As this is being written, President Obama is taking time to see what he wants to do about Afghanistan. The same justification of the war is not there that was there on day 1. Osama Bin Laden is by all accounts no longer in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda appears to be headquartered in some remote part of Pakistan. Afghanistan is no more a threat to the United States than was Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Yet our modern day version of the “Best and the Brightest” seem frantic to find a reason, a justification for further involvement. While generals demand more troops and think tanks warn of the dire consequences of leaving, no one seems to be focusing on the essential question: Why? To what end?

As Yogi Berra would say, “Deja-vu all over again.” If I stop typing, lean back in my chair and close my eyes, the images and sounds of what seems like another lifetime ago fill my mind. I see the little girl running down the street naked, screaming because her village had just been napalmed. I see that famous picture of the man with the pistol against the head of a suspected Viet Cong just seconds before he completed his execution. There’s Lyndon Johnson talking about the “light at the end of the tunnel”. Richard Nixon standing on top of a car taunting peace demonstrators with his arms raised over his head showing the peace symbol, or the victory symbol depending on your take. I see U.S. helicopters picking people off the top of the embassy building during the fall of Saigon. I see eloquent heroes Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy putting their country over their political party. I see Chicago rioting in outrage during the fixed Democratic Convention of 1968.

These memories and hundreds more like them flow through my mind. But this is not a trip down memory lane. Poignant as these memories may be, they are not what’s important. What’s important is what I don’t remember. I don’t remember a healthy public debate about getting into that war in the first place. The first I heard of it was a small article in the New York Times announcing that President Kennedy was sending advisers to help the Vietnamese. Well, that’s us, isn’t it? We’re such good guys. We just want to help. I guess we were helping a whole lot because pretty soon we had 16,000 advisers there. Those Vietnamese sure did need a lot of help.

The American Military-Industrial complex was just itching to get into the fight. But first they needed a narrative and a pretext. Can’t you see McNamara, Rusk and the boys cooking up the “domino theory”? Do you think they were high-fiving one another and whooping it up? We must stop the international Communist Conspiracy right here in Vietnam, or all of Asia and then the rest of the world will become Red, falling like dominoes. No one stopped to remember after the war that the whole narrative for the war never happened even though the Communists were victorious in Vietnam.

Once the narrative was in place, the pretext was easy. The whole Gulf of Tonkin debacle was hoisted on the American people without so much as a raised eyebrow. Excuse me, the great Wayne Morse did raise objections. A lonely man on an island. Once the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed, America was off to the races. We didn’t stop until 58,000 of us as well as countless Vietnamese were dead. Forty years later I sit in my office and can’t figure out for the life of me why this had to happen. It didn’t make sense then. It doesn’t make sense now.

So I say to President Obama, who seems to be on the eve of his Gulf of Tonkin: Why, sir? If we don’t stop the Taliban in Afghanistan, are we in danger that they may take over the world? What is at stake here that so persuades you that you must sacrifice the blood of young Americans? Tell us, Mr. President. We have a right to know. Before you enter this Vietnam-style quagmire consider this: Afghanistan is known as the place where empires go to die.

Some say that Afghanistan is a haven for terrorists because of the fact that we just walked out and left the place a shambles after we helped them repel Russia in 1980. Fair enough. That has some plausibility to it. At least it doesn’t strike me as some kind of “domino theory”. If that’s what you believe, then why aren’t you proposing a massive world-wide “Marshall Plan” for Afghanistan. Why not use your speaking ability and world-wide popularity to bring together the entire world in building Afghanistan. Have the whole world contribute resources to the effort. Ask the U.N. to provide troops for policing the effort. But first ask the people of Afghanistan if they want this. Put it together. Bring the American troops home.

We just finished eight long years being led by a man who thought there was a military solution to every problem. We can’t take more of that. A plan to help Afghanistan—I’m with you. More troops for a quagmire—you’re on your own.

We’d like to hear from our readers on this one. Is Afghanistan going to be another Vietnam-style quagmire?

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