After ten years of nearly constant derisiveness and complacency toward force protection and convenient ignorance of policies that have caused the severe wounding and killing of thousands of American Servicemen, The New York Times took the time to write about the loss of income for Afghan businesses in Afghanistan. The businesses they were lamenting have been thriving for most of these past ten years on what they declared to be 54 billion dollars in aid skimmed largely from US government coffers at the expense of the American Taxpayer; taxpayers, President Obama and his” port side” colleagues feel aren’t paying enough to support government ventures as it is now.
The New York Times shouldn’t fret, however, for it is just a matter of time before the appropriate Federal Department makes the case that in order for the training effort to be successful, we will have to continue to financially support the effort. It is important for the Times to reconsider it’s perception of Afghan businesses as entrepreneurial genius and see them for what they truly are; the pragmatic exploitation of funding by Islam’s spiritual enemies from the west. It is also worth their while to consider appearance of transformation within that society for what it is; Islamic pragmatism.
It should not be lost on the reader that this story was released on the same day that it was reported that another Afghan Soldier turned his weapon on a NATO Soldier, killing him. And this on the very same day that the Obama administration announced it’s intentions to end “combat operations” in Afghanistan (such as they are), in 2013. ISAF will then turn it’s attention entirely to training and support operations; the very type of operation that has bred the kind of contempt and danger-close proximity that has made our forces such inviting targets.
We are now approaching 70 US and NATO Soldiers and Marines who have been killed in the past four years at the hands of their “Afghan Partners”. And these murders have taken place during a time when the overall force numbers have been at their highest and when there was at least a perception that the United States and ISAF was interested in bringing the fight to the “enemy”. What is truly remarkable is that the entire government chooses to define these murderous attacks as ‘aberrations’ in an otherwise normal environment.
If 70 people were sickened in this country of 311 million by a new virus, in the same period of time, everyone from the CDC to Homeland Security and the White House would be declaring an epidemic if not a pandemic. Instead, they continue to violate their collective conscience by perpetuating the lie.
On an encouraging note, Lawmakers heard from military sources closer to the problem and the perception of those sources is worth noting. While they admitted that stopping these kinds of attacks was unlikely, they displayed an incredible naiveté by declaring; “…most attacks have come from members of the Afghan forces "acting intentionally yet independently…". While I agree with that assessment, they naively – or deceptively, offered it up as a defense for their incredibly poor insight into the psyche of a people whose vision of their place in the world is diametrically opposed to ours. They insist that these attacks are an aberration in an otherwise sane world and therefore no serious threat to the men and women compelled to live in such close proximity to their Afghan students, practically inviting such attacks.
The fact that these attacks are largely by individuals and not part of a known militant element makes them more dangerous than an organized militant force. It is a glaring indication of a level of personal corruption that cannot be predicted or corralled. It also provides a view of the Afghan our blinded leadership still hasn’t come to grips with. In a land where one religious ideology rules the minds, lives and perceptions of an entire population and where certain doctrines within that religion call for the killing of those who have not submitted to that religion, it is not only plausible but likely that these kinds of attacks will continue to increase in direct proportion to the draw down and our unwillingness to address them with violent retribution.
This story also states that 75 percent of the 45 incidences which have occurred since 2007 have occurred in the past 2 years! I am sure our sworn government will have a logical explanation for the increase that does not also suggest an increase in the level of inspiration to exploit our ever weakening posture there.
The fact is, declaring these murders which are increasing in regularity as anything but an aberration just doesn’t support the narrative and as any politician will tell you, the narrative is more important than reality when the perception of reality governs the minds of voters. The lives of Warriors have been determined to be nothing more than materiel for the political machine which all candidates – and this sitting President have proven by the almost total lack of foreign policy discussion thus far. At a time when this country is embroiled in a war that has claimed thousands of American lives and tens of thousands of wounded, it is not just unconscionable that foreign policy has not been discussed at length, it is astoundingly unethical and immoral!
The candidates and this President, by their silence have proven themselves to be callous and uncaring about our Warriors of whom so much has been asked. This is not only a disgraceful way to treat this current generation of Warriors, it has also had the effect of jeopardizing the future security of this nation by causing this next generation to reconsider the ramifications of serving a government that holds it’s Warriors in such low esteem!
How this primary season turns out is made almost incidental by the continual disregard shown to those who sacrifice so much, for so little.
If the only concern expressed in this election cycle is for money, jobs and more money, will it really make any difference in the end who takes the reigns in 2014? If the American people are so shallow as to not demand more from their candidates than what they have shown so far, do they have any right to hope for a better four years than what they have experienced in these last three?
For those who are not getting it, I will break it down for you; as long as there are men and women, in uniform, thrust into harm’s way, the first and last thing discussed by these candidates, by the news outlets and even in discussions over morning coffee, should be the state of that war and the well-being of those who have been compelled to sacrifice their lives because what is at stake, is lives while money, is just money!
If you know those who think differently, it is most likely because they have never sacrificed of themselves and have never been asked to sacrifice those they loved.
Do I really expect more from the New York Times? No; they are a business looking at the bottom line. Truth is not a line on the balance sheet! The American people however, would do well to look into their souls and take account because someone is outside the wire insuring your right to self-examination in relative safety!
God protect the Warrior!
Semper Fidelis;
John Bernard
