Posted on 06/29/2017 12:49:07 AM PDT by vooch
The Defense secretary’s response was both forthright and evasive. “We are not winning in Afghanistan right now,” he conceded, while promising that “we will correct this as soon as possible.” Mattis then unleashed a cloud of blather, promising “a change in our approach” so as “to do things differently” and devise “a more regional strategy” involving “across-the-board whole of government” collaboration. He offered no specifics.
The fact is that every couple of years since 2001, policymakers in Washington and commanders in the field (including McChrystal) have trotted out plans “to do things differently” in Afghanistan. Those plans have come in a multitude of colors and a variety of sizes. None have come anywhere close to “winning.”
Trump surely knows this. We cannot say for certain why the president has chosen to distance himself from this war that he inherited. But one possibility is this: Having learned through painful experience to recognize a losing proposition, he has no intention of being left holding the bag for this one.
The savvy Mattis must suspect that he is the designated fall guy. If not, he will discover it next year or the year after when Trump relieves himself of responsibility for a still unwon war and looks to pin the blame on someone else.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
They only have two things, opium, and islam!
A wise man once spoke "Beware the govt military industrial complex." He overlooked the "medical" branch in that statement.
Nobody ever sailed off the edge of the earth and came back to tell about it, that is until Columbus did. We know that there never was an edge to sail off of, but everybody was convinced of it so it was.
So many “nations” went into the area known as Afghanistan for their own leaders or rulers selfish reasons to conquer it. The populace, especially outside of Kabul are mostly ignorant but ignorance does not also mean they are stupid. The slaves brought to this country were ignorant but not stupid. It is that misconception the “less ignorant” world needs to grapple with and not see it as to win in that country.
Until their vast natural resources are exploited for the good of all in the country, they will do whatever is easiest to eek out a meager living to feed their families the best they know how. Know how, and are shown how. But first, peace must be won, not us. Japan was a warrior country until through the grace of God we came up with the atomic bomb first. What would have been an unimaginable human loss of life if we were to have invaded them, even when they knew they were whipped, would have been many millions killed. It is a bad image to say that because those who most likely would have been sacrificed in an invasion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been even worse in a conventional assault. That is not to mention all those who would have come from the entire island nation to help in their defense.
The only thing that would quell their defense worked out to be the realization there was none left. We are now facing the same realization in that general area. first, instead of coddling their “gods” in a foolish effort to “win their hearts”, we must first win their respect. We also know the only way to win their respect is to crush their “gods” with unimaginable force to show there is no refuge for the zealots no matter where they go to hide among the populace. Think Dresden, Berlin and many other places the German war machine tried to hide and we would not create no go zones in our effort to eradicate them.
Yes, we can “win” but the problem exists of our own making by allowing them, the Taliban and now ISIS, to define where the rfuge is that we will not go after them. The reality is War is Hell and until we bring their Hell upon them, then yes we or anybody else will not win.
We are in Afghanistan because the Obama Administration was protecting the growth and transport of opium.
Half the world’s opium is grown in Afghanistan, and the amount increases every year.
And who has been there for the last 16 years? We have.
And now we have an “opioid” crisis at home, where heroin is cheap and plentiful.
All this after a 46 year War on Drugs which began in 1971.
And you better believe the Swamp Denizens in DC are adequately paid from drug money to turn a blind eye to all this.
A pox on all their houses.
Those plans only have ever called for different tactics, not a new strategy. And generally they have been hindered by political correctness. IMHO, changes in tactics are futile as long as our strategy remains the same; that is, building a central national government with an army that can control the place. More robust tactics might do better on the battlefield, but won't win in the end with that strategy. The truth is the vast majority of Afghans don't want a national government. They don't want any power over their tribe. The best we can hope for is to ally with some tribes against the others, like we did when we first went in and supported the Northern Alliance. I'm afraid Trump's generals will just change tactics again.
They are such Obama like fall guys that Trump put himself on the line for Flynn...
Meanwhile the media campaigns for Obama as a fake news central instead of letting the Obamas put their foot in mouth in their own fakery. The press could merely be partisan and moderate the Bs of Obama, but no, they go much further than partisan, they act as Obama’s fall guy.
The premise of the article is crap designed to get the concern trolls all worked up. You know, the ones who see something that might be a "cause for concern" but who don't seem to ever do the FReepathon thing.
I don’t pay attention to anything the media says.
We're in Afghanistan today because there are two @ssholes named George W. Bush and Barack Hussein Obama who will go down as two of the worst presidents in the history of this country.
It's really that simple.
No offense to anyone who wears a uniform of the U.S. military, but I think you really have to ask yourself whether that is something you can even justify objectively from any moral or rational standpoint.
Responsibility is such a foreign concept to liberals. Everyone is responsible for their own lanes and their own actions. Trump doesn’t need fall-guys — democrats need falls guys/gals/gays because they inherently break laws just as sure as they breath.
I think the generals Trump has hired are traditional uniparty, military-industrial-complex neocons. McMaster is probably worse than Mattis. They are trying to drag him into all out war in the Middle East, with Russia and North Korea, etc.
And in leaks such as what fueled this report, from at least Mattis sympathizers if not Mattis himself, they are trying to set Trump up as the fall guy either way—whether they succeed in dragging him into or war they don’t.
There is nothing or no one in Afghanistan worth the money & lives we continue to waste there. The people & government of the country are totally corrupt - beyond help. If we need to keep on killing the terrorists there, bombs & missiles will suffice.
It’s the new Russia.
They’re trying to say the same e thing with Tillerson over Qatar.
Obama eviscerate the military and did incredibly harm firing the BEST general officers. Much of what’s left are Obama’s quislings.
Yep.
Sometimes you have a go to “inside” guy who is the ax man. He gets the failing projects, and his arrival tells the team it is over.
I was that guy for a bit. I called it ‘project triage’. You save what you can and let the rest die.
Big difference:
Obama did not want to win.
Trump wants to win.
To “win” in Afghanistan you must KILL EVERY LIVING THING...
WINNING
Some 24D on the poppy fields would also slow things down.
But that has been expressly forbidden.
All for General Mattis. But what are we still doing in Afghanistan? What is our end game? What is the current strategy to achieve that? If we just intend to have a permanent base there composed mainly of jihadi hunters, fine. But any notion of a stable fairly modern government and nation is fantasy I think.
Bacevich is a very smart man.
He commanded an Armored Cavalry Regiment.
He knows from experience about command and luck.
He had some bad luck and it put an end to his Army career.
That was a damn shame because he might have done great things as a general.
He also lost a Son to our wars in that part of the world.
He’s a brilliant man and his opinion should be considered.
But his opinion should be considered in light of what happened to him.
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