Granted: our imperialist adventures in Iraq and Afghanastan surged from a prideful, unrealistic presumption about the superiority of our way of life, after the fall of Soviet Communism, as well as a secular underestimation of the power of primitive religion. Nevertheless I remain a staunch internationalist, it is intrinsic to my Catholic faith, and insist that much of the underlying motivation was solid: the altruistic impulse to share our Western values...rule of law, rights of women, democracy, freedoms of speech-religion-assembly-etc...and our Hellenic-Christian-Roman legacy, and to engage, restrain and ultimatly defeat our antagonists, totalitarian Communism and Sharia law. These later two are pure evil; they must be confronted. I prefer overeach, on our part, to weakness.
Conservatives and Progressives are joined in an orgy of righteous indignation as they ridicule our conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanastan. I am not so sure. I do not see simplicity: I see complexity, ambiguity, uncertainty. I see that we were fighting two wars: an unjust imposition on the local culture; and containment of an evil empire. Both are there; I cannot simplify the thing in a certain judgment.
Our conflict with these two empires is long term. Biden's pride in ending our war in Afghanastan may prove short-lived if it again becomes a beehive for terrorist groups. For certain: our war with militant Islam is not ending soon.
We have lost a sense of the "Heroic"...a cult of virility, sacrifice, and generosity to death. People ask: what if your son died in Iraq? My response: "I would be proud of him. He is a hero. His life shines a light on the rest of us for his courage and generosity. Even if the decision for war was problematic." The efforts in Vietnam and the Middle East were riddled with mistakes for sure. They came from mixed, impure motives...as do almost all human actions. But they do not compare with the vile, vicious violation of dignity intrinsic to our two antagonists.
My allegiance is to my Catholic faith. Mine is not a casual, relaxed faith. It is militant, expansive, confident, extravagant. I want to share it with the whole world! That is why I am such an internationalist. Sharia and Communism are determined to exterminate Catholicism. I meet their dedication. Unfortunately, we in the USA and Western Civilization are in a life-and-death civil war with Cultural Liberalism which saps our capacity to defeat our enemies. Cultural liberalism is itself an indulgent, sterile, emasculated ideology incapable of withstanding the primal religious energies of Islam or the vicious atheism of Communism. But it does absorb our energies as we have become a divided nation: really two nations, two minds and hearts.
In these long wars, we will suffer defeats. We will fail. We will strike out. Vietnam was a failure; so was Iraq; so was Afghanastan. Certainly mistakes were made; miscalculations; based on falacious assumptions; with mixed motives. But the shrill, condemnatory, disparaging tone pervasive on both sides of the political spectrum itself lacks a Linconesqe, Niebuhresqe sense of irony, tragedy, humility, ambiguity and uncertainty.
Not so much the loss but the abandonment of our allies in Afghanastan is unspeakably dishonorable. I am so ashamed to be an American. But the service of our military remains heroic and noble; it was given generously for justice, whatever mistakes were made. We do well to: take inspiration from the courage, religious zeal, persistance of the Taliban; refrain from righteous indignation; steady ourselves for the long wars with Communism and Sharia law; engage in our own Culture War, with faith, hope and love, as we strengthen, purify and share our precious legacy.
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