Listening to the SECDEF who was in Afghanistan to assure them that we're hanging in there, my first thought was "what planet are these people on?" I guess it is politics but pretty discouraging to me. In short, the SSG who killed innocents snapped, plain and simple. As disheartening and tragic as it is, this incident is not the problem but should be the catalyst for getting the f..k out of Afghanistan. There are many issues that bring us to this point.
Part of it has been in how we have promoted the success of the All Volunteer Army. I believe the Army is somewhat broken: Repetitive tours, the way wars are fought now, easy assess to family back home. The inequities of combat, infantry soldiers carrying the burden, a strategy that might work if we stayed in Afghanistan a hundred years. Should I go on.
One of the big problems as I see it: there is no political capital to be gained by leaving Afghanistan NOW. The President has a timetable, the Repubs don't want to be seen as "lite" on war. Gingrich did say, "time to leave" but he can't seem to get any traction. We are stuck. The rosy reports, the bowing and scraping to Karzai, who has only a fraction of the populace under his government--the multiple problems: drugs, Afghan riots and people wanting us out. The list is endless.
To me, there is no explanation on the SSG but he simply went crazy. It happens. And, one thing we can't deny: Fort Lewis/McChord appears to have been the focus of several missteps. Trouble before with the "kill" squads, accusations of less than sympathetic military doctors and a less than empathetic VA. It is time to get the f..k out of Afghanistan.
No comments:
Post a Comment