One Response To "Afghanistan: The Forgotten American Nightmare"
SEARCH BLOG: AFGHANISTAN
Within this post was the email sent to my congressman and senators regarding the execution of the war in Afghanistan: Afghanistan: The Forgotten American Nightmare - Sunday, September 30, 2012.
I wish to express my concern regarding the present military tactics being employed in Afghanistan that place our soldiers at unnecessary risk.
Please refer to this article:
http://www.businessinsider.com/one-marines-views-on- afghanistan-2012-8
My concern is more than abstract; I have a niece who will deploy to Afghanistan before the end of the year as a medic. She will be one of those soldiers who will have to venture into hostile territory unarmed as a result of the politically correct insanity that serves as leadership these days.
I would like to see funding sharply curtailed for this military fiasco since the CIC has determined that there is no real long term vision, strategy, or goals for our involvement... only that we want to stand our soldiers up before hostile forces in the name of hope and change.
Forgive my sarcasm.
Sincerely,
Bruce Hall
The following is from my congressman, Mike Rogers:
Dear Mr. Hall:
Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns with the war in Afghanistan. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with me on this issue.
I believe America’s goal in Afghanistan should be to ensure it never again becomes a safe haven for al Qaeda or their allies to plan attacks on this country or any other. America’s national security depends on denying al Qaeda and the Taliban a safe haven in Afghanistan.
Working with our NATO allies, our men and women in uniform have made tremendous progress to achieve this goal. Thanks to the brave sacrifice of so many American service members, we have made great progress in denying al Qaeda safe-haven in Afghanistan. The gains we have made so far are fragile and could easily be reversed. That is why I have serious concerns with President Obama’s policy to begin an early withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
The ongoing effort in Afghanistan marked an important milestone recently: the completed draw down of the 33,000 troop surge that President Obama committed in December of 2009. This leaves roughly 68,000 American military members who remain in a tough fight in Afghanistan. Like all Americans, I support bringing our troops home, but I want them to come home having accomplished a lasting, strategic victory for the United States. Withdrawal from Afghanistan should follow a plan for victory, and not a political calendar.
The death of Osama bin Laden is important in our effort against al Qaeda, but should not be a reason for premature withdrawal from Afghanistan. The intelligence gathered from the raid on the compound in Pakistan is an important step in defeating al Qaeda and its affiliates around the world, but that success is distinct from our efforts in Afghanistan. Success in Afghanistan means that global terrorist networks will not have a safe haven in that country in which they can launch attacks against the America.
America’s military men and women who have sacrificed so much must know that the new way forward in Afghanistan is a plan in which the military mission and the rules of engagement are clearly defined, and specific benchmarks are outlined for Afghanis to take over so our troops can come home. I am encouraged by the leadership in place at the Department of Defense and the Army to tackle this extremely difficult, yet vitally important mission for America’s nation security and standing in the world.
To that end, progress, stability, and democratization in Afghanistan will go a long way towards stability in that region. Afghanistan used to be a severely isolated country, where the people lived at the mercy of a brutal regime supported by international terrorists. In contrast the nation now has a democratic constitution, a robust free press, more than 11,000 miles of paved roads and eight million children in school, more than a third of whom are girls. In 2001, fewer than one million Afghan children went to school, and all of them were boys. There has also been an exponential expansion of health services. Today about 80 percent of the Afghan population has access to basic health services. Afghanistan has emerged from the dark isolation of the Taliban regime. All of these accomplishments are due to the hard work of our military forces which have dramatically improved Afghan army operational skills, and all could be be reversed with a premature withdrawal.
Sending young men and women to war is the most serious decision of any President and Congress. As Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, rest assured I will keep your views in mind as Congress continues to debate this important issue.
Again, thank you for your correspondence. Please keep in touch.
This, of course, is a form letter with the first sentence, the last paragraph, and the closing added on for a "personalized response."
You can judge for yourself if it responds to the criticism outlined in my email to Rep. Rogers. From my perspective, this is a blind eye and deaf ear couched in platitudes. After 12 years, we have the statement, "The gains we have made so far are fragile and could easily be reversed." That tells me there is no real military leadership allowed by the civilian overseers in our government, otherwise the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban would have long been over. "The military mission and the rules of engagement are clearly defined" except that the "rules of engagement" have been translated to the operational and tactical levels in a way that recklessly and unnecessarily endangers our soldiers... hence the article linked above.
I'm sure Rep. Rogers means well, but he believes the mission is nation building which will lead to the defeat of al Qaeda and the Taliban. We disagree. The military mission is... or should be... the elimination or permanent crippling of our enemies. Instead, we are guaranteed an Obama led reenactment of what has happened in Iraq.
A comment on another post from a frequent commenter was, "Read your Constitution. It provides Congress and the President with the authority to issue letters of marque and reprisal against private actors who try to harm American citizens without the need for major military action. Given the fact that al Qaeda only had a few hundred members and was quite hated in some quarters of the local population it should have been very easy to get rid of every last fanatic at a reasonable cost."
The suggestion, translated into current language is that all we had to do was establish a bounty for every member of al Qaeda and Taliban and we wouldn't need any military action at all. Unfortunately, things don't work out so well in the real world. We spend a lot of money and get a few results, but it still takes our military doing the dirty work. No one else is handing them over to us... and they seem to be in a position to "easily reverse" the gains that have been made. Why? Because they know we have "rules of engagement" and a deadline to leave. What's to fear? All they have to do is wait and use our soldiers for target practice until they withdraw.
Fantastic military minds in action.
From 
