Here's Why The Afghanistan War Is One Big Heaping Hot Mess

Business Insider ^ | 29 Aug 2012 | Geoffrey Ingersoll

[shove_it]

There's a rising stench. It's coming from Afghanistan. It smells like defeat. After eleven years and an "exit strategy" that resembles that of Iraq, it seems as if Americans are trapped in Afghanistan. It's become the most cramped elevator ride in U.S. history. Essentially we're at a stand still. A quagmire. Suddenly it's a nightmare scenario. Yes, folks, I believe we're stuck. And to make matters worse, somebody gunned a fart.

[...]

[ZULU]

Right. I made a mistake. THanks for catching that.

And I am glad we agree.

I just started to listen to a book on tape on The Prince by Machiavelli. I just got to the part where he gives his advice when one ruler takes over another territory where the population is hostile. I have to compare what he says with what we are dling there.

Everytime I see a maimed wounded veteran or body bag coming out of Afghanistan, I get furious at the dolts in Washington who are keeping our boys there.

[Wuli]

I have been saying for four years

we need to leave because our goals are goals respected only by a minority in their society, and our values are only respected by an even smaller minority in their society.

We cannot protect those minorities who are with us, without somehow drawing them into our safety and in WWII fashion flattening everything outside of it.

There is neither the public or political will for such a feat.

It’s not to say the Taliban cannot be defeated. They can, if you admit the only moral conduct of war is total war, as we did in WWII, not war with politically correct handcuffs on, which is what ever aspect of the military theater of operations in Afghanistan has involved.

We need to leave, but we need to leave with a warning.

Should we be attacked from their soil again, by some Bin Laden type person or outfit, we will return. They’ll see us in the sky, for days, until their land is dust.

[Nip]

Oh what a target rich environment.

IMHO, about a third of the blame falls on the American Military. Not the grunts that are doing the actual fighting but, to borrow a phrase from ’Nam, the REMFs that make the rules that get the grunts killed. Irregular Warfare (IW) is a totally different animal from the types of warfare taught at various military schools. Unlike traditional warfare it is totally personality driven. Trust is built up over years and decades not weeks. Yet, we insist on rotating troops and leaders on a regular basis. Trust me when I say Vietnam wasn’t a war that lasted 19 years (first death to last death) but 38 6-month rotations of leadership into and out of the field. The conflict in Afghanistan, now approaching its eleventh birthday, has a similar rotation cycle and will fail for the same reasons.

IMHO, another third of the blame falls on the politicians. This was a known fact as early as the 2002 mid-term elections. If the Republic is committing its future, our young soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines, into a war political posturing for individual and party gain is nothing short of treason and must be punished as such. Read the internal memos from North Vietnam’s Politburo circa 1968-1970. They openly stated that their only hope for success was creating and maintaining political divisions within the US. Even Usama bin Laden said this. Either everyone involved is in it to win or don’t go at all.

The final third are minor bits and pieces when compared to the other two discussed above.

[oldleft]

If we leave it will become a haven for radical muslims and they will is it to launch attacks against us. Period.

In 2001 Osama bin Laden said something to the extent of:

“Don’t worry about the Americans. They think in terms of years and decades. We think in terms of centuries. They will leave and we will win.”

[Little Ray]

Back at the start of the war, Pentagon lawyers kept drone operators from attacking a convoy containing bin Laden’s wives and offspring. Never mind that the Al Qaeda bodyguards, and the vehicles were legal targets with a lovely “collateral damage” filling, they were not allowed to attack the convoy.

From that moment on, I knew we were going to lose. I have occasionally had hope, but, based of the current attitudes and ROEs, we don’t have a chance.

I mean, we BEAT Al Qaeda and the Taliban. We don’t have to respect their “culture.” They should have to respect OUR culture (not to mention orders) on pain of protracted and humiliating death.

But nope. We play stupid games while uniformed Afghanis whom we have trained murder our soldiers.