On October 19, 2001, 38 days after the WTC was bombed, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld addressed B-2 bomber crews at Missouri’s Whiteman AFB as they prepared to fly across the world to inflict American vengeance on Afghanistan. He told them:
“We have two choices. Either we change the way we live, or we must change the way they live. We choose the latter. And you are the ones who will help achieve that goal.”
And here we are: After dropping over 81,000 bombs and missiles on the people of Afghanistan for 20 years, we’ve failed to change the way they live. So maybe, as Rumsfeld said, we should change the way we live. Maybe we start with less military meddling.
Maybe start by reining in our Exceptionalism and our “war is the answer” reflexes. Maybe that would be an appropriate response to our defeat in Afghanistan. Maybe we should do this before we’re dragged into more wars. On to cartoons.
There’s more than one withdrawal going on:
Sadly true:
Sam gives his usual exit advice, gets it back:
The real strategic mistake:
Old vs new Talibs:
Bush famously painted us in the corner of both Iraq and Afghanistan:
Nothing changes when you’re walking an infinite loop:
Where to invade next: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_to_Invade_Next