Neocon pundit Max Boot defended the unwinnable US “forever wars” in the Middle East in an op-ed comparing them to the slow-motion slaughter of Native Americans at the hands of settlers suffused with Manifest Destiny.
The unrepentant interventionist delivered a sentiment that would make Kipling proud to the Washington Post readers, pointing out that it took 300 years to "civilize" the continent of North America – like Afghanistan and Syria, an "unconventional combat assignment" that wouldn't end in a ticker-tape parade.
"We need to think of these deployments as we thought of our Indian Wars, which lasted 300 years, or as the British thought about their deployment on the North West Frontier, which lasted 100 years. US troops are policing the frontiers of the Pax Americana," Boot tweeted, only to delete the excerpt later after getting severely ratio'd.
Boot urged the US to "eschew its big-war mind-set" and settle in for the long haul. "The longer US troops stay anywhere, the greater their chances of achieving our objectives," he said, suggesting that since more troops die during training than in foreign wars, there's no downside to prolonging those wars indefinitely.
"Just as the police aren't trying to eliminate crime, so troops are not trying to eliminate terrorism, but, instead, to keep it below a critical threshold that threatens the United States and our allies," Boot wrote, unironically appointing the US as World Police.
Twitter reminded him that things hadn't gone so well last time the US tried Manifest Destiny.
Many suggested he personally show the rest of America how it's done…
…and there was no shortage of helpful people to point out that certain words didn't mean what he thought they did.
Others tried teach him history – a task they may find impossible.
As his Tweet hit the fan, Boot backpedaled furiously, insisting critics had all misunderstood him.
But having written an op-ed defending colonialism, it's hard to backpedal without digging yourself that much deeper into the hole.
He may have deleted the tweet about the Indian Wars, but the paragraph remains in the Post… and in his mind.
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