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Although I fail to see the analogy between LBJ's great society and
Obama's domestic policies, certainly McGovern is correct in his
assessment of the president's Afghanistan policy. I hope Thomas
Ferguson will update his work on our investment-driven political
system, as Chomsky has recently described Obama's election as almost
a caricature of Ferguson's thesis.
Greg McDonald
A sharp turn toward another Vietnam
By George McGovern
Sunday, December 13, 2009
As a U.S. senator during the 1960s, I agonized over the badly mistaken
war in Vietnam. After doing all I could to save our troops and the
Vietnamese people from a senseless conflict, I finally took my case to
the public in my presidential campaign in 1972. Speaking across the
nation, I told audiences that the only upside of the tragedy in
Vietnam was that its enormous cost in lives and dollars would keep any
future administration from going down that road again.
I was wrong. Today, I am astounded at the Obama administration's
decision to escalate the equally mistaken war in Afghanistan, and as I
listen to our talented young president explain why he is adding 30,000
troops -- beyond the 21,000 he had added already -- I can only think:
another Vietnam. I hope I am incorrect, but history tells me
otherwise.
Presidents John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon all believed
that the best way to save the government in Saigon and defeat Ho Chi
Minh and his Viet Cong insurgents was to send in U.S. troops. But the
insurgency only grew stronger, even after we had more than 500,000
troops fighting and dying in Vietnam.
We have had tens of thousands of troops in Afghanistan for several
years, and we have employed an even larger number of mercenaries (or
contractors, as they're called these days). As in Vietnam, the
insurgent forces are stronger than ever, and the Afghan government is
as corrupt as the one we backed in Saigon.
Why do we send young Americans to risk life and limb on behalf of such
worthless regimes? The administration says we need to fight al-Qaeda
in Afghanistan. But the major al-Qaeda forces are in Pakistan.
The insurgency in Afghanistan is led by the Taliban. Its target is its
own government, not our government. Its only quarrel with us is that
its members see us using our troops and other resources to prop up a
government they despise. Adding more U.S. forces will fuel the Taliban
further.
Starting in 1979, the Soviets tried to control events in Afghanistan
for nearly a decade. They lost 15,000 troops, and an even larger
number of soldiers were crippled or wounded. Their treasury was
exhausted, and the Soviet Union collapsed. A similar fate has befallen
other powers that have tried to work their will on Afghanistan's
collection of mountain warlords and tribes.
We have the best officers and combat troops in the world, but they are
weary after nearly a decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why
waste these fine soldiers any longer?
Even if we had a good case for a war in Afghanistan, we simply cannot
afford to wage it. With a $12 trillion debt and a serious economic
recession, this is not a time for unnecessary wars abroad. We should
bring our soldiers home before any more of them are killed or wounded
-- and before our national debt explodes.
In 1964, Johnson asked several senators who were not running for
reelection that year if we would campaign for him. He assured those of
us who were opposed to the war in Vietnam that he had no plans to
expand the U.S. presence. Johnson won the election in a landslide,
telling voters he sought no wider war. We are not about to send
American boys nine or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what
Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves, he assured during his
campaign.
But once elected, Johnson began to pour in more troops until American
forces reached exceeded 500,000. All told, more than 58,000 Americans
died in Vietnam, and many more were crippled in mind and body. This is
to say nothing of the nearly 2 million Vietnamese who died under U.S.
bombardment.
Johnson had a brilliant record in domestic affairs, but Vietnam choked
his dream of a Great Society. The war had become unbearable to so many
Americans -- civilian and military -- that the landslide victor of
1964 did not seek reelection four years later.
Obama has the capacity to be a great president; I just hope that
Afghanistan will not tarnish his message of change. After half a
century of Cold War and hot wars, it is time to rebuild our great and
troubled land. By closing down the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan,
we can divert the vast sums being spent there to revitalizing our own
nation.
In 1972, I called on my fellow citizens to Come home, America.
Today, I commend these words to our new president.
