Restlessness may appear to be a "gentle" cost of
the conflict on fear, but it is a clear key obligation. A war-torn country
struggles to present a credible threat to adversaries. This was validated
during the Cold War when, at the height of the Vietnam War, the Soviets
attacked Czechoslovakia in 1968, and when, in the aftermath of the conflict,
the Soviets attacked Afghanistan in 1979.
Because it was embroiled in a conflict in the first case and
reeling from it in the second, the United States was unable to effectively
discourage Soviet military animosity. Today, the United States is in a
comparable position, particularly concerning China. When asked in a new poll
whether the US should defend Taiwan if it was attacked by China, 55% of
respondents said no. If the Chinese attempted such an activity, especially if
Americans or residents of allied nations were killed, the popular
opinion could shift quickly; however, the survey suggested that the limit for
the use of power has risen among Americans. This is understood by America's
adversaries. China has felt empowered to encroach on
Hong Kong's independence and submit bold denials of basic liberties against its
minority Uyghur population. When American power recedes, different states step
in to fill the void.
Enemies of the United States have also figured out how to
jumble their hostility. One model is the cyberwar, which is currently being
waged from Russia, with the Russian government claiming no knowledge of the
wave of ransomware attacks emanating from within its borders. In the same way,
Chinese hostility toward Taiwan is unlikely to manifest in traditional military
ways. Beijing will almost certainly take control of the island gradually, as it
has done with Hong Kong, before launching an all-out invasion. That complicates
a US military response, especially since twenty years of war have subverted US
military discouragement. The dread conflict has altered both how the United
States sees itself and how the rest of the world sees it. People have
occasionally inquired about how the conflict changed me.
It was certainly tempting to believe—especially in those
heady post-Cold War years—that the United States' adaptation of a majority rule
government would remain dominant indefinitely and that the world had reached
"the end of history." In the same way that people of "the best
age" can recall where they were when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor or
gen X-ers can recall where they were when JFK was assassinated, the standard
for my generation is where you were on 9/11. I remember the day, as do most of
us. In any case, when at that time, the event that comes to mind
most frequently is the previous night.
As the United States attitudes toward war and champions
have shifted over the last two decades, I've found myself thinking about Band
of Brothers regularly. It's a good indicator of where the country was before
9/11 and how far it's come since. Today, the United States is unique; it is
wary of its role on the planet, all the more clear-eyed about the costs of
battle despite having experienced those costs in overwhelmingly regressive
ways.
Americans' desire to send out their standards abroad is
additionally diminished, particularly as they battle to keep those beliefs at
home, whether in savagery around the 2020 official political decision, the
mid-year of 2020's respectful agitation, or even how the war on fear
compromised the country through outrages ranging from Abu Ghraib prison to
Edward Snowden's holes. The United States, where Band of Brothers has a cult
following, is ancient history.
It's also a reminder that public stories matter. The day
before the United States embarked on a 20-year odyssey in the Middle East, the
stories people needed to hear—or perhaps the stories Hollywood executives
accepted they needed to hear—were the ones in which Americans were the heroes,
liberating the world from oppression and persecution. President Joe Biden announced the US
withdrawal from Afghanistan. He had also fought as a marine in Afghanistan and
Iraq, and he was also on that mission in the Korengal Valley. However, when I
left the CIA, he stayed and has spent his career waging war on fear all over
the world. He now runs a business. At the office, performed paramilitary tasks.
We talked about the differences between the withdrawal from Iraq and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. We all agreed that the final option felt more diligent. Why? Unlike in Iraq, the conflict in Afghanistan was based on an attack on the United States. This had only happened once before in American history, and it had resulted in an unequivocal US victory. However, unlike the best age, the age of veterans would not share in such a triumph. All things considered, we would be remembered as the losers of the United States' longest war. The Sound and the Fury:
At no point is a fight won... They are not fought. The field
simply exposes man's folly and doom, and victory is a ruse perpetrated by
academics and idiots.
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