That’s why the United States needed to remove its footprint in Afghanistan entirely.
Moving on, let’s try to understand why many people in the Middle East hate the United States.
“Why they hate us”
George W. Bush and many other prominent neo-cons claimed that Islamist terrorist groups and rogue Middle East regimes hate the United States due to our freedom and democracy.
That claim is just false.
Unfortunately, I used to agree with this claim, but I recently learned the truth about the situation. Personally, two of Pat Buchanan’s books inspired me to write this post: State of Emergency and A Republic, Not an Empire.
Here it is: Islamic terrorists hate our nation due to our imperial incursions. They hate us due to our military attacks/occupations and economic sanctions on smaller, weaker nations in the Middle East.
This video outlines Pat Buchanan’s explanation for why the Taliban hates us:
Let’s ask ourselves this question: Why did Osama Bin Laden plan the 9/11 attacks?
Bin Laden’s hatred for America stemmed from America’s presence in the nation of Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden hated America because foreign infidels were stationed in some of the holiest places in the Muslim world.
Don’t get me wrong, Osama Bin Laden was an evil man. However, that fact doesn’t absolve the United States of its foreign policy blunders.
For example, the United States caused over 1/2 a million Iraqi children in the 1990s after US placed economic sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s (after the Gulf War).
Listen to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (under the Clinton administration) justify the economic sanctions:
That video alone encapsulates why many in the Middle East Hate America.
“They hate us” for being an empire. America’s enemies in the Middle East don’t hate the American Republic. They despise the American Empire. We–the American people–need to come to grips with this reality.
To close, let’s not forget that nearly 3/4 of Americans supported withdrawing from Afghanistan.
Our neo-con foreign policy establishment and military commanders think they know what’s best for us. Sure, they’ve been gaslighting the American people for the last 20+ years–wasting trillions of dollars and sacrificing thousands of American soldiers. But it’s different this time, right?
So for the next time you hear “neo-cons” on Fox News or National Review crying for more war in the Middle East, please don’t listen to them. Let’s finally move on and start having an America 1st foreign policy.
The United States is a Republic, not an Empire!