Saturday, April 15, 2017

"John! John! Oh, John!"

What caught my attention regarding this MOAB device being used in Afghanistan is that the U.S. opponent is ISIL, which entered Afghanistan only very recently - since 2014. ISIL sees an opportunity, and is exploiting it.

So, after 16 years in Afghanistan, we have a new enemy. Some progress. Victory eludes us and the likelihood of defeat grows.

According to conservatives, and folks like Trump, the only thing preventing victory is failure to utter the magical phrase "Radical Islamic Terrorism." We say it all the time now, but it doesn't matter.

The United States is big on magical phrases. Evan Connell writes in "Son of the Morningstar" that back in the days of Custer, whites would customarily address an unfamiliar Indian as "John." At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, an Arapaho named Left Hand accepted a rifle offered by a surrendering soldier, as he sobbed, "John! John! Oh, John!" The magical phrase didn't do any good there either.

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