On this edition of Parallax Views, U.S. military forces have left Afghanistan after 20 years. But the D.C. foreign policy Blob’s arrogance is still going strong, as figures like Max Boot, Leon Panetta, and H.R. McMaster. Our guest on this edition, libertarian gadfly James Bovaird, has a personal experience he’s decided to share with us about this kind of hubris that he details in his article “Washington Arrogance is Incurable”. Jim recounts a telling conversation he had with a “good Washingtonian” that took issue with Jim’s questioning of U.S. foreign policy. Meanwhile, Jim recounts seeing wounded soldiers returning from the Forever Wars that very same day.
From there we delve into a number of different topics related to the foreign policy establishment and the Forever Wars like those waged in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the War on Terror. We discuss the responsibility and complicity of President George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and, yes, even Joe Biden in regards to these conflicts. Additionally, Jim gives his opinion on the U.S. exit from Afghanistan and how it was handled poorly in his mind. Nonetheless, Jim also expresses that he believes the withdrawal needed to happen. We also delve into the issue of women’s and girl’s rights in Afghanistan and Jim relates a telling fact about Karzai, who was in power after the U.S. beat back the Taliban in Afghanistan, and how a certain law he signed was anything but a promotion of women’s rights. Also, we talk a little bit about perpetual hawkish commentator Max Boot, gun rights, what Jim refers to as the “Sham of Democracy Promotion” in Afghanistan, the winners and losers of the Afghanistan War (hint: Virginia’s weapons contractors did quite well for themselves), the relationship between the War on Terror and the loss of civil liberties, the “Bitter Belated Afghan Vindication”, 9/11 and the “28 pages” of the post-9/11 Senate Select Committee, Iran and the long push for war with Iran, the rehabilitation of George W. Bush, Jim’s book The Bush Betrayal, the worldwide torture regime, the question of U.S. credibility, sanctions, the economic strangulation of Syria, understanding the fact on the ground on these wars, the smugness of our foreign policy elites, the massive amounts of money that go into D.C. think tanks, and more!
