The Murder in DC, Thanksgiving 2025.
There is a single fact that is undeniable in the recent death of a 20-year old West Virginia National Guardswoman, murdered a couple of blocks from the White House in Washington DC.
Odds are virtually 100% certain that she wouldn’t have been in D.C. were it not for a command decision by the President to militarize DC to allegedly make the city safe.
All other words or actions are superfluous – and there are tens of thousands of them already on record and more to come.
But if the President of the United States had not called in the National Guard, including West Virginia, and the West Virginia Governor had not answered the call, the young woman who died on the streets of Washington D.C. would not have been in harms way.
All of the rest is rhetoric and speculation, including that we have no idea at all about why the gunman, an Afghan, went over the edge.
There is a very long history which relates to the Afghanistan component of the tragedy in D.C. There will be endless meetings to decide which facts to leave in, or take out, of news releases and reports, and which facts to make up. Or which the consumer of the facts will choose to believe or not.
All I can suggest is to very carefully consider anything said about this situation.
I will stand with my second sentence.
POSTNOTE: There is a huge amount to add, of course, and will be flogged and dissected from all angles in coming days.
COMMENTS (also see on-line additions below):
from Larry: Thank you, immensely, Dick.
from Joyce: Remember PNAC? [Project for the New American Century]. I am convinced that Dick Cheney saw an opportunity to take advantage of W’s ignorance and lack of interest in policy to implement PNAC; almost every upper level appointee to the W administration was a signatory to PNAC, no doubt personally selected by Cheney, and they planned to attack Iraq all along. I noticed at the time that, as soon as the war on Iraq started going south, the PNAC website disappeared. There was, of course, no reason to go to war with Afghanistan; they could have, and should have, gone after Osama bin Laden in a police action, which is what Obama did. But, W wanted to be a war president, and Cheney saw Afghanistan as a prelude to Iraq. When Iraq was attacked, many said it was because Cheney wanted the oil. Frankly, it went way deeper than that. Perhaps there’s a way to find the original PNAC website, but that goes beyond my internet abilities.
from Claude: Dick, I see no reason why this can’t be pushed out to a wider audience. It is well written even if some would disagree with the President as the cause of the death. But I think it’s appropriate to point out that soldiers with long guns in the street is no normal, nor should it become normal, in the US.
from Carol: GREAT letter to the editor, Dick. At the time I agreed with you – but only because my cousin who lives in Czech Republic had sent out a dire warning to his cousins. (He said I was the only one who paid attention.) He included articles from abroad that sounded the alarm about the direction we were headed. You couldn’t find those here… I started realizing that only after the 10 o’clock news could you find anything on TV contrary to the “Bush party line.” And only on page 19 of the paper…
from Fred: After sifting through the multi-versions of these materials, it appears that the US did send diplomats to Afghanistan (in the form of bombs) their way.
from Peter: Re: National Guard shooting, how you see it depends, like anything else, on context. To me it seems like one snowflake in an avalanche that’s now unstoppable. I say this, having watched for many years, speaking and writing about our trajectory, and how it hasn’t been changing, and it doesn’t end well. Even so, I’m still astonished: did they just…? Who even thinks like that…? Why doesn’t somebody do something? Are we all catatonic?
from Chuck: This was just sent to the WPost [Washington Post] …. I’m guessing they are unlikely to print it.
Dear Editor,
The two Wpost lead editorials Nov 28, 2025, highlighted two of the three systems causing most of humankind’s problems. The first editorial on climate change can’t be resolved with humankind’s existing global governance system connected to our US constitutional system.
Both are founded on the illusion of independence. This word is simply a delusional mental construct. It reality it exists nowhere in our known universe where ‘everything’ (an autological word) is interdependent, connected and vulnerable – requiring a comprehensive global effort. Climate change is only one of many such problems. Problems obvious to lines on a map, majority votes, militaries, or economic power.
The second editorial on the two National Guard members murder in our nation’s capital is another example of our global interdependence. Preventing almost any murderous violence requires our understanding of the fundamental origins of lethal human behavior within our existing systems. Again, it is our minds ignoring our interdependence. We may never know the motive of the Afghan killer, but it wasn’t primal competition for food, a mate, or any genetic marker. It originated in the mind. And is inevitably connected to the failed reactionary US foreign policy to the 911 ‘terrorist’ attacks – the worst US foreign policy decision – second only to the invasion of Iraq.
Terrorism is a tactic and can never be defeated by military power. [Waging] war (instead of the rule of law) against any belief system (religious, national, ideological, race…) on makes the enemy a “warrior” in their mind. And terrorizing any population using drones, million-dollar aircraft, or WMD – then justifying collateral damage as delivering justice, only undermines our species’ need to live by the Rule of Law…not the law of force.
We cannot keep mounting our national debt by ignoring this reality. We must address the root cause of both violence and environmental deterioration by grasping the reality of our global interdependence. A mental transformation that will enable humankind to amend all three failing global systems — the UN, our Constitution, and lawless global capitalism – by putting the protection of inalienable human rights and a sustainable global environment above the protection of national sovereignty and the maximization of profits.
This fundamental principle was suggested 11 years before the creation of the US Constitution – within the 1776 American Declaration of Independence. Abraham Lincoln much later claimed it was for ‘everyone, everywhere, for all time’. And even called it our “Apple of Gold”, and our Constitution its “silver frame”.
Until we gain the wisdom to make these vital amendments, we are failing future generations in achieving any of the seven intentions within our Constitution’s preamble. Read these! [here] Then rethink each of our failing systems.
from SAK:
Perhaps because Europe suffered much more during the two world wars – aside from a whole litany of wars that never seemed to end – there seems to be a stronger trend of pacifism than in the US. It could also be that the US’ history also glorifies machismo (that’s making a strong surge nowadays as well) & the accumulation of guns? These thoughts came to mind when I saw this alarming figure that you sent:
I remember the largest demonstration ever in the UK against the Iraq war but the Prime Minister then, Tony Blair, stuck to the special relationship & pushed the country to war. Famously one journalist at the time said something along the lines of: :I don’t know what will be on Tony Blair’s tomb but it will have the word Iraq”!
The Pope happens to be in Lebanon at this moment & in his speech at the presidential palace he quoted Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers” – he is in a land that is desperate for peace!
Your piece, which obviously came from the heart, turned out to be spot on. I don’t know how many changed their mind about the Afghan & Iraqi wars but I dare say it must be many indeed.
Hannah Arendt wrote: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”
That is precisely how the Trump & the neocons before him “captured” these people, by lying, exaggerating, and Trump so often declares this or that fake news which becomes like a vaccine against accepting facts! Thus he & others will spin the tragic death of the Guardswoman to suit their agenda. Sad.
Unfortunately many change their minds, & accept facts, when it’s late in the day. Human, all too human. I suspect enough would have changed their minds by the time the midterm elections come around & it will make quite a difference.
After all, you can fool most of the people some of the time or some of the people all the time but you can’t fool most of the people all the time. (I think the origin of the quote is French, to their credit the French weren’t fooled into joining the aforementioned wars).
I have thoughts to share. First, your essay printed in the email is beautifully expressed — a war-driven culture begets an everlasting war culture.
As I live in Washington DC, i have taken every opportunity to speak with the National Guard cohorts stationed around DC. Most in the northwest quadrant, arguably as safe an urban area as any in the nation. My conversations have revolved around two primary subjects: the mission and the negative citizen reception. I express regret that they often have been rudely treated, but underscore that it is because they are not wanted nor needed in our beautiful and safe city. With regard to the mission, I ask if they have studied or been made aware of the My Lai Massacre. (Only one guardsman out of perhaps 50 conversations was aware.) I then remind them that the Commander-in-chief, who authorized the mission is a convicted felon, and that at some point in their careers they might be called upon to refuse certain orders. Some might think that this is extreme, but I felt vindicated when the group of six (brave) veterans/members of Congress recently spoke out on the same issue. It is illegal for a member of the armed forces to follow an illegal order. [As a side positive note, many of the guardsmen — from WV, LA, MS — never imagined having the opportunity to visit and learn about the Nations Capital City. They typically were very young people. I did have a lovely talk with the woman from WV.]
And the press (such as it is in its slow devolution) has questioned why would an Afghan immigrant engage in such an act as murder. To me it is clear: In impoverished places around the globe, America has shone like a beacon of abundance and freedom. But imagine the plight of the immigrant when reality sets in: poor employment opportunities; poor housing options; unaffordable healthcare; high cost of childcare; discrimination; and perhaps most importantly continued military interventions at home. Anger seems a natural outcome. And, then, of course, the continuing ease of purchasing firearms.
In closing, I think the most shocking and ironic local decision was the assignment of the metropolitan police force to protect the National Guardsmen!
NONE OF THIS SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED!