The House of Representatives voted yesterday
to spend $85 billion for the war in Afghanistan. The money covers only fiscal
year 2014 – which is one-third over.
For what? After 13 years in Afghanistan, can
the average American name 3 Afghanis? Does the average American know how many
US servicemembers died in Afghanistan last year? Exactly what American
objective in Afghanistan is worth $85 billion this year to America?
The 19th Century German theorist
Carl von Clausewitz coined the aphorism, "War is the continuation
of policy by other means." This bumper-sticker is true but misses
a crucial point. Once wars start, emotions take over. The emotional demand to
justify those who have already died compels nations to order more men (and now
women) to kill and die. Nations become dedicated to winning as opposed to
achieving. The beginning of war may be a “continuation of policy by
other means," but war’s continuation is often an emotional justification
of blood already shed.
Because World War I and Vietnam did not teach
this warning sufficiently, Afghanistan 2014 is another lesson. National
interests in Afghanistan do not justify another $85 billion this year. Nonetheless, we will spend it without a
whimper from average Americans – even though no one can give a simple and
compelling justification for continuing the war. Raw appeals to emotion
evidently suffice.
Yes, Abraham Lincoln gave Americans an
emotional goal at Gettysburg, “… we here highly resolve that these dead shall
not have died in vain…” But the end of the same sentence he gave a rational
justification for continuing the slaughter of war: “… government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Americans deserve an equally simple and
compelling case for why the enemy in Afghanistan poses a “clear and present
danger” that justifies spending $85 billion this year. Lacking such a case, we
must tell the families of our dead that we have achieved all that is necessary
to achieve. There is no more worth dying for.
127
Americans died serving in Afghanistan last year. 2307 have died to date.
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