News Bits: Conventioneering

When I was at UT, seven to ten years ago, it was Kissinger's head on the chopping block of righteousness. I distinctly remember my cultural anthropology professor breaking down into tears during a lecture on U.S. atrocities in Vietnam and a secret war in Laos, which included leaving anti-personnel devices disguised as food around villages, specifically intended to maim children scavenging for food.

So I guess it's odd to hear similar rhetoric against Wilson, who upset the power of an occupying force in Afghanistan, whose atrocities included, perhaps coincidentally, disguising antipersonnel devices as dolls and toys, and leaving them outside villages.

I think if Wilson had spear-headed an attempt by one hostile nation to invade another, it'd be a different story. Further, it's disingenuous to claim that Wilson's attempt to combat America's primary enemy of the last generation was the direct cause of generating the enemy of this generation. The fact that our geopolitical concern shifted from the Soviets to terror cells reflects one of the major flaws of our foreign policy. We can act ingeniously, sometimes, when it comes to pulling strings in conflict, but we are far less excited about non-intrusive assistance toward the development of infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, lucrative trade platforms, and other basic elements that promote a quality of life that keeps nations such as our own from constantly falling into disarray and civil war.

While few can actually speak of the verisimilitude of the Hanks film, I do think a Wilson chair can be a worthwhile monument to the history of our foreign policy, including the entire spectrum of our successes, our limitations, and even our follies.