ARRIVEDERCI AFGHANISTAN - DEBACLE OR DESIGN?

ARRIVEDERCI AFGHANISTAN - DEBACLE OR DESIGN?

By Andy Weddington

Wednesday, 18 August 2021

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. - Albert Einstein

Twenty-five years ago, for about two and a half years, I led a small think tank. 

Some who know me may find that hilarious. 

Admittedly, I did at the time. 

But it's true. 

Technical expertise was not why I was selected for assignment. Rather, how I look at everything; differently. 

Though I see as a painter, I view more so through the discipline of General Semantics (GS); reality is not language (of any sort). 

So our marching orders simple: The system is broken. Fix it!

The system was broken. It had been broken for a good long while. 

But it plugged along on patches, workarounds, jerry-rigging, corrupting models, and mostly thanks to dedicated personalities wanting to do the right thing despite turning to winks, nods, secret handshakes, and drug deals in the head.   

Our tank failed. 

The system is still broken.

Why?

Change of "leadership." Skeptics. Fence sitters. Obstructionists. Saboteurs. Et al. Enemies; some known, some not. Same for advocates.

Truth welcome but not welcome the core problem. 

That was then. 

Though forsaking news nearly a year ago it's not possible to avoid completely. 

The past few days I've seen disturbing images of U. S. military aircraft leaving Afghanistan, airborne, with desperate people trying to escape horror tumbling from exterior cubbies; fate sealed before take off.  

The parallel images being World Trade Center jumpers on 9/11.  

Yesterday I read a U. S. C-17 landing gear problem forced emergency landing. Human remains found in the wheel well. My gut ached, heart sank, and brain boiled. 

And yesterday I read a State Department memo was sent to Americans warning if not already at the airport in Kabul safety could not be assured. 

Imagine Americans abandoned by America? 

Is that the new boilerplate? The Benghazi five come to mind. 

Considerable time the past week or so spent reflecting on those challenging, frustrating, but rewarding despite failing think tank days. 

After some drawing, diagramming, and doodling - in sketchbooks and mind - a troublesome logical conclusion this morning.

Considering all the educated, highly trained and experienced, supposedly smart folks - planners and operators, civilian and military - engaged with war in Afghanistan, does the disastrous withdrawal make sense interpreted as debacle? 

Any sense at all?

Or design?

Think about it. Stay with the problem - longer. 

Reality is never the word(s). 

Can the masked - social distancing, hand washing, lining up for multiple sticks in the arm of a failing non-FDA approved serum obedient crowd - think?  

Truth not welcome? 

America, per Founding, is broken.  

Why?

The U. S. failed (in) Afghanistan.

Why? 

Being so smart is not necessary. 

Though critical is setting aside any assumption reality and language is one and the same. So consider, reality is and language(s) is a terribly restrictive invention by man to represent reality.

Reality is. 

Language is misused, abused, twisted, and shaped to present and force agenda, to influence human thought and behavior, to control; mastery wins.    

Words, of not truth, do exist to describe "reality."

Those words require scare tactics, threats, and force to live. 

Words, of truth, do exist to describe reality. 

The merit of such words depend upon courage.

Alas, but the big picture. A critical variable of GS is "etcetera" - there's always more. 

Keep faith. It's free. 

Costly is religion - any "religion."  

Think about it. Stay with the problem - longer.