Saturation

Didn’t watch Maddow last night. Getting tired of the Afghanistan coverage. There are only so many ways to parse what’s going on, and it’s easy to take pot shots from afar, to get all indignant and assign blame. There is a long line of critics, topped off by Lindsey Graham and others who are jumping on the bandwagon of calling for Biden’s impeachment, as if to imply what he’s doing now rises to the level, or sinks to the depths of Trump’s entire presidency. Not exactly apples and apples. But turnabout is fair play, right?

What did we expect? We reacted in typical bloviating American fashion to, yes, the worst attack on our own soil. But still… we overreacted, we ignored history, and didn’t think about long-term consequences. We attacked in Afghanistan, of all places, “the graveyard of empires,” and stayed there for twenty years. Threw more than a trillion dollars at an intractable problem. It really is the epitome of boasting and hubris, along with a certain amount of idealism and good intent.

And let’s not forget all the money that was made by contractors. War is good business for somebody, all body counts considered.