To Koreans, Aug. 15 marks the end of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. It is celebrated as a national holiday in South and North Korea alike. As South Koreans were enjoying a three-day weekend in the middle of summer, news spread quickly that Taliban soldiers had captured Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and had overthrown the government.

The sudden collapse caught the US government off guard and caused sharp criticism, both in the US and around the world, of President Joe Biden’s handling of the situation. The slow decline in Biden’s approval ratings has accelerated amid the storm of criticism. Overseas, commentary quickly divided along ideological lines as critics of US foreign policy expressed sympathy with the Taliban as liberators while supporters expressed fears of a broader American retreat from the world stage. Others worried about a new wave of Taliban-sponsored terrorism and an opportunity for China to expand its influence.

As I read the commentary, most of it predictable and much of it boring, Rep. Barbara Lee came to mind. Only three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Lee gave a dramatic speech on the floor of the House of Representatives stating her reasons for opposing a resolution giving then President George W. Bush sweeping powers to begin a “War on Terror.” The resolution passed the House 420-to-1, and the Senate vote was 98 to 0, making Lee the only member of Congress to vote against it.

Lee endured sustained and harsh criticism for her vote. She was called a traitor, a terrorist, and anti-American. She pulled through, however, and won re-election in 2002 and is still in the House today. At the time, the media treated Lee as a nutcase, but nearly 20 years later, as the Taliban return to power, she looks like a sage.

What, then, did Lee say in her famous two-minute speech? She started by offering her condolences to the families who lost loved ones. She was holding back tears and her voice was deep with sorrow. She then turned to explain her vote. She said, “September 11th changed the world. Our deepest fears now haunt us. Yet, I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States. This is a very complex and complicated matter.”

She continued by saying, “However difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint. Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say, let’s step back for a moment. Let’s just pause, just for a minute and think through the implications of our actions today, so that this does not spiral out of control.”

At the heart of her argument was a call for restraint in the use of military force, not a pacifist appeal against it. She wanted things to cool so that cooler heads would prevail before giving the president broad authorization for war.

No one knows what course history would have taken if Lee’s argument had carried the day. The return of the Taliban does not prove her right or wrong. Rather, it underscores that war is indeed “a very complex and complicated matter” and that leaders need to “think through the implications of their actions.”

This holds true for the continuing conflict on the Korean Peninsula. In September 2017, Lee gave another speech in the House about war and peace, this time criticizing then President Donald Trump’s stance toward North Korea. “There is no military solution to the conflict with North Korea. This administration must end the name-calling and the saber-rattling. President Trump must de-escalate his rhetoric before it is too late.”

Toward the end of an interview in “Vanity Fair” magazine about the current situation in Afghanistan, Barbara Lee made another call for a “bigger” foreign policy in complicated times: “This pandemic has shown us we can’t be isolationist. We have to be part of the global community, the global family. We’ve got to engage in the world in a way that shows our leadership, our values, and our respect for human rights. It’s important that we recognize that we have more in common with the rest of the world than not.”

Rep. Lee’s sustained courage to call for restraint amid public pressure to “act” is admirable and important. Her comments have focused on the US, but they apply to other countries as well because we are all truly part of “the global family.”


Robert J. Fouser
Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He can be reached at robertjfouser@gmail.com. -- Ed.