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Showing Original Post only (View all)Richard Engel Is Very, Very Sad About U.S. Leaving Afghanistan [View all]
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/08/richard-engel-very-very-sad-about-us8/31/21 4:38am
Richard Engel Is Very, Very Sad About U.S. Leaving Afghanistan
For decades, we have poured billions into our wars -- while fighting over every penny intended for the poor.
By Susie Madrak
While we see elite military advisors and journalists predicting dark things for America as a result of leaving Afghanistan, I thought about Martin Luther King Jr.'s seminal speech, "Beyond Vietnam -- A Time To Break Silence":
Since I am a preacher by calling, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated, as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.
For years, we've asked, "Why can't America feed our hungry, or provide health care for the sick? Why is there always enough money for war?"
Well, war makes defense contractors, mercenaries, and assorted other people rich. And it gives journalists a high profile that increases their career standing and clout.
Link to tweet
Maybe this is one of the reasons Richard Engel is so sad. While war is hell, adrenaline is addicting, and soldiers often have a hard time adjusting to relative calm. The same is probably true of journalists: "Without the war, who am I?"
Well, Richard, your feelings should not be the basis of foreign policy.
You said, "This is the worst capitulation of Western values in my lifetime." Really, Richard? More than the entire Trump era?
Your speech crossed a line, I think. You are neither a historian, nor a pundit. Finally, Richard, you are no Walter Cronkite. No doubt your employer will try to equate your speech with his, but you fall far short of the standard.
We know which side today's media is on, and it ain't ours.
Thank you, President Biden, for choosing the rest of us over the Endless Wars.
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Seems he could have his pick of the civil wars going on now in Myanmar and Ethiopia
Klaralven
Aug 2021
#12
Chris Hedges described this addiction to the adrenaline rush and exhilaration of war
PA Democrat
Aug 2021
#6
As if Engel will have any problem, finding another war to to fill his wallet and ego. (nt)
Paladin
Aug 2021
#8
And every solution to Biden's "mistakes" these pundits and superannuated military commanders...
MrModerate
Aug 2021
#51
It is infuriating. As far as legacy goes, it doesn't matter though. Joe will go down in
KPN
Aug 2021
#52
I watched about two or thee minutes of him yesterday afternoon. He was disgusting. Everyone....
George II
Aug 2021
#13
Get happy Engel. Pack up and get your ass over toAfghanistan, there's nothing holding you here but
Autumn
Aug 2021
#14
Engel's highly meta meditations on the universe of reporterdom is kind of niche-y for my tastes.
MrModerate
Aug 2021
#22
Wow, cut the guy some slack. He is emotionally vested in these people being left behind. This was
Pisces
Aug 2021
#29
He's a person who is emotionally compromised by what he's seen and experienced. It's not some
Pisces
Aug 2021
#56
I was stunned by that quote and the fact that he said he saw, before the invasion, that an Iraq war
karynnj
Aug 2021
#49
I'm predicting he'll find a nice position at Fox, badmouthing democrats. His career demands it
ffr
Aug 2021
#34
With Trump's Syria shit show, Engel acted "concerned" about canceling the US military's "policing"
ancianita
Aug 2021
#37
All I can think of now when I see him is Roland B. Hedley from Doonesbury. Nt
Fiendish Thingy
Aug 2021
#39
I'm really trying to reserve judgement. His coverage of the border mess under 45 was excellent.
Evolve Dammit
Aug 2021
#41
Just like it's always 5 pm somewhere for happy hour...there's always a war somewhere
AngryOldDem
Aug 2021
#46