One day after the DOD announced the deaths of 4 more Marines, Lance Cpl. Jeremy Kane of Cherry Hill, N.J, Sgt. Daniel Angus, 28, of Thonotosassa, Fla., Lance Cpl Timothy J. Poole, 22, of Bowling Green, Ky. and Lance Cpl Zachary D. Smith of Hornell, N.Y., U.S. Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke applauded the removal of (5) former Taliban from the sanctions list according to Stratfor. Harmid Karzai, the UN and the Obama administration are hopeful that more former Taliban will be taken off the list shortly.
Let's talk about this for a moment, shall we? We went into Afghanistan, 8 years ago to remove Al Qaida from Afghanistan and hold the Taliban accountable by removing every vestige of them from power. Since that time, we have done everything unseemly and unimaginable to insure not only that we could not possibly win the war there, but to insure the highest level of American casualties possible while simultaneously protecting the Afghan civilian population and, apparently, the Taliban fighters as well.
We must remember something else; we have been told over and over again, that the Taliban isn't an Afghan phenomenon but in fact a loose confederacy of disaffected 'extremists' from all over the world; an unwelcome cancer in Afghanistan. We were told that a Counter-Insurgency Strategy (COIN) would be the best strategy to endorse (even though many of us have held that there never has been a successful one) in order to remove this cancer from Afghan society. Let us recap:
1. The Taliban were in charge when we entered Afghanistan 8 years ago.
2. Obama, McChrystal and Gates told us the Taliban was largely made up of foreigners.
3. A Counter Insurgency would best alleviate the problem
4. The Afghan people just want peace and would be more than happy to help us once we made 'friends'.
Two weeks ago the civilians in Garmsir rioted and chanted anti-American death slogans because someone told them an American had 'abused' a Koran. This week 4 more Americans are slain in Helmand province by whom? Oh yeah; the Taliban and then we have the issue of Scriptures on Optics used by American Marines and Soldiers, who are largely Christian. Our General Petraeus decides this is 'troubling' along with a list (not yet released) of other Generals who seem to have misplaced their manhood and their American credentials and have now pressured the manufacturer, Trijicon into removing the Scriptures not only from new products but ones currently in use by our troops. And lastly we have Richard Holbrooke, a member of the Obama administration applauding the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan.
This all begins with our fundamental misunderstanding of the enemy and our unwillingness to understand him as he declares himself to be - rather than imposing on him what we would like him to be. Even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey took great issue with Islam and Islamics being addressed by any modifier of Islam like 'moderate' or 'extremist'. If you can't identify the enemy, how do you identify who you are fighting?
If you are unwilling to identify the enemy, doesn't that also suggest an unwillingness to fight him? So here we are, 8 years later, hundreds of young, honorable, American men dead following the uncertain trumpet of battle blown by self-serving bureaucrats lacking honor, courage, conviction and purpose. And for this great cost, we, America, will have nothing to show for it because the enemy is still out there, still convicted by their faith, still intent on carrying out its mandate which is to force the entire world to 'submit' (Islam) to Allah, not to mention soon to be back in power, somehow.
So tell me; do you know where 'East' is because at the rate we are going we are all going to be required to pay homage to Mecca, five times daily along with the rest of the Muslim world.
Folks; this is not a simple misunderstanding of the complexities of governance or foreign policy, this is a simple failure on the part of elected officials and their appointees, in this government, to understand that they are ultimately responsible to their oaths and the electorate. They have all failed us miserably and, I fear, for some devious and evil personal gain. I would love to end by saying we have November of 2010 to correct this injustice and 'oust the bums', but why should we have any hope in that after all, Obama was some 5700 words into his speech before he even mentioned foreign policy and then it revolved around 'nuclear weapons proliferation' rather than Afghanistan and there was hardly a whisper of protest from either side of the isle.
And what of the men and women who sacrificed their very lives for this country in that hell-hole, trusting that their leaders were of sound mind, strong heart, forthright souls sending them into harm's way for honor and country?What of the families who have lost their sons and daughters? What of the future of this country?
The real answer lies with, as it always has, with the people. Are the citizens of the United States going to settle for fraternizing with the enemy at the highest levels of our government?
Semper Fidelis;
John Bernard
No, that should be everyones answer to this. I would like to beileve that the americans who have died, are not forgotten by Washington. Although this nation needs to wake up and smell whats cooking, Washington is forgetting. Bureaucrats are just saying what America wants to hear. They always can put the right spin on it or send the right pr to talk to us. This is how they miss inform you about the situation on the ground. Who the real enemies are, and how we are fighting them. It would make some people wonder or say "wtf". Why are we putting foriegn lives before American lives. This is unethical and needs to be at the for front of the administation.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the world cares that the promandit christan military of the US has Bible verses on our opics is ludacris. First of all do you know if any given taliban member that is shooting at a service member has some kind of Qur'an references on his ak-47? If he does how do think that makes a military member feel? How one sided are they making it. I am here to tell you that some terrorists do it is a fact. Ak-47s with green tape wrapped all on the buttstock and forearm. YES! Terrorists do do this people.Why Green you ask? Well how about this it is a scared color in the islamic culture. The Qur'an talks about "paridise" having material items that will be green. It is the color of Islam. I mean you have not heard anything like this in the media. Oh wait you will not. They are telling you what they want you to hear.
Before any American takes a side on this you should ask yourself some questions. Why am I questioning what is on a rifle optic that i never heard of before this? Why am i questioning what an all volunteer service has on its optics? Finally, why am i questioning somthing that has to do with a service that is protecting my freedom from enemies foreign and domestic? Look have whatever opinion you want because that is your right. Just dont be quick to judge.
03114life;
ReplyDeleteThe Scripture issue really got me going. Of all of the things upper echelon should be concerned with and at least publicly, are not, and they have to choose the one thing that turned out to be particularly popular with the troops and then destroy it. When Marines and Soldiers found out that a manufacturer of an item they were depending on carried a Bible Scripture address, there was overwhelming support. Just goes to show you how the politics can dirty up almost anything.
In the end all that matters though is the opinions of Brothers in uniform - apparently O5 and below and that it is comforting to know that most are of the same mind and that is certainly not what the politicians and politician wanna-be's think. There is a warm place in Hell for those who wantonly waste the lives of the Patriot.
JB