We regard our kind as the most intelligent of all species, capable of complex learning. Yet, we seem unable to learn from centuries of experiences with warfare. Rabble-rouser’s rejection of the authority of their rulers has time and time again successfully rebelled against them despite the superior military power that attempted to put the rebellion down. Our nation is an example. We defeated England, the greatest nation in the world. Of course, that could not have happened without the assistance of France.
France, however, did not learn from this. Decades later, they attempted to put down the rebellion by North Vietnamese and lost, not because the North had a more powerful army but because of the passion generated by years of oppression. After France withdrew, America decided we could accomplish what they had failed to do. It should not have been a surprise when we were forced to flee.
When the then USSR invaded Afghanistan, we rightly assisted Afghanistan’s defeat of their invaders by providing the weapons capable of shooting down the helicopters that had brought that country to the verge of defeat. Having beaten our Cold War enemy we, unfortunately, turned our backs and left leaving the now heavily armed rebels to engage in an internal war for control of the country. Of course, we could not let that happen so sent our military. And here we are. Once more, after twenty years of great costs in lives and money, we are left with no option other than to withdraw.
I am old enough to remember a song in the sixties that said it well. “Where have all the flowers gone… When will we ever learn?”