Tuesday, October 2, 2012

"Our Afghanistan Policy Ends in Failure."

Jack Kelly is a former Army Special Forces officer who made the leap into another kind of excrement when he became a journalist. He's been a damn fine journalist at that, writing honestly and forthrightly about subjects. I know that because he has occasion to do a story on the militias in the 90s, and he interviewed me, quoting me accurately and treating the subject fairly. Now Jack applies the same instincts to Afghanistan and he's ready to pull the plug.
The war in Afghanistan effectively ended last week. We lost.
The last of the surge troops President Barack Obama sent there were quietly withdrawn. They did not leave in triumph. . .
To someone like me who has a son over there, this comes as no surprise. But I always like to view things from the bright side -- let's bring the troops home now, in time for a little R&R in the Land of the Big PX before they have to go back into action in the civil war that will likely break out after the re-election of Obama validates and accelerates his appetites for more of our liberty and property.

3 comments:

David Forward said...

I thought the politicians tied the hands of the military and totally misused us in Nam. But the modern politicians have put the Nam era politicians to shame as rank amateurs when it comes to having their collective heads up their asses. I've watched my son through deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan in amazement as they were constantly toyed with like political footballs. I'm just thankful that he's finished his tours and won't be going back.

One good thing to come out of the malfeasance in the handling our military is that a vast majority of both active soldiers and recent veterans have seen the light and know how corrupt our government has become.
dol/lal

Ed said...

Jack Kelly concludes with "If George W. Bush were president, "there would be continuous coverage of the disarray in Afghanistan: the soldiers we're training are shooting us, the corruption is intensifying, and the opium trade spreading," said professor Walter Russell Mead, who teaches foreign policy at Bard College.

"These stories wouldn't be on the back pages," he said. "They'd be perceived as major news with profound implications for America's global position and the Sunday shows and nightly TV news round ups would be full of talking heads endlessly analyzing each wrinkle of the failure."

Defeat in Afghanistan is a big deal -- especially since we still have 68,000 troops in harm's way. It should have been reported -- even though it is embarrassing to President Obama."

No, the press cannot be about embarrassing Obama. That would be perceived as racist and would hurt ratings and readership levels, or at least 47% would think so.

Anonymous said...

I've been following this for some time at the ThisAintHell blogsite. I and most of the other readers have come to the same conclusion concerning the green-on-blue attacks:
BRING OUR MILITARY HOME NOW, and then nuke that pitiful excuse of a country from high orbit with whatever is available - HEs, defoliants, poison gas, everything. Complete what the Russkies weren't able to accomplish.

OK - time to wake up now.

B Woodman
III-PER