Posted on 02/07/2012 4:37:51 AM PST by 1010RD
A US army officer has accused the American military of painting a misleading picture of progress in the war in Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis turned whistleblower and broke ranks with the official portrayal of the Afghan war after he 'witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.'
'How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding?' Colonel Davis asked in an article titled 'Truth, Lies and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down.'
'No one expects our leaders to always have a successful plan,' he said in the article. 'But we do expect — and the men who do the living, fighting and dying deserve — to have our leaders tell us the truth about what’s going on. [SNIP]
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This is an excellent article. The on-the-ground reality in Afghanistan is horrible. It's a lesson to us about war fighting, nation building and our national interest.
A lesson that unless learned and learned well we will continue to kill our heroes for nothing. Bush blew it and Obama and the Democrats were wrong. Afghanistan isn't the "right war".
That’s not me and should have been in quotes. That’s the introduction to LC Davis’ article.
What do you suggest - that we shouldn’t have gone in in the first place, or that our goals should have been more limited: wipe out Al Qeada and Bin Laden and the heck with Afghanistan or even the Taliban?
Where should we have started and at what point should we have stopped. I think a key issue here is that these things are very hard to get stopped. Vietnam was a similar slippery slope. What does it say that were were unable to keep something like it from happening again (assuming the Col. is right and this is, essentially, another Vietnam)?
Unless we enter a fight with the intent and the resolve to use whatever force necessary to win -with minimal loss to our troops.But to win—and not just be cannon fodder for the bloody United Nations—or the global cabal —unless we fight the bloody freaking Muslims on terms they understand without wiggle room for doubt. Our intent to break the freaking sword of Islam to tear down their high places and burn their dam idols tossing whatever is left into Gehenna. They will use as target practice slay us wherever they can and wait until we leave them being the victors.
First, I don’t think this is another Vietnam mainly because at the Paris Peace Accords we won. It was only afterwards that Congressional Democrats undid that victory because it played to their meme. They then have controlled the thoughtspace going forward.
What were the goals of Afghanistan and Iraq? They obviously were poorly planned. Is it in our national interest to nation build? Is Islam a fruitful pasture for liberty? These are all invented countries with political boundaries imposed by Great Britain and France nearly a century ago. Many allied with Nazis during WWII. They are tribalistic and backwards. Their populations have a long history of rule by tyrants and their religion is antithetical to democratic principles.
Had we instead gone in and destroyed the “bad guys” set up and stocked our “own guys” and left it would have been either better or no worse than what we had today. Bush and his handlers made a domestic political decision to stay that had no tether to the reality of the international situation.
If we had limited our goals to punishing and then installed our own puppet the area would have been better off. Bush could have said what I just said - more diplomatically - and made the case to the American people that he’s unwilling to risk a broader war and more American blood. That’s what I think.
I think the fight is about an oil pipeline thru ‘stan. It’s the same reason the Russkies were in there fighting. The Afghans are probably getting short changed on the “toll” since they will not be getting any oil/gas from said pipeline.
Oh, please.
ping for later
Agreed. That we let the Taliban slip through to the FATA regions of Pakistan shows that we had little grasp of the political realities of the region.
The net results are going to be a resurgent radical Islam and the destabilization of the region which we are already seeing. This is a major policy blunder and will cost us much going long into the future. Obama’s supported the “Arab Spring” as domestic political cover for the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an utter tactical and strategic failure.
Which lies at the feet of the State Department, two administrations (perhaps more if you want to go back to Bush I and Clinton), and internationalists/world citizens from the Ivy League who learned that it doesn’t matter how stupid the idea if the execution is perfect. They then cover for each other and history is rewritten. The lesson to every Muslim democrat who longs for modernity and liberty is: You cannot trust America.
As noted in in LTC H.R. McMaster’s book “Dereliction of Duty” subtitled “Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies That led to Vietnam” The problem is a systematic problem in the military — sucking up to the head shed!
You’ll have to do better than that.
Yes and I don’t understand why you can have whistle blowers in every other government bureaucracy, but somehow the military is disloyal when they do it. The abuse of classified designations simply to cover stupidity isn’t in the best interests of the nation or of liberty. We need more transparency and through that you’ll get national support for your actions. Who supported Obama’s war mongering?
Other comments here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2843058/posts
I have been reading several different books on combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Both tell similar stories. A military constrained by politicians. And no real goals. Neither of these places is at any point close to accepting a stable form of government, no matter how much we wish it.
I HATE to see young lives wasted in this mess. These people simply are not worth it.
Blow it up.. and leave.
Not one American in a thousand — perhaps ten thousand — can give a coherent, factual, reasoned answer as to why we’re in Afghanistan.
If we’re interested in fighting Islam, we ought to watch the direction to which muslims turn five times a day, and go thataway.
But...we are not interested, are we?
Fight like WWII, win like WWII. Fight like Nam, lose like Nam.
We beat the Germans and the Japanese because we made them believe the only other choice was total destruction. We told the Afghan’s that we were coming to save them.
I think our mission could be more focused (the destruction of the Taliban and Al Queada in the region) except for one reason. That is the nukes sitting in Pakistan. We have to prop up a corrupt political government sitting in Pakistan because the alternative is the Islamo fascists taking over the government and getting the bomb. The only true solution is to declare war on Pakistan go in there, secure the bombs and then proceed to wipe out Al Quada and Pakistan. That’s never going to happen so we’re stuck where we are.
This. 100% right.
Poppies are the only thing of value in Afghanistan. The rest isn’t too hard to figure out.
GMTA. I suggested that years ago and was called crazy.
Either do it right or don’t bother doing it at all.
As anyone can tell from the tagline that I've run for years, I support our troops as well as anyone. I always pray victory for them. But what do you say when your administration no longer is pursuing victory but leaves its troops on death's doorstep so it can have them being pulled out on a political timetable connected to an election? Personally, I say that it has American blood on its hands as callously as it has American and Mexican blood on its hands with "Fast and Furious".
The above article by LTC Daniel Davis, recently returned from Afghan, is in no less than the Armed Forces Journal. You can tell from his writing that it is authoritative. http://armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030
Our political and military senior leadership must respond to this. It is entirely unethical to continue placing American servicemen and women in harm’s way without any effort to win, with only a plan to withdraw, and with no notable progress, and with real reports of regression.
In short, if Obama is simply going to take our troops out of Afghan on a timeline known by the enemy, then it is immoral to leave them there any longer than right now, this moment, immediately.
This administration must answer for such a cold-blooded decision that toys with lives.
Dead bang on target.
(Just the very, very humble opinion of another "participant".)
Limited wars don’t work. ROE prevented victory and put Afghan lives above our soldiers. That is wrong in every way.
We should not attempt nation building with savages.
If we aren’t willing to completely crush a country and run things for a generation or so to get the population retrained the way Mark Clark did in Germany and MacArthur did in Japan, then it’s punitive actions only and get the heck out. No so-called “nation building” on the cheap.
The limited wars over the last 50 years (and you could make an argument for 60) have not been good for our country, and especially these two in Iraq and Afghanistan. We should have left immediately after the punitive expedition phase, and before the meals on wheels for Islamic savages phase. Said “Do it again and we’ll screw you up worse, we’re outta here” and decamped.
It is about China containment. Period. It will go on a long time. And it is working.
If it were up to me I’d spend the blood and treasure on destabilizing — hopefully toppling — the existing govt in China, but whatever.
We are in Afghanistan because we were looking for Bin Laden who was being sheltered there by the criminal Taliban Omar and he claimed responsibility for 9-11. We supposedly got Bin Laden, but Omar remains at large. How soon we forget.
Wyowolf,
Had lunch yesterday with a buddy who was heading to the store to buy Ramon noodles for his son who is deployed in the mountains in Afghanistan with a bunch of other marines.
My buddy said they have all of the bullets in the world but no food. Heck, our military can’t even take care of the boys who are out in the $hit. What is going on?
MFO
At one point I thought it was also about Iran.....which in case most people don’t know, Afghanistan is on one side physically and Iraq is on the other side physically.
3 Times that BIG Nukes would have been GREAT:
1. When the Red Chinese blasted accross the KN Border.
2. The “Ho Chi Min” Trail
3. ALL of Afganistan and MOST of Pakistan!
Le May was RIGHT(I HATE to say that an Air Force guy was right about ANYTHING)!
October 7, 2001 - President Bush:
"On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan."
"These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taleban regime."
= = = = = = = =
The reason for the United States to commit troops to a military mission in Afghanistan was never to 'guarantee the security' of the Afghanistanis, their government, or build schools and roads. The mission was to "to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations", which has been completed!
AFTER 10 YEARS. IT'S TIME FOR THE AFGHANISTANIS TO SHOULDER THEIR OWN BURDEN TO PROTECT THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOODS. THEY ARE NOT OUR 51ST STATE!
_______________
I realize you are not endorsing that strategy, however, as some have already pointed out, that scenario is not, and never was, even an option in Afghanistan; the allegiances are tribal and the borders are artificial.
For those who might be interested in what conditions are in Afghanistan down at the “grunt” level; I would recommend “The Wrong War” by Francis J. “Bing” West.
If you are unfamiliar w/West, he was Asst SECDEF for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration and had extensive combat experience while serving as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps.
Or so I thought. Geez...wake the f**k up people.
I remain in Kabul (just starting the second year), but to see first hand "waste, fraud, and abuse" one only needs to visit Bagram, (too many folks with nothing to do.)
I was there in 08 and they still have troops living in BHuts (Plywood huts) to this day, sub-standard by any measure, ten years into this war, and that (to me) smacks of gross incompetence from the leaders.
Don't get me started on the exchange system their motto "We go where you go" and charge you like you were in Washington DC +20%, and you never get the correct change if paying with cash.
AAFES just another criminal organization, brought to you by idiots with no morals
Kind of reminds me of a place I visited in 1970.
We need to treat radical/fundamental Islam exactly like we treated the Nazis and Imperial Japanese. Their world view and ultimate aims are similar.
They want to destroy, enslave, or convert all who oppose them the world over and have been at war with us for decades.
We need to obliterate their sanctuaries and all who support and abett them, or provide them sanctuary in any way, wherever we find them. We need to kill them and those supporting them mercilessly until they do not want anymore and sue for absolute unconditional surrender.
Their Sharia Law needs to be treated just like Nazism and become a pariaha, a hiss and byword the world-over.
Until we take the fight to them in this manner, until we take the fight to the countries abetting and providing them sanctuary in this manner, and stop trying to go in a nation build those people who have not been utterly and abjectly humbled to the point where they reject Sharia Law themselves and Fundamental Islam wholesale and absolutely as a people (and not just a clan or tribe or two) and prove it by themselves taking the fight to this enemey in the same way I just described...we have no business trying to pacify or nation build with these half measures.
Go in, lay them waste, destroying their ability to wage war and every war fighter we can find, then leave with the warning thata we will come back and do it ten times over should they ever plan and execute any terror attack against America again.
Not doing so will only provide the enemey with endless opportunities to bleed us, kill our young men and women by fours and fives, one and twos, until we as a nation ourselves give up and go home, leaving the enemy in place to plan their next large hit...and one day they will succeed in gaining some WMD and kill us by the hundreds of thousands.
The fact that this absolute marxist fool of a president is willing to NEGOTIATE with the Taliban as a means of exit strategy is so far out in left field to either be the work of a complete idiot (less likely) or that of one who is betraying the constitution (more likely IMHO) and will lead precisely to what I just described.
We NEVER would have negotiated with Hitler or Tojo. They and their followers and aparatus had to be torn down and destroyed wholesale and the people who supported it plagued for endless days nights with firebombing, HE bombing, and finally nuclear bombing before they would turn from that folly and become rational, sane citizens.
Today they are good Germans and good Japanese as a result...and its past time we made good Islamics out of these enemies...precisely buy eradicating their fundamental, Sharia Law based Ilsam.
Such must be the fate of radical Islam. If we do not do this, they will percieve our efforts (as they do) as weakness and be embolden and infitrate and ultimately kill us all the more.
For example, CAIR is an agent of this enemy and should be disbanded and their adherants rounded up and imprisoned, their organization and all of its tendrils uprooted and utterly destroyed due to their abject support of the enemy who would enslave or kill us all.
The same goes for any mosque in this nation preaching or teaching Sharia Law.
Sharia Law is not a religion. It is a tyranical political system hiding behind religion and should be branded as a non-religious, anti-Ameircan organization, confederated and allied with our enemies against our life, liberty and constitution, and not subject to any form of Religious protection, but rather treated as the traitorous, seditious entity that it is and handled accordingly.
That’s what we face...and the sooner we wake up to it and act accordingly, the better and quicker we will defeat it.
The DaqDuq Disgrace
http://www.jeffhead.com/2decisions.htm
Radical Islamics Infiltrate the Obama Administration
http://www.jeffhead.com/obama/obama-infiltrate.htm
Sudden Jihad Syndrome
http://www.jeffhead.com/sjs/
Attempting to “reform” this tribal wasteland of primitive barbarians is a fool's errand.
Let me give it a try:Um, we're fightin em over there so we don't haf to fight em over... never mind were the bad guys over here too, ask any TSA agent.
Certainly not a concise one.
We’ll never grasp that nettle, not until we lose entire cities to muslim WMD attacks, and maybe not even then. Not under the current pro-muslim regime, at least.
But that’s not to say that Israel, Russia, India etc would not retaliate massively against islam’s center of gravity: Mecca and Medina.
“We’re going to find out, sooner or later, if Abdul will pray, to a glowing crater.”
Afghanistan is where empires go to die. We need to get out now!
We are attacking a whole country because of one guy who may or may not be lurking in their endless hills?
How much have we spent? Would the digits overrun the breadth of a wanted poster?
Islam is absolute evil.
If we weren’t determined to carpet bomb the whole country we should have stayed home.
Our problem is we refuse to call anything evil, it would spoil our fun.
yeah we should have sent a little secret mission unless we were trying to surround Iran which we might have been
EXACTLY as Gingrich stated about "Balestine" or "Fellasteen," a "country" whose own putative citizens cannot even pronounce their own name.
Obviously, we have to be engaged at some level with these countries, but their politico-religion has so beaten them down that most of the people of the region are not able to begin to think of concepts like "freedom" or "liberty."
Maybe in 100 years it will be different, and thinking will be permitted in the muslim world, but what probably needs to happen is that the Arabs finally realize that Islam is a cruel and unmerciful master that must be thrown off.
I can only assume that LTC Davis is a member of a USAR or NG Unit and no longer on active duty.
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