9/11, Afghanistan, and the question of nation building

 When 9/11 happened, I remember telling my wife that we would definitely find some country to invade and invade it, and there was nothing that could stop that, because we were hurt and frightened and angry. 100%, that's what was going to happen. (And it did).

My HOPE was that we would, given some time; settle down enough to realize this was a new kind of conflict, evaluate how best to prosecute a conflict where tanks and bombs were bit-players next to the primary role of intelligence, and ultimately develop that capability. I still HOPE that this happened, and there is certainly evidence that we are more capable at spotting potential attacks on our soil than we were before. Internationally? I don't see any evidence of this, but that may well be by design.

OH! And then we invaded Iraq. :-/

I might be the only person you'll ever hear say this, but I think George H.W. Bush (Bush 41, not Bush 43) was the best president of my lifetime. He lived through WW2 and the cold war. He served and he lead. He got it.

I listened to him (and Colin Powell, who I respected immensely at one time) tell me "Say we go "all the way to Baghdad". What then? Well, you broke it, you bought it. We'll be there for 20-30 years, and we'll lose 2-3 people per week the entire time we're there. And then when we leave, the entire region will destabilize and we'll be replaced by something even worse than before we arrived."

I see friends arguing whether Biden f'd this up, or if it's somehow Trump's fault. I honestly, and humbly, think you're missing the plot.

We've *GOT* to finally learn the lesson of Viet Nam. (And Afghanistan, and Iraq, and even Iran if you're familiar with that history).

Every time we engage in "nation building", it goes horribly wrong. We wreck a generation of beautiful young people, the same pattern plays out, and things end up worse.

Please, "We the People" ... learn this, and demand that our leaders understand it, as GHW Bush did.

The next time they're talking about it, raise a ruckus. Don't let them do this, again, to our young patriots who want to serve.

Imposter Syndrome

There are a lot of things in my life I don't get right. Honestly, it's a really long list.

However, one of the things I feel like I'm pretty good at is overcoming imposter syndrome.

My methods, in case you would find them of benefit, follow.

1) Get comfortable with the idea that you're an idiot. Sorry. I don't make the rules 🤷 There's too much to know and nobody knows it all.

2) Be observant enough to recognize that everyone else is an idiot, too.

3) Be humble enough to say, "I don't know that yet, let's learn it together."

4) Be generous enough to share openly the things that you do know, even with people who might be in competition with you at some level. Their success is your success, and inhibiting their career growth is a bad move.

Again, there are all sorts of things I'm not in a good at, but I do this fairly naturally, and it's served me well.

Best of luck