Is Tilford old enough?

Well . . .

Sometimes knowledge does come with experience.

Tilford, similar to the Dean Acheson book title, was Present at the Creation of the Afghanistan war – now the longest war in United States history, surpassing Vietnam. As Chief of the Afghanistan Cell providing operational intelligence to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon, Tilford warned pulling most of our forces out of Afghanistan in mid-2002 was a mistake. He, in consultation and in full agreement with John McCreary, the senior civilian DIA intelligence analyst in the Pentagon, assessed the Taliban were not defeated, had only gone to ground, and would resurge. They weren’t, had, and did.  But the administration’s political decision had been made. We now know the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Richard Myers, cried at his desk as the ramp up for the invasion of Iraq began. He knew what was coming. One mistake compounded by another. Thousands of American men and women killed in a war with no justification.

Other than logic, on what basis did Tilford base that warning? Experience. His first assignment to the Pentagon was in 1996 on an ad hoc team as the ground intelligence analyst. Tilford, although qualified both in Infantry and Military Intelligence, had not yet branch transferred and still wore the crossed rifles.
Barzani had cut a deal with Sadaam. Iraq armored forces entered Kurdistan in support of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) against the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in the Kurdish civil war. Tilford wrote the PUK were not decisively defeated but had only retreated and had gone to ground. He assessed they would resurge. They weren’t, had, and did.

During an earlier session with the other team analysts, Tilford overheard the twenties and thirties aged generation discussing if the Turks could use air-dropped seismic and acoustic sensors for artillery and air strike targeting. Turkish fear, then as now, was the Confederation Community of Kurdistan (KKK) would try to carve out a Kurdish enclave from Turkey. The Turks, then as now, were ruthless in their “kill first and don’t bother to ask questions later” approach to the KKK, a Kurdish freedom seeking element the Turks considered terrorists. Tilford answered the younger analysts’ question with another question, “Have you ever heard of Khe Sanh?” The July 1968 US B-52 strikes which broke up the North Vietnamese forces in night assembly areas before they could mount a massive attack used data from air-dropped seismic and acoustic sensors.

Tilford’s insights into current world events are based, just as in the above examples, on logic and experience. Tilford has seen Vietnamese old women and children fighting each other to get to the garbage being trucked out of Camp Tien Sha, near Danang. His truck driver commented, “You know, that truck’s always empty by the time it gets to the dump.” Tilford’s been shot at, felt the heat of napalm, and watched the green and orange tracers at night: green theirs, orange ours. He’s rolled out of his rack, grabbed his M-14 rifle, and run to the perimeter. He visited the 95th Evacuation Hospital in Danang in the late 1960s and the Indianapolis VA Medical Center this century. He realizes he’s been very lucky. ‘Probably why he tries to help veterans and surviving spouses.

Because of his years of service and military retired status, Polly and John have traveled via military Space Available seats on cargo or contract aircraft. The thousands of immigrants stuck at the train station in Budapest, Hungary in 2015, trying to get to Germany? The immigration problem drove then, and continues to drive now, Hungarian descent into totalitarianism, the United Kingdom Brexit vote and related aftershocks, and actions of the current United States administration and congress. Polly and John had been stuck at that same Budapest train station the year before. They visited Crete and Greece in 2018, near the same waters in which so many have – and still do – die while seeking refuge.

Tilford has stood on the same speaker platform as did Hitler at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Nuremberg, Germany. He’s walked on the sands of Omaha Beach and between the grave markers of Arlington National Cemetery. He and Polly visited Oskar Schindler’s home in Regensburg, Bavaria and the Anne Frank secret annex in Amsterdam, Netherlands. They visited the only home George C. Marshall ever owned; John placed his hands upon the little desk on which what Truman named the “Marshall Plan” was written. They’ve walked through the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, France where the vindictive 1919 treaty which lead to World War II was signed. People, civilized, normal people like you and me, voted for Hitler. We need to learn from history and act accordingly.

Experience helps to understand. Understanding is critical to decision making. Sound decision making is required for responsible voting, in elections and legislators for or against bills.

Tilford might be considered by some “too old.” More likely he’s “old enough.”