Letters: Elliott column ignores the realities of history; politicking goes on as usual

While I may agree with Mr. Elliott in principle, I must disagree with him in fact. Without naming names, Mr. Elliott is pointing the fickle finger of fate at the current administration. His condemnation of the amateur diplomats running amok throughout the world is to him unsettling at best, but ignoring the realities of history.

If my memory serves correctly, I believe a certain “professional” diplomat by the name of Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of England in 1938, capitulated to Adolph Hitler at the Munich Conference. The end result allowed the Nazis to begin unimpeded conquest of Western Europe and the death of over 60 million lives while changing the landscape of Europe forever.

So much for the professional diplomat Neville Chamberlin.

Less than a decade later, 5 years give or take depending on your frame of reference, a few our esteemed diplomats at the State Department saw fit to engage thousands of our young men and women in the Korean War, 1950-????. Least we forget, we sacrificed just under 40,000 of our fathers, sons, mothers and daughters in that conflict. And what did that resolve? North Korea and the South have never signed any peace accord to this date.

Fast forward to 1955 and yet again, our administration and the State Department, in there never ending quest to rid the world of communism, sent teams of “advisors” into South Vietnam to help train the South Vietnamese Army. Sixteen years later, give or take a few years, at this point it’s hard to put an exact date because no war was ever declared to the best of my knowledge.

What is known is 58,000-plus American men and women gave the ultimate sacrifice. The death toll in Vietnamese is reportedly in excess of 1 million. This event has gone down as the worst American military defeat since our country was founded over 200 years ago. Even today, almost 50 years later, we are still dealing with the heartache and trauma inflicted on the survivors.

And the politicians and diplomats continued on as usual. Did any of them suffer the consequences of their actions? I’ll let the readers decide for themselves.

Dare I even begin to mention Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and the countless other countries that are not even on our radar today? Where our men and women are sent in to harm's way to sacrifice their lives only to have the diplomats and politicians declare “Mission Accomplished” in 2003.

And yet, as 2019 comes to a close, there is no declared victory in Afghanistan 16 years later. The Middle East is as volatile today as it has been for the last 1,000 years.

In conclusion, do I have the answer, obviously not. Nor does Jim Elliott, I dare say. Does the current administration’s tactics scare me? You bet your life. But what progress has this world order accomplished in the last hundred, thousand years listening to the diplomats and politicians?

What we are witnessing now in our country with each party fighting so viciously against each other is tantamount to the imploding of our country and our way of life. I do not believe our current president is any more guilty of malfeasance of office than any other president in the last 150 years.

President Trump has less than a year remaining in his current term. Do I think he will be impeached? It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but while Rome burns those commies are waiting in the wings.

Michael Boehme has never served in the Montana legislative but he did belong to Key Club in high school.