When Will the Neocons Enlist in the Military?

President Donald Trump was recently asked about what the hardest part of his job has been so far. In a raw and emotional human moment for the president, he alluded to signing personalized letters for families whose sons and daughters have been killed in combat and then seeing the pain and suffering in the faces of parents who witness their children return to the US in a coffin draped in Old Glory.

Kids have to die, and their parents have to endure this agony, for what?

‘You Tell Their Parents That!’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) got away with murder following his appearance on The View. Nobody thought to call 911 after he eviscerated Whoopi Goldberg, Ana Navarro, Aby Huntsman, and Sunny Hostin on US foreign policy in the Middle East. Won’t somebody please think of these rich women?

The libertarian-leaning Republican defended President Trump’s recent decision to pull back 50 soldiers, or 0.00003% of the entire US military, from Syria. He also explained that the situation in Syria is far more complicated than even in Iraq. Paul summarized his argument by noting that US intervention in the region has been a disaster, dating back before the 2003 invasion blunder.

The key moment in his exchange with these ladies was when Hostin suggested that the 50 soldiers were “symbolic” that America stood with the Kurds. Paul shot back: “You tell their parents that! You tell the parents of those 50 kids how great the symbolism was when a suicide bomber blows up all 50 kids!”

But this went in one ear and out the other; either the two-term senator was “mansplaining,” as The Daily Beast wrote, or he was in favor of abandoning America’s allies.

Here is the question: Are these women suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome or are they just as pro-war as the left has shown it to be over the last decade?

‘Chicken Heart Isolationists’

Prior to his appearance on the program, Sen. Paul sent out a poignant tweet:

“If we can save one American soldier from losing their life or limbs in another senseless middle eastern war, it is worthwhile. @realDonaldTrump knows this. Yet the bloodlust of the neocons knows no bounds.”

His empathy and logic perturbed Meghan McCain, the daughter of former Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and co-host on the daytime talk show, who was conveniently absent during Paul’s appearance.

“The world knows and watches the absolute shameless cowardice and betrayal to our Kurdish allies from chicken heart isolationists like you and Trump. History will never forget either of your roles in this,” she tweeted.

McCain’s comments trigger several questions. The first obvious one is: When will McCain enlist in the military? She is only 34 years old – the cut off age is 39 for the Air Force and 35 for the Navy. The second one is: Does she understand what the term isolationist means? Neither Paul nor President Trump fit the textbook definition of isolationism; Paul is a free-trader, and Trump has not been afraid to use military might before. The last one is: Will history remember that McCain never backed up her words and applied for the US Armed Forces to fight for the Kurds?

Send the Cheerleaders to Fight

In June 2019, The Babylon Bee penned a satirical piece, titled “Report: Internet Users Who Call For Attacking Other Countries Will Now Be Enlisted In The Military Automatically.” It was hilarious, and the 200-word article still made more sense than some 1,500-word diatribe from the pen of Bill Kristol.

The politicians and the public are too reckless about sending young men and women to participate in these endless regime change wars that do nothing to serve the nation’s interests. Despite overwhelming evidence of how corrupted, iniquitous, horrific, and mendacious US foreign policy has been over the years, there is a considerable portion of the electorate and elected officials who cheer for war.

But will they fight? Of course not. Whenever the opportunity arises to lead the charge in another senseless intervention, the loudest cheerleaders choose to sit on the sidelines. Instead, they want to send other people to risk their lives and limbs for something that has, for the most part, nothing to do with a family of five in Biloxi, MS, or an insurance salesman in Sarasota, FL.

If the interventionists really believe in the propaganda they spew and genuinely think that all these forever wars around the world are worth fighting for, then let us strike a bargain. Here is a proposal for the Max Boots, David Frums, and Meghan McCains of the world: They need to be on the frontlines first and contribute half of their net worth to the war effort. If every single dragon that the US needs to slay is another Adolf Hitler or an existential threat to humanity, then these are reasonable tradeoffs.

That is about as likely as peace in the Middle East. You will rarely see the pom pom-carrying neocons decide to volunteer, meaning everything they say is disingenuous.

During former President George W. Bush’s eight-year throne, we could count on the left to hold massive demonstrations protesting the conflicts. Yet, when former President Barack Obama rose to power and launched bombing campaigns against several nations and destabilized an entire region, the left was eerily quiet. Now that a Republican president is lambasting the neocons, the military-industrial complex, and the warmongers on Capitol Hill and attempting to curtail these battles, the left is aligning with the neocons and either arguing against the withdrawals or calling for new attacks to fulfill a political grudge.

To defend their positions, leftists typically defer to the supposed experts on these matters. But we have listened to the professional pundits for years and they have gotten it wrong on every single foreign policy issue. They said there would be no blowback for backing the mujahedeen in Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq would be a cakewalk, and supporting rebels in Syria would be a boon. Fool me once ...

Repentance

The late great Justin Raimondo wrote, “We have to show the American People that war is not patriotic.”

Former Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), who will forever be remembered for his “freedom fries” and his intense support for the Iraq War, tried his hardest to atone for his sins in the years following. He passed away in February 2019, but throughout the remainder of his life, Jones wrote and signed more than 12,000 letters to families who lost loved ones in Afghanistan and Iraq and asked God to forgive him for his mistake. He revealed in his letters that he would go to his grave regretting sending 4,000 Americans to their deaths. That is true repentance for such a tragic blunder. Now, if only Boot were as apologetic over his support for these tragedies as he is for his white privilege.

~

Read more from Andrew Moran or comment on this article.