KEVIN MCCARTHY’S CROCODILE TEARS OVER THE US PULLOUT FROM AFGHANISTAN: A RED HERRING IF THERE EVER WAS ONE

House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s emotional call for “accountability” for the blunder in the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan is a red herring, a tactic continuously used by duplicitous politicians in Washington. What about accountability for the 20-year fiasco of the Afghanistan War in which millions of lives were broken: death and injury of innocent Afghanistan civilians and U.S. soldiers, and the massive displacement due to U.S. intervention?

McCarthy’s crocodile tears draw attention away from the real issue which few in Washington are willing to deal with. It’s about the disaster of U.S. interventionism in country after country throughout the world. It’s about the false claim that the Westphalia system dating back to 1648 that guarantees national sovereignty is no longer applicable in the age of globalization. The fallacy in that line of thinking is that there is no existing international body that can replace the people of a given country to decide on that country’s destiny. If no such body exists, then it’s the United States that fills the gap. Those that spur the right of national sovereignty (for all nations except the U.S., that is) end up justifying the U.S.’ right to unilaterally intervene (and if not unilaterally, then with the endorsement of Washington’s European allies) wherever it pleases, or rather wherever U.S. economic or geopolitical interests are being undercut.

This is the same Kevin McCarthy who openly defends the right of Israel to define its national borders and take over the West Bank. And it’s the same McCarthy who used bullying against fellow Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar for their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement by saying that if Democrats don’t take action against them “I think you'll see action from myself.” Threats against the lives of these two courageous women ensued.

In that case, McCarthy’s slogan of “accountability” deceptively used in the case of the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan should be used against him for his irresponsible threats against Tlaib and Omar.