Re-think Afghanistan, 2009

My daughter's going over there sometime this winter. Think I'll spare myself the video.......there are just some things I really, really don't want to know about.

My brother is there right now....part of the troop surge they are criticizing.

I am surrounding my brother with prayer every time I think of him; it is the only way I know to get by without losing my sanity (which has almost happened a few times since he got his orders anyway).

But I have to say, I have watched two of the four videos on the home page, and I agree with them. We are causing more problems than we are fixing. We do not endear ourselves to anyone as a nation or as individuals when we are bombing villages or displacing innocent civilians. And this is not to cast aspersions on our troops...God knows they have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. But as a mother, I would not care whether the driver of a car that hit my child did it on purpose or accidentally - my child is still just as dead. It's not really mind-boggling that many Afghans don't want us there. The person who commented in the video hit the nail on the head when he said that a military solution only works when there is a military problem. Otherwise, military is virtually useless, and only serves to breed animosity.

And frankly, I don't want my brother over there. Ordinary Afghans want their country back...and I as an ordinary American want my brother back.

When it comes to criticism about the surge in Afghanistan, who is "they," and what are "they" saying? It's important not to be vague in these kinds of discussions, and possibly necessary to be clear about the criticism. For example, maybe people are not so critical of the surge itself, but are critical of the hypocrisy which says a surge in Afghanistan will work when they claimed a surge in Iraq would not.

But I'm most interested in learning who "they" is.

Second, I'd like to know what an "ordinary Afghan" is, and I'd be interested in hearing about what kind of ownership they had of their own country before the UN and NATO decided to displace the Taliban. Would you care to share what you knew about "ordinary Afghani women?"

BTW, I've had family in Afghanistan as well, family that may have to return.

'They' refers to the people in the video who were criticizing the troop surge. I didn't think I'd have to explain that. (FTR - I don't agree with Obama on this any more than I agreed w/ Bush on Iraq.)

'Ordinary Afghans' - who are they? Are they really any different than you and me? People who just want to live their lives and raise their kids. How would you feel if an army came to your country, supposedly to liberate it, and eight years later, they are still there, and your home has been bombed to smithereens and you have been displaced to a refugee camp? Would that endear you to said military?

....except that the Taliban has not really been 'displaced.' They may not be 'governing' in Kabul, but they've still got quite the foothold in other places.

So.....any country whose government oppresses women should be invaded? Why are we not fighting in Saudi Arabia? Sure, the burqa may not be required anymore, but who cares about that when you don't have food to feed your children?? :stone

Did you watch the videos?

I'm not going to watch the videos because I don't want to be influenced one way or the other. Rather I will give a report on a first hand account from my BIL who was injured in an IED/machine gun sniper incident in E. Afghanistan May 20, very near the Pakistan border. His base sits inside a range of mountains, which are pretty much owned by the Taliban, only way in or out, for anything is by helicopter or some kind of primitive walking path.

My BIL, a retired (10 years ago) MD was recalled for active duty for the second time earlier this year. (For the naysayers: yes, I am quite sure he was recalled for the second time after his retirement and quite sure he went where he said he did.) He's 60 years old, was the only medical doctor at this base. He is a Colonel, so probably the ranking officer in the group of 15 Americans. Their job was to train 200 Afghani soldiers, and to provide rudimentary health care to the villages close by: setting broken bones, lacerations, fevers, etc. If they could not treat what was presented, their bigger task was to arrange safe, emphasis on safe, transport to a bigger health care facility 60 miles away. Without them, safe transport was nearly impossible due to the Taliban.

First of all, we are not hearing one little thing, not one little sound bite about all the good these Americans and countless others, are doing with assignments like this.

So, older soldiers, like my BIL, who have greying hair, if they have any at all, and are wrinkled in their faces, are very respected and considered wise among the Afghans. Thus, in the areas where roads need to be built, wells need to be dug, clinics need to be established, older officers, with expertise in these various areas, are sent to head up these operations. A big part of their task is to befriend the villagers, find out who the informants might be and "grease" them in order to get information on who the bad guys are. When the bad guys are identified, they are dealt with, swiftly.

MY BIL had good things to say about the Afghani soldiers, except that their thought processes send them directly into machine gun fire instead of taking cover. He wasn't allowed to see, touch or treat any of the women in the villages; all of whom were covered from head to toe with only a little screen to see out of. I guess the women just die if they become very ill.

He did say helping Afghanistan in any meaningful way is going to take many years. It's not an in and out war. It is a war on terrorism, a lot of which is the Taliban against anyone who doesn't think the way they do.

Although he was injured by machine gun fire in both lower legs, the right much more seriously than the left. He will be rehabbing for many months. But even so, and even at his age, he would go again if asked.

There are terrible things happening in this war, but there is a lot of good will and compassion being shown the Afghani's too. We need to hear more of that. It is hard to think a loved one might die or be severely injured while doing good, but the good is happening. I think we need to be showering our elected officials to make public the good. They do not, and that is a shame, and such a disservice to our soldiers.

Of course there is good being done - there are good people everywhere.

I am just of the opinion that it does not have to be troops carrying guns that do it. Like I said, I'm a troop supporter....the best way to support them, IMO, is to bring them home. If the British couldn't fix things, and Russia couldn't (with half a million troops there), what makes us think we can?

What do you suggest as an alternative?

And there's a new policy just announced that if the TAliban is holed up near private homes, no gunfire. So you get your wish. And the Taliban gets the upper hand, again.

"The best way to prevent future incidents would be to stop looking for trouble all over the world. We would never allow a foreign plane with sophisticated surveillance equipment to fly 70 miles from coast of Florida, gathering intelligence on our military. Yet Washington insists that it has the right to make 200 of these kinds of flights each year to spy on China.

You can't have it both ways -- unless you want to claim the status of Emperor, and pay the price to enforce it. We are already paying more than $1000 each year -- for every man, woman, child, and infant -- to the Pentagon, while we forgo urgent needs such as prescription drug coverage for our senior citizens. "


What was true then is still true today. I am a big supporter of our troops. They are doing their jobs at a huge cost to their personal lives. However, I am very anti war and think that America has a lot of work to do here at home first.

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0412-09.htm

I know about that policy....and it's not exactly new.

But no...I don't get my wish. My wish is for my brother and everybody else's to come home!