He is dead. But there is another former American General who wore those heavy four stars who has some currency in that part of the world, and it might be worth thinking about him at this time.
Posted on 8/27/2002, 6:42:29 PM by jjm2111
Medic, Medic, Medic" is a battlefield cry every warrior who's been to hell and back will never forget. It means a brother is down, and the widow-maker is close at hand. A call that these days, unfortunately, is heard too frequently in Afghanistan.
So far, 40 American warriors have died, and almost 400 have been banged up in that war-ravaged country, where our troops on the ground are clay pigeons stuck in a terrible minefield. Every day their Taliban and al-Qaida stalkers get stronger as supporters in China, Iran and Pakistan send them better weapons, and the supposedly pro-USA Afghan government keeps releasing POWs who openly say that as soon as they're out of the slammer, they're off to try to kill more Yanks. They and their Pakistani cohorts learn our tactics by trial and error, carefully figuring out how to ratchet up the pain exactly as they did in the past two centuries with the Brits and the Soviets.
Our enemy's strategy is stone simple: to make us bleed at a rate of attrition the American people won't tolerate. And have no doubt that our fanatic opponents are right this moment putting together the same cunning techniques to the same deadly end as the Vietnamese and Somalian rebels before them.
Sadly, they also have the same good shot at scoring, and, in fact, they already almost did during the flawed Operation Anaconda. Since the U.S. military's inception, its senior leaders have seldom learned from the past, so it should be no big surprise that unless "43" and his national-security crew apply some out-of-the-box thinking and dust off the lessons-learned file, they're about to lead our soldiers smack into the middle of another mother-of-all-pasture-pies.
Because this time around, we won't be able to lie and say "we won" or "the mission is complete" and pull out our troops the way we did in Vietnam and Somalia, and after the so-called Afghani freedom fighters – including Osama bin Laden and his merry terror band – clobbered the Soviets.
Instead, we've got to stand tall and do for Afghanistan what we did for Germany and Japan after World War II and Eastern Europe after the Berlin wall came tumbling down. George W. Bush's implied objectives – to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world and prevent Afghanistan from returning to Taliban-terrorist-state status – were on target. We need to honor the long-term commitment we made to provide stability, reconstruction and humanitarian aid.
The spoiler is that our American soldiers are down in the Afghan mud, hunting and being hunted by crazies who believe that if they can pull off a repeat of Mogadishu and then flash pictures around the world of dead Americans being dragged through some dusty village, we'll run. And while we won't cut after the first such atrocity – "43" is made of sterner stuff than "42" – we will after the 10th or 20th. Remember "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"
Right now, Afghanistan is going downhill faster than an out-of-gear Abrams tank. Each day, with the warlords acting increasingly like Mafia dons in a Chicago turf war, there's more instability. The peacekeeping effort is now mainly limited to around the capital; things are so bad that our Special Forces warriors secure the Afghan president because he can't trust his own people.
For sure, more peacekeeping troops are needed, and they need to be spread across the land. But they shouldn't be American boys. If our combat troops stay in their muddy-boots role, they're just going to continue to be moving targets. So every U.S. combat soldier should be pulled out as soon as possible, and U.S. support should be limited to aircraft, intell, logistics, dollars and nation-building resources and expertise – making an international nation-building program happen.
Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey must step in and provide the ground peacekeeping muscle – Muslims helping their Muslim brothers.
Only then will the bleeding stop, and only then will we be able to deliver on our promises and show that we're not a nation of born-again crusaders, but a country dedicated to bringing peace and prosperity to the Arab people and, by extension, to the world.
He is dead. But there is another former American General who wore those heavy four stars who has some currency in that part of the world, and it might be worth thinking about him at this time.
Medic, Medic, Medic" is a battlefield cry every warrior who's been to hell and back will never forget. It means a brother is down, and the widow-maker is close at hand. A call that these days, unfortunately, is heard too frequently in Afghanistan.
Cheap, but effective way to illicit empathy to endear the reader's emotions to that of the author in this article. I got the point, but I don't believe that the Colonel has been on the ground in Afghanistan these past 10 months or so, neither the target audience. He and our boys serving, more so than his audience here, already understands the dangers and consequences of armed conflict. Shameful leading paragraph, IMHO, for a man of the Colonel's stature.
So far, 40 American warriors have died, and almost 400 have been banged up in that war-ravaged country, where our troops on the ground are clay pigeons stuck in a terrible minefield. Every day their Taliban and al-Qaida stalkers get stronger as supporters in China, Iran and Pakistan send them better weapons, and the supposedly pro-USA Afghan government keeps releasing POWs who openly say that as soon as they're out of the slammer, they're off to try to kill more Yanks. They and their Pakistani cohorts learn our tactics by trial and error, carefully figuring out how to ratchet up the pain exactly as they did in the past two centuries with the Brits and the Soviets.
With the utmost respect to the sacrifices already made by our forces, the colonel exempts the overwhelming successes and achievements made thus far in Afghanistan. More propaganda and blatant disrespect for those who gave all. Clay pigeons in a minefield, Colonel? Try being on the receiving end of a US rapid response team's assault in the middle of the night and call them clay pigeons.
While the US progresses through different operation stages(seems to me Hackworthy hasn't watched that many Rumsfeld/DoD briefings), objectives have been given and are in the process of being implemented in the most expedient of manners to allow for the eventual withdrawal of our troops after a stable, self-sufficient Afghan environment has been achieved. Meaning, the US will see the process through to prevent a ressurgence of Taliban and Al Queda threats in the region, not sinking into the quagmires that the Brits and Soviets found themselves. Apples and oranges. Just like comparing what Colonel Hackworthy said prior to Afghanistan on television to what he's saying in this article. I, too, am concerned about the release of terrorists from jail as well,(sarcasm) but them dern SFers insisted....muttering something about live fire excersizes under their breath(/sarcasm).
In reference to "bringing the pain" regarding our enemies, the Colonel sounds rather defeatist(as he does throughout the article), not yet mentioning the importance of and, indeed, the successes and victories achieved when aggressively implementing interdictionary campaigns. Next paragraph.
Our enemy's strategy is stone simple: to make us bleed at a rate of attrition the American people won't tolerate. And have no doubt that our fanatic opponents are right this moment putting together the same cunning techniques to the same deadly end as the Vietnamese and Somalian rebels before them.
Sigh.... There's a shocker! You mean the enemy wants to kill us?? Earth to Hackworthy---The rest of the nation gathered that on September 11th! Quite worrying about what they want to do and concentrate on possibly improving upon that which can be approved! This coming from a Colonel?? "Hmmmm. Vietnam, Somalia, Afghanistan. Hmmmm... What are conflicts that occured between 196x-200x, Alex, for $1000" That's about as close as I see any correlation between the three. The colonel is demonstrating his elderly wisdom here. (sarcasm)[David's right. I'm going down to my local state college right now. I'm sure they have signs for me to hold and knee braces to keep my knees from knocking.](/sarcasm)
Since the U.S. military's inception, its senior leaders have seldom learned from the past, so it should be no big surprise that unless "43" and his national-security crew apply some out-of-the-box thinking and dust off the lessons-learned file, they're about to lead our soldiers smack into the middle of another mother-of-all-pasture-pies.
Well, that's what they did in Afghanistan, remember, Colonel Hackworthy? Guess Salon has run out of money or else they'd have him write for them.
Because this time around(you mean we had another go round with Afghanistan that I don't know of), we won't be able to lie and say "we won" or "the mission is complete" and pull out our troops the way we did in Vietnam and Somalia(oh, like the Clinton administration would've done given the chance in Viet, did do in Somalia?) and after the so-called Afghani freedom fighters – including Osama bin Laden and his merry terror band – clobbered the Soviets.
Really poorly written paragraph. I would also add, "That's right because we're going to be victorious"!
Instead, we've got to stand tall and do for Afghanistan what we did for Germany and Japan after World War II and Eastern Europe after the Berlin wall came tumbling down. George W. Bush's implied objectives – to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world and prevent Afghanistan from returning to Taliban-terrorist-state status – were on target. We need to honor the long-term commitment we made to provide stability, reconstruction and humanitarian aid.Go stand tall in the corner, Col. Hackworthy. He's speaking out of both sides of his mouth. Notice liberal tactic-deploy forces when it's safe, withdraw against reason in the face of danger. As per long-term commitment, stability, reconstruction and humanitarian aid, I refer Col. Hackworthy to Bush/Rums/Dod briefings for a clearer understanding of our long term goals and objectives in Afghanistan
Finally, I pick the rock from the quicksand and I'll restate about the only sentence in this commentary that seemingly makes sense and that is the following changing only one word("were" to "are"):
George W. Bush's implied objectives – to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world and prevent Afghanistan from returning to Taliban-terrorist-state status – are on target.
The spoiler is that our American soldiers are down in the Afghan mud, hunting and being hunted by crazies who believe that if they can pull off a repeat of Mogadishu and then flash pictures around the world of dead Americans being dragged through some dusty village, we'll run. And while we won't cut after the first such atrocity – "43" is made of sterner stuff than "42" – we will after the 10th or 20th. Remember "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" Fear, fear, fear. The libs can hardly gather such a chorus of bleating lambs as I've read so far in this commentary. I can almost hear Hackworthy break into a rendition of "So it's 1, 2, 3, What're we fightin for?..."
For sure, more peacekeeping troops are needed, and they need to be spread across the land. But they shouldn't be American boys. If our combat troops stay in their muddy-boots role, they're just going to continue to be moving targets. So every U.S. combat soldier should be pulled out as soon as possible, and U.S. support should be limited to aircraft, intell, logistics, dollars and nation-building resources and expertise – making an international nation-building program happen.
Is this a note from the McNamara playbook or what? Someone needs to "dust of the lessons-learned playbook".
Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey must step in and provide the ground peacekeeping muscle – Muslims helping their Muslim brothers. Only then will the bleeding stop, and only then will we be able to deliver on our promises and show that we're not a nation of born-again crusaders, but a country dedicated to bringing peace and prosperity to the Arab people and, by extension, to the world.
Muslims have been "helping" their Muslim brothers to paradisefor several thousand years now. Prime example-Afghanistan.
There is just so much to rail on about in this piece. While seeing the Hack on tv, I gave him the benefit of the doubt though I secretely harbored feelings that he may be a lefty, though I hadn't really much to go on. Well, if this didn't clear it all up for me. Perhaps, it's not the Colonel's stature, but his leaning.
Now, where are his service records.
Pesticide?
Ah, forget about it. There's nothing to this piece except Hackworth maintaining market share.
He simply phoned another one in to titillate his (and WND's) standard target audience -- which seems to consist primarily of those disaster-craving folks who can be counted upon to stock up for Y2K; nod in grim, knowing satisfaction at reports of secret stacks of filled US bodybags in Kosovo; to predict same in Afghanistan; and to bash W on any number of FR threads.
Hackworth is saying that "Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey must step in and provide the ground peacekeeping muscle." Basically, this means that they should be used by us as human shields -- protection against the enemy's strategy "to make us bleed at a rate of attrition the American people won't tolerate."
-PJ
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