Afghanistan: It’s time to stop sacrificing American lives in wars run by politicians

Afghanistan

Millions of Vietnam veterans watched in sorrow and disgust 46 years ago as helicopters left the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon rescuing Americans and Vietnamese allies as the country fell. Sunday, we watched in disbelief as Americans were rushed out of Kabul as the Taliban took over.

Some 60,000 Americans died in these fruitless wars. Countless other lives were destroyed as wives, girlfriends, parents and children lost loved ones forever. For what?

For weeks now, we’ve listened to the cheery, but false, reports from Washington as a formidable enemy marched across a country we’d fought 20 years to save. When top U.S. officials express “surprise” at these events, we should worry about our country’s abilities to fight wars and win them.

In Vietnam and Afghanistan, we trained indigenous forces for years to defend their countries. In both cases, they didn’t. Maybe it’s time to stop sacrificing American lives in wars run by politicians and begin to re-engineer our foreign policy. We owe our warfighters, then and now, an apology. A big one.

Mike Hoyt, Raleigh

Endless wars

President Biden is right that another year or two or 10 would not have changed the outcome in Afghanistan. But he fails to understand how the U.S. can prevent another such disaster. His 2022 budget request assigns $765 billion to the military and only $52 billion to international affairs.

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis aptly summed it up in 2013: ““If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately.”

Increased war spending only sets us up for more military conflicts. More funding for the State Department is needed to prevent future Afghanistans.

Betsy Crites, Durham

Nuclear weapons

The 76th anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that killed 70,000-plus people reminded us again of the urgent need for nuclear disarmament. Yet, Congress is currently backing a $260 billion Ground Based Strategic Deterrence (GBSD), what some call a money pit missile.

In the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden said he would reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense strategy. He can keep that promise by moving the GBSD money to solve real everyday needs such as infrastructure repair, health care for all, school upgrades, and climate change damage. Funding these would build up our nation. Funding nuclear weapons gives us ways to destroy life on the planet.

Sandy Irving, Raleigh

State retirees

In its proposed budget, the N.C. House included a 2% bonus each of the next two years for retirees in lieu of a recurring cost of living adjustment.

State retirees’ pensions have lost about 20% of their purchasing power in recent years, even before COVID-19 and the inflation spike. We’ve received very little in the way of cost of living for the last 13 years. Legislators should consider a permanent and recurring COLA, similar to what was offered around 2008. Legislators need to take action to ensure the state pension keeps up with inflation.

Kathleen Derrickson, Raleigh

Fed up on masks

I am sick and tired of having to wear masks again to “protect“ those too irresponsible to get vaccinated. Does Raleigh’s mayor think a mask mandate will get those people to do the right thing? Why should they when vaccinated people are the ones being punished.

The governor has tried cajoling, bribing with lottery money, and still these people won’t do their part to get vaccinated. I say let the chips fall where they may — they choose to get infected with a preventable deadly disease, so they’ll have to suffer the consequences.

Thu Ostrander, Raleigh

Wake GOP

The writer is a former Wake County commissioner and state representative.

As a Republican, I’d like to say that the Wake County GOP should not be taking action against two Republican Wake County school board members for voting to require masks to combat COVID-19. I appreciate the school board members for voting the correct way. The vast majority of Wake County voters are moderates. The Wake GOP is falling on its sword for way-out ideas. In the name of public health we must protect our citizens.

Gary Pendleton, Raleigh