Open Letter to President Barack Obama
September 22, 2009
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
Please, Mr. President, do not continue the war in Afghanistan.
History will say your response to General McChrystal's recent request for more troops was the defining moment of your presidency. Send in more troops and Afghanistan becomes your war and your presidency will be forever tainted by tragic failure; more blood and treasure will be squandered; our enemies will continue to gain strength while our strength is sapped; and our nation’s security will be further imperiled.
As a Vietnam vet, I recognize a “Westmoreland moment” when I see one. Every time General Westmoreland requested more troops, he presented a false choice between “victory” and “cut-and-run.” Your military commanders cannot promise victory, or even ill-defined success. Accordingly, you have the opportunity to say, as only you can, that you have reviewed Gen. McChrystal’s proposals and have concluded that the uncertain returns from continued occupation are persuasively outweighed by the certain costs in blood, treasure, national security and esteem in which our country is held, both at home and abroad. It is time to bring the troops home. Do not let this “Westmoreland moment” morph into a “McNamara moment.”
There is no possibility of “victory” in a country known as ‘the graveyard of empires.” Just ask the British and the Russians. There will never be a moment when the Taliban will say: “We give up. You win.” Nor will they be exterminated or subdued. The Taliban are driven by unyielding religious fanaticism in a fratricidal war dating back thirteen centuries to the struggle to succeed the Prophet, and will continue as long as Islam remains divided between Sunni and Shia. Interposing a hated “Crusader” armed force between these warring factions cannot reconcile them. Such interference serves only to stiffen the Taliban’s resolve and, with every report of civilian casualties, to persuade more moderate Muslims to join the jihad against us. Better that they should expend their energies against each other than against us. The Taliban are there for the duration. We are not, and will depart when public opinion demands it. Time, therefore, is on the Taliban’s side, just as it was on the side of Ho Chi Minh, and they know it.
Reduced to fundamentals, the conflict meets none of the criteria for war gleaned by General Powell from the hard lessons learned in Vietnam:
Military action should be used only as a last resort and
Only if there is a clear risk to national security by the intended target
Force, when used, should be overwhelming and disproportionate to the force used by the enemy
There must be strong support for the campaign by the general public
There must be a clear exit strategy from the conflict in which the military is engaged
Order Gen. McChrystal to respond to each of these and the underpinnings of his request for more troops will implode. Remind him “those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Ask him to give full weight to the wellbeing of his troops and their families, who alone bear the entire burden of sacrifices required to prosecute this pointless war.
Our European allies are already edging for the door with calls to turn the war over to Afghan security forces, which are a year or two away from being ready and always will be. “Afghanization” of the war is “Vietnamization” redux, serving only to provide a face-saving smoke screen to cover a strategic withdrawal in a hopeless situation. When Britain, Germany and France pull out, others will soon follow, leaving you holding the bag.
It is folly to attempt to deny al-Qaida a base of operations by occupying an entire country adjoining their present base in Pakistan. Al-Qaida will always find a patch of ground from which to operate. “Success” in Afghanistan, however improbable, is no guarantee of success against al-Qaida. We would be better off creating a vacuum in Afghanistan for them to fill, isolating them in a remote, primitive and barren environment rather than operating in the more accessible, modern state one coup away from supplying al-Qaida with nuclear weaponry.
In global politics the Newtonian principle of action producing an equal and opposite reaction applies. Al-Qaida chose their adversary well, knowing President Bush would push back hard in response to 9/11, which served only to empower al-Qaida and others who wish us ill. Disengagement accompanied by diligent, low-profile, well-funded international law enforcement and special-ops campaigns, therefore, are the surest means of undermining the threat posed by al-Qaida. Imagine where we would be if instead of invading the Middle East, we had dedicated a significant portion of the billions spent on the war to hunt down al-Qaida with such campaigns. We still can.
Strip away all the rhetoric, and all that remains as underlying pretexts for war, besides the desire to support big oil’s ambitions in the Middle East, are George W. Bush’s thirst to avenge 9/11 with blunt force; his lack of imagination to find unglamorous yet effective alternate ways to confront al-Qaida; his Oedipal desire to one-up his father; his need to be seen (in view of his dubious military service) as an heroic wartime commander-in-chief, swaggering aboard the Abraham Lincoln in a flight suit to declare “Mission Accomplished;” and his delusional instructions from God to wage a eschatological Biblical war between Gog and Magog in the Middle East. Continue the war and you become possessed by Bush’s inner demons. I urge you to exorcise them from our nation’s consciousness by bringing the wars in the Middle East to a swift conclusion.
Republicans will attempt to tar you with the “cut-and-run” brush. So what? Republicans long ago gave up any pretense of serving the national interest in favor of their unprincipled pursuit of power at any cost. While I admire your statesmanlike quest for bipartisanship, as we are learning from the fight for health-care reform, Republicans will dangle the enticing carrot of bipartisanship only to whack you with the stick of self-serving partisanship. Fool you once, shame on them. Fool you twice, shame on you. Your challenge will be to reframe the discourse according to Matthew 5:9. [Blessed are the peacemakers. . . ]
Dance with those who brung you. We voted for you because you promised constructive change, prosperity and peace. We are counting on you to deliver, and are dismayed and disheartened by any willingness to perpetuate the flawed policies of the Bush II administration. You will never gain support from the Republican Right; don’t forfeit the support from the majority left-of-Center trying vainly to appease them or the military-industrial complex.
This is one decision you do not need congressional approval to implement. As Commander-in-Chief you can order the military to withdraw and none can gainsay you.
I wish you every success in finding the inner resources to give the order, secure in the knowledge that untold millions at home and abroad will hail the decision. It is altogether fitting and proper that you should return Mr. Lincoln the favor.
Best wishes,
David L. Smith
Click here for link to Michael Moore's open letter to President Obama.