There IS no good way to enter ANYWHERE IN AFGHANISTAN.

The "Good Way" is OUT of Afghanistan!

Boilerplate from this morning's Cabale News Service posting titled:

September 11 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: "Attacked Without Warning"... It Seems To Happen With Some Frequency...

Wherein, I spell it out:

"In The News: Eight years ago today two planes were driven into the World Trade Center in New York's financial district, and one crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. We know who did it, we believe we know why (Pick your reason, ranging from: "They hate us for our freedom", to "We're living on the slave labor of at least 70% of the world's population and this result is to be expected"), and we then proceeded to attack two countries, only ONE of which was even VAGUELY related to the perpetrators.

So far we've spent:
$908,158,909,164 (Since 2001)
Iraq: $681,620,427,865
Afghanistan: $226,538,654,702
(Courtesy, CostofWar.com)

...on those wars and, with ALL OF THE (almost literally) MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE assets available to us worldwide, we can't find Osama bin-Laden.

This would be a good time to ask yourselves, as we sink even deeper into the 'mud' of Afghanistan:

"What could those people we had referred to as a 'rag-tag army of fundamentalists' and 'ragheads', the Taliban, have done to bring them to justice?"

Meanwhile, the US, preparing for another war, is "Arming Somalia - The US sent RPGs, machine guns, mortars, and "cash in a brown paper bag" to Somalia last spring". More @ Foreign Policy.."

In Full @ Archive.org
...or my site, Razed By Wolves

Low-left corner?

Anyway, if the local police is so informed and capable, why don't you just leave the work to them? I am afraid that they just need some money from you and then use part of the money to buy some pease from the enemy. Win-win you know.

Could someone tell this old sailor what the hell a Navy commander is doing leading a combat platoon into a mountainous valley. I don't care if he's the fiercest snake-eater in the SEALs, the Navy should always fight feet-wet. Goddam this is a stupid war.

.... a mariner with a long glass, a sextant and a chronometer could be assumed to be better prepared for this duty than a person sent on a normal rotation by Navy Personnel. They must think they are in Hollywood central casting in those cubicles in Millington, TN.

Type A personalities may not be the right type to conduct irregular warfare, COIN, FID or CT... especially when we refuse to stop, listen and learn from the locals.

McMaster, Nagl, Mansoor, MacFarland, Odierno: some of the most prominent and successful counterinsurgency figures have a Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) other than Infantry (MOS 11). All have a background in Armor (MOS 19), or in Odierno’s case, Artillery (MOS 13). I found this surprising, and wonder what it tells us about the (past) education of Armor and Infantry officers and their respective competence in a counterinsurgency environment?

In contrast, quite a few of the more controversial leaders of the recent war years have a background in Infantry: McChrystal, Nixon, Bailey, Kauzlarich (the Pat Tillman cover-up), Steele and Sassaman (Iraq). And except for LTC Sassaman, all have spent a great part of their careers in the Ranger Regiment and were involved in controversies concerning ethical standards.

The Ranger Creed : “I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor and high esprit de corps of my Ranger Regiment….I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight….and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.”

Of course, this might all be a matter of coincidence but I agree with Mr. McCallister that Unconventional Warfare should be left to the experts: US Army Special Forces and maybe the occasional tanker…

Oh, and is there a chain of command in the theater or are each of the unit commanders autonomous warlords? Sounds like our Navy commander was steaming independently...

. . . there's so many ways to get played in that environment. Somebody offers to kill two guys for money. In the past, somebody offered to turn over "terrorists" for money . . . who got sent to Gitmo or Abu Ghraib . . . and turned out not to be terrorists at all. How would we know these guys are actually leaders of the insurgents? Maybe they're low-level grunts? Maybe there's a personal grudge involved? Maybe they're sympathetic to the Americans, and someone finds that inconvenient?

We rightly have concerns about mercenaries running around unencumbered by the rules of engagement and uncommitted to the principles of COIN. Isn't this a little like the same thing? Paying people to kill other people and not having real accurate knowledge of who all's involved and not having control over the operation?

. . . another parallel with Vietnam.

Ah, for the good old days, when we just fought Europeans, or ourselves . . .

Well, we fought Indians, too. But we had microbial allies for that one.

Didn't go through.

Re-wrote.

Egg on face.

Mr. Ali is telling people that the stupid murder policies of our perfumed prince in Afghanistan will be abandoned over time. Why should the American tax payer fund the lunacy of the dishonest US general one more day. Come on all you "serious" people step up to the plate and explain why you back this insanity?

"Whatever the cause, the effects of this situation are quite clear. However the election drama (low comedy, really) plays out, at the end Karzai will still be President. But a Karzai who is now absolutely clear that he has outlived his usefulness to the US, and who can be expected to act accordingly. He will either use the US-NATO military effort to improve his bargaining position and then do a deal with the Taliban, or he (and his family) will redouble their wealth accumulation so as to be ready to make a quick exit at a suitable moment. In either case, with relations between the Afghan government and the foreign forces deteriorating, the war is going to go badly (surge or no surge). Western publics, already doubtful about the whole enterprise, will become increasingly disenchanted; at some point politicians will have to take note. NATO countries will start dropping off first, and then, in the not too distant future, the US Congress will pull the plug." FB Ali

"Petraeus’ three tours in Iraq were noteworthy for their short-term theatrical successes and their dismal strategic failures.

He came to prominence when his hagiographer Thomas E. Ricks singled him out as the only two-star general who had done things right after the fall of Baghdad as commander of the Mosul area. What Petraeus actually did in Mosul was hand out a lot of bribes. When he left, Mosul slid to scheiss in a sleigh, and it continues to be a major trouble spot. During his next tour, in charge of training Iraq’s security forces, Petraeus lost track of 190,000 AK-47 rifles and pistols that trickled their way into the hands of Shi’ite militants. As honcho of the surge, Petraeus handed guns out to Sunni militants and bribed them not to use the weapons on anybody but al-Qaeda in Iraq, the all but nonexistent group that at its zenith contained fewer than 1,000 full-time fighters and whose only real connection with the al-Qaeda that gave us 9/11 amounted to stealing its name."

Jeff Huber

NYT Today's Editorial

Do you think that Stockdale would ask "Why Gitmo?...Why does it continue?"? Medal of Honor...sustained heritage...

Appreciate the work of the journalist such as Tom Ricks, think they are a lighted candle in the past darkness.

I'm late on this particular Rick's article. "Navy Commander and platoon of artillery men converted into infantry seek to enter valley to do some nation-building?" What kind of a organizational lash-up and mission statement is this?

This event sounds a little hokey to me - then again?

After 8 years of counter insurgency, if basic mistakes like this are being made, tactical defeat is not far away.Moreover composite teams like a Naval officer leading artillery troops....is it an advisable and homogeneous grouping for intense ops? The US army must interact more with the Indian Army on waging counter insurgency operations against Islamic terrorists in the mountains. Skeptics may point out that Kashmir still simmers, but that is due to political dithering... militarily the terrorists are a spent force desperately on the run.

Have you read the Kipling story lately? It is a racist excuse for imperialism. Which -perhaps better than you may imagine or wish- serves as a parallel to US's wars overseas.

I thought we were smart enough not to go into Afghanistan. We (at least our CIA) sent help to the Talliban when the Russians attacked them. Maybe that was a mistake, as the Afghanistanis seem to defend their rugged land quite well with out any help. Or are the Russians helping the Talliban now? What a weird scenario that would be.

Any glance at history tells us that Afghanistan is not to be invaded, ever.

Again: I thought we were smart enough not to go there.