I read a disturbing and disquieting article in the New York Times on January 23 entitled, “Starmer Joins Other British Politicians in Anger Over Trump’s Afghanistan War Claim.” The article was written by Stephen Castle.
President Trump falsely claimed in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22 that NATO did not significantly help the US during the Afghanistan war from 2001 to 2021. He stated, “You know, they’ll [NATO will] say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines [myemphasis].”
That is really rich from someone who received five military deferments during the Vietnam War and completely circumvented combat. I am especially reminded how Trump once slanderously derided deceased Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, when in 2015 he said,“‘He’s not a war hero,’”….“‘He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.’”
Trump’s ridiculous remarks, especially the last quoted sentence in the penultimate paragraph, thoroughly infuriated UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer because they were blatantly not true. Know-it-all Donald, who probably has delighted in insulting other people and acting like a schoolyard bully since childhood, failed to study the Afghan war. He spoke like an in-depth ingrate.
I just hope that Trump was not lying in order to vent his angry, anti-NATO sentiments (at times) about acquiring Greenland. However, I would not be surprised because he brazenly basks and delights in media attention by constantly trying to stay ahead of the round-the-clock news cycle. His never-ending quest for front-page news coverage or craving an initial interview on Fox News, NewsNation [sic], and the legacy media is almost insatiable.
There is no question that Trump‘s personality reeks of narcissism, and he does not care who he criticizes to get media attention, especially deceased European NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.
Of course, nobody in or outside the White House publicly disputed his false claims, including Edward Lengel, a presidential historian who previously served as Chief Historian of the White House Historical Association. That is because they are all afraid of his wrath and being fired or demoted for speaking the truth.
According to NATO’s Article 5, “aggression against one member country is considered an attack on all.” That is indeed what unquestionably occurred after September 11, 2001, which was the worst loss of American life on a single day since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
During the twenty-year Afghan war, the enemy killed 457 British soldiers in combat. Starmer called Trump’s remarks “‘insulting and frankly appalling,’” and “‘not surprised they have caused such hurt.’”
In my opinion, Trump did not misspeak and owes the UK a sincere apology, preferably given at the British embassy in Washington or in the House of Commons in London. However, I doubt that he will ever formally apologize because of his oversized ego. However, I hope that I am wrong.
Even Prince Harry, aka Captain Wales, was outraged, who served two tours of duty in active combat in Afghanistan totaling 7.5 months. Prince Harry added,“‘those sacrifices [combat deaths] deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect.’”
I fully agree.
Not only did President Trump insult the UK, buthe also insulted all the other NATO countries, which sent soldiers into combat and died in Afghanistan. That included 90 soldiers from France, 150 from Canada, 59 from Germany, 1 from Croatia, 9 from Estonia, 44 from Denmark, 44 from Poland, and 10 from Norway, which is only a partial casualty list of the thirty countries excluding the thousands of wounded, who fought in the war in Afghanistan.
As NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gently reminded Trump on January 21, “for every American who paid, every two Americans who paid the ultimate price, there was one soldier from another NATO country who did not come back to his family.”
Now, Mr. President, it is time to apologize publicly to the UK and all the other thirty NATO countries, which lost soldiers either in combat or non-combat during the war in Afghanistan.
Robert L. Maronic
