Bret Stephens: Goodbye, America. Goodbye, Freedom Man.

This photo by Hawar news, the news agency for the semi-autonomous Kurdish areas in Syria (ANHA), shows flames rising from burned cars at the site of an explosion in the central Qamishli city in northeastern Syria, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. Activists and Syrian Kurdish officials are reporting a large explosion outside a popular fast food restaurant. It was not clear what caused the explosion on Friday which occurred amid intensive shelling by the Turkish military in the city and other areas. (ANHA via AP) The time is the early 1980s. The place is the South China Sea. A sailor aboard the U.S.S. Midway, an aircraft carrier, spots a leaky boat jammed with people fleeing tyranny in Indochina. As he helps bring the desperate refugees to safety, one of them calls out: “Hello, American sailor — Hello, Freedom Man.”

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