Our Winless Wars Gone Woke
In the viral madness (pun intended) that has engulfed America since early 2020, our disastrous foreign policy had been largely shoved into the background. Most Americans probably didn’t realize we’d been nonsensically occupying Afghanistan for twenty years. Even fewer could attempt to explain just what we were doing there.
A few days ago, the suddenly unoccupied Afghanistan fell like unarmed kindergartners to the dreaded Taliban. You know, the guys who used to be on our side, when it was the Russians nonsensically occupying their country. The Taliban follows a long tradition of former American assets, like Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, whom became foremost examples of what H.L. Mencken called “an endless series of hobgoblins.” The Taliban joined Al-CIAeda, Hamas, and Isis/Isil in the pantheon of “terrorists.” The ones Dubya Bush declared us at perpetual war with.
It’s ironic that foreign “terrorists” are now back in the news. They’d seemingly been eradicated, along with the flu and what was left of our civil liberties, by the multi-faceted, immortal COVID-19. Just as the term “racist” will be problematic in the future, since it applies equally to birds, Dr. Seuss, basic grammar and grand wizards of the KKK, how are they going to separate the Taliban from the homegrown opponents of their tyranny, the “domestic terrorists” H.R. 350 is promising to target?
