Apr 20, 2021
The Strategic Importance of Leaving Afghanistan
Photograph Source: Gustavo Montes de Oca – CC BY 2.0
Sixty years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower articulated his concern about the ability of his presidential successors to control the military. Several weeks before his Farewell Address, he gathered his senior advisers in the Oval Office of the White House and mused: “God help this country when someone sits in this chair who doesn’t know the military as well as I do.” By and large, the successors to Eisenhower have lacked military experience; they have been deferential to the military and have recklessly used military force to bolster their credentials. This has been a key factor in the expanded power of the military establishment over foreign policy, national security policy, and the intelligence community.
Continue Reading on Counter Punch:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/04/20/the-strategic-importance-of-leaving-afghanistan/
Recent News and Latest Book
The NYT’s Proclaims Israel’s Military Has Reclaimed Its “Stature”
Several days after the Washington Post bogusly declared that Israel has recovered the “military primacy” that it lost a year ago, the New York Times goes one step further. It obscenely proclaims that the Israeli military has regained its “stature.” We’re are talking about a sophisticated and lethal military force that has been facing Arab adversaries who lack air power and air defense for the past 57 years.
Netanyahu’s Dangerous Militarism
Greater use of Israeli military power has not provided Israel with greater security over the years, and there is no reason to believe that any retaliation—other than a symbolic response similar to the April attack—would end the current cycle of permanent occupation. Israeli analysts continue to speak of “escalate to deescalate,” “escalation dominance,” and “restoration of deterrence,” but Israel’s “targeted assassinations,” the violence of settlers on the West Bank, and the genocidal campaign in Gaza will never serve any long-term strategic purpose.
