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AFGHANISTAN: Learn from Vietnam

| August 18, 2021 1:00 AM

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans should be proud of the fact that they carried out their mission and most arrived home safe. Our government made the decision to invade those countries, and our volunteer troops and veterans have fully and faithfully followed those orders for the past 20 years.

The things our troops accomplished are phenomenal and all veterans of this war should be proud of what they have done.

Nobody trained in the military to “nation build.” Our military trains to protect our country by finding, fixing and eliminating its enemies, and that often (and SHOULD) requires killing bad people and breaking things, not building things.

The military is NOT a nation building organization or an agent for regime change. If the United States wants to be in that business, Congress should create a “nation building” agency and let them do that. It is NOT the job of the military.

Have we learned NOTHING from Vietnam and now Afghanistan? When our leaders in Congress decide to take military action against another country, we need to DEMAND that they fully define the mission and the specific military objectives, FULLY support that mission, expect violent action to achieve those mission objectives, set specific limits on our country’s continued involvement following the achievement of the military objectives, and require that the military execute an orderly and prompt withdrawal once its mission has been accomplished, including the withdrawal of all of our military hardware. Only then can we look our veterans in the eye and tell them that if we send them into harm’s way, it will be for a legitimate reason.

LEN CROSBY

Post Falls