A-bombs taught U.S. how to justify attacks abroad

[davidthegnome]

60. A poor analogy.

Afghanistan is not Japan in the 1940s. America is not the America of that time either. That's not to say that using weapons of mass destruction against a civilian population was the right call, or the only call to make. That's not to say that we were wise in opening that particular Pandora's box. We can guess, speculate, hypothesize all we like about what would have happened if we hadn't used the A bombs... perhaps a ground invasion, perhaps the eventual surrender of the Japanese without having used them - but it was not a matter of American imperialism. It was, rather, what many viewed as the only way to end a seemingly endless war of attrition.

I'm not going to judge or condemn those who made that call. I was not them, I was not there - but my Grandfather was - and what few stories he was ever able to share about the battles he fought as a Marine, the atrocities committed by both sides... suggests to me that even a peace brought about by such devastating brutality may have been preferable to a ground invasion in which more lives would have been lost.

In any event, the invasion of Afghanistan is a very different matter. There was no Nazi Germany, there were no armies, no military forces that, in truth, were any sort of challenge for the modern US military. What we did have were criminals, mass murderers, who had to be rooted out - and a very angry population here at home. We also, around the time that particular war began... had unprecedented international support. Had we maintained the focus on destroying those responsible for 9/11 and ensuring that the particular conditions which enabled it to occur were no longer there... we might have simply left - or used that international good will to rebuild Afghanistan into a Nation that might have become a strong ally or even friend. We might have earned a great deal of goodwill and, ultimately, made our world a safer place.

Sadly, that was not what happened. Instead, we invaded Iraq - based on lies, based on our need for oil, based on a President's very old desire for revenge - and the greed of a particular few who profited immensely from it. The invasion of Iraq... in particular, created many of the terrorists of today and plays a large part in encouraging those of tomorrow. Acts of horrendous torture, drone strikes, the slaughter of civilians... that - and not the war in Afghanistan, would have far more to do with any notion of American imperialism or moral absolutism.

We launched an invasion... brought a war, to a people who did not want it, had not asked for it - and had done nothing to bring it about. Not the Taliban of Afghanistan, not Al Qaeda, nor even the Japan of the 1940s that was responsible for the slaughter of our people. Rather, a Nation that had already been devastated by years of bombing raids and sanctions after a war that had already left them crippled. We threw away our international good will as if it meant nothing. We repeated history as we did after the Soviets left Afghanistan many years ago - we took what was a good chance to build something good... and made no real attempt to do it.

Plenty of things change. During the time of World War II, I find it hard if not impossible to believe that the people of America, or the American military... would have permitted the invasion of Iraq. Japan was a military opponent that was quite capable and quite deserving of our wrath. That is not to say that our targets should have shifted to civilian, or that, as far as morality and honor is concerned... that we should not have focused, instead, on destroying military targets. War is a damned ugly thing... some times though, you are left with few options - and with none that look good. It is often a choice between what is right... and what is necessary.