Why I Don't Envy our Military and Foreign Policy Leaders

 

Whether Republican, Democrat, or Independent, I do not envy the difficult decisions our military and foreign policy leaders make on a regular basis. It's easy for us in the peanut gallery to opine and pontificate regarding the proper course of action in a complicated world, but it's quite another to be in the position of risking so much--including the lives of our men and women in uniform and the security of these United States--for a decision that could prove to be disastrous.

  It's easier through the lens of history to discern the right decisions from the wrong ones. Vietnam bad, D-Day good, we surmise. But we forget those choices were made in real time, with  no hindsight and no prophetic guarantors of success. The decision to intervene in Vietnam cannot be understood apart from the context of Cold War fears about the emerging threat of communism, both without and within. Their were complex debates about the best way to contain it, and likely an American overconfidence that "right makes might" on the heels of two victorious experiences in World Wars.

  Likewise, the invasion at Normandy was an enormous gamble that even while successful cost the lives of over ten thousand men. In fact, on the morning of D-Day, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower carried a note in his wallet that read, "My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

  I'm not saying we can't criticize our leaders when such criticism is warranted. But I am saying we should always temper our judgment with the knowledge that we are safely removed from the immediate perils of decision-making.