Matthew Hoh talks about why ending the war in Afghanistan has been so difficult. For one thing, even though many of the soldiers on the ground realize the war is both immoral and unwinnable, the war planners don’t necessarily know that. For another, generals and other military advisers to the president will pretty much always counsel in favor of war, and how to fight a war effectively, since that’s their craft. For this reason Hoh stresses the necessity of civilian oversight of the military, since civilians are better positioned to decide whether war is a good idea in the first place.
Discussed on the show:
- “Time for Peace in Afghanistan and an End to the Lies” (Counterpunch)
- “1/4/19 Matthew Hoh and Danny Sjursen on the Consequences of America’s Wars in the Middle East” (The Libertarian Institute)
- Costs of War Project
- “‘Irritated’ by Russia, US Admiral Sends Warship to Black Sea” (Antiwar.com)
- An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan
- Obama’s Wars
- “Ryan Crocker: The Taliban Will ‘Retake the Country’” (Foreign Policy)
Matthew Hoh is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and formerly worked for the U.S. State Department. Hoh received the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling in 2010. Hoh is a member of the Board of Directors for Council for a Livable World and is an Advisory Board Member for Expose Facts. He writes on issues of war, peace and post-traumatic stress disorder recovery at matthewhoh.com.
This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.
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