Posted on 05/31/2004 1:43:51 PM PDT by GreatOne
Edited on 05/31/2004 1:48:29 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
The handful of valiant American warriors fighting the ''other'' war in Afghanistan is not a happy band of brothers. They are undermanned and feel neglected, lack confidence in their generals and are disgusted by Afghan political leadership. Most important, they are appalled by the immense but fruitless effort to find Osama bin Laden for purposes of U.S. politics.
This bleak picture goes unreported because journalists are rarely seen there. It was painted to me by hard U.S. fighters who are committed to the war against terrorism but have a heavy heart. They talked to me not to undermine policy but to reveal problems that should and can be corrected.
Afghanistan constitutes George W. Bush's clearest victory since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Taliban regime has been overthrown, eliminating al-Qaida's most important base. But the overlooked war continues with no end in sight. Narcotics trafficking is at an all-time high. If U.S. forces were to leave, the Taliban -- or something like it -- would regain power. The United States is lost in Afghanistan, bound to this wild country and unable to leave.
The situation in Afghanistan, as laid out to me, looks nothing like a country alleged to be progressing toward representative democracy under American tutelage. Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-sponsored Afghan president, is regarded by the U.S. troops as hopelessly corrupt and kept in power by U.S. force of arms.
Those arms are not what they seem. The basic U.S. strength in Afghanistan is 17,000 troops of ''straight-legged'' infantry -- conventional forces ill-prepared to handle irregulars. The new unit assigned to Afghanistan is the 25th Infantry Division, which has been stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and has not seen combat since the Vietnam War...."
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
The fact is because of military lawyers and other higher-ups (within the military) we have not captured or killed Al Zawahiri, Omar and perhaps UBL (though my gut tells me he is dead). There has been actionable Intel that has been skunked because of worries of possible casualty rates or the Intel location being on the Pakistan "side".
This is wrong. If our guys on on the ground to get UBL and the rest, well, then by damn, you better allow them to "go get'em".
Wrong! If we announce his demise, all the liberal wussies in the government and the press will declare the war on terror a success and demand that it come to an end. As long as he "lives", he's a poster boy. Until his body turns up, he will be considered alive. Until he turns up with something more than a garbled audio tape, I believe he's deader than Kelsey's nuts!
Why does that make my post wrong? Don't you think he wants us to pull out?
Jeanette Rankin, R from Montana, was the only representative to vote against the war on Japan.
There were, I believe, 49 votes against the war on Germany.
The country was singularly united in supporting the war. If you remember, we had 16 million men under arms from a total population of 130 million (IIRC).
So nearly every family in the country was affected by having members in the armed forces. There wouldn't have been a hell of a lot of sympathy for anyone who opposed the war. I don't remember hearing anyone take that position.
Novak is pretty well connected and I believe him when he says he's interviewed troops and he's just reporting what they told him.
But you also sound well-informed and what you say is in line with what others posters with first hand experience report.
You may not like Novak, he may be old, he may hate Bush, but there's no evidence he's senile, incompetent, or a liar.
Regime? take your Noam Chomsky crap back to the Underground.
Only the fiction he writes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.