Opinion: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin must resign
Resignation won’t atone for lives lost, or the debacle that American involvement in Afghanistan became, but it would at least demonstrate an understanding of professional ethics.
By Andrew Milburn | Updated Oct 13, 2021 9:08 AM
Opinion
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
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When I was a junior Marine, an oft-repeated joke among my peers went like this: “What’s the difference between the Marine Corps and the Boy Scouts?” Answer: “The Boy Scouts have adult leadership.” It was funny at the time, in the half-bitter way that such jokes are funny as an outlet for resentment among young men frustrated at their perceived lack of agency. The joke would make an appearance after incidents seemed to reveal an institution that was capricious, even willfully negligent towards those at the bottom of the pyramid. Snafus we still called them back then: trucks that never showed up on time, formations that dragged on interminably, and the inevitable delays waiting to be allowed off base in the evening before sampling the dubious delights of a garrison town. When all was said and done, however, these jokes were no more than that. Because we were proud to wear the uniform, proud of the institution to which we belonged — and willing to put our lives on the line for what it stood for.
For many of us who shared that pride, it’s been a nightmare to watch the collapse of Afghanistan. After a series of blunders at every level, from short-sighted policy decisions to inept tactical actions on the ground, I find myself struggling to make sense of it all. And now, thinking back, those jokes don’t seem quite so funny.
Making sense of it all is exactly what I plan to do here. I will not go on about the chaotic scenes at the airport in Kabul that were redolent with fear and humiliation. Or about the loss of 13 U.S. service members who probably didn’t need to die, not to mention the hundreds of Afghans who died with them. Or about the incident that was the last offensive action taken by the United States in a 20-year conflict that turned out to be representative of so much in that war – a pointless blunder in the form of a drone strike that failed to hit its target but instead devastated an innocent Afghan family. It was not even a case of “collateral damage” — that anodyne euphemism for civilians caught in the crossfire — but a completely avoidable mistake.
https://taskandpurpose.com/opinion/defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-must-resign/
