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Stop the pretense of a mission. Bring them home!
That is a great idea, but to quote my paternal grandfather, "we are a day late and a dime short. " We are well past the point where the American people want anything less than full disengagement from the nightmare and financial boondoggle that has been the Iraq-Afghan-Pakistan "wars". The American people just want us to pack up and go home. Believe me, we can not save what will not be saved. It is over. Lets face it. These are inter-tribal, religiously motivated ongoing and never ending quasi-civil wars. They are taking place inside of artificial "countries" that were constructed by Western nations after World War I that have nothing in common between tribal and religious groups other than a common national flag. They hate each other. I am sick to death of the Wars of the Muslim Reformation and our insane self-imposed roles in each. Lets bring the troops and the money home. We urgently need the money here and the families need the soldiers back. Enough already with the pretense that we need to be there. We have had eight years to complete whatever crazy mission our government had in mind initially. We did not do it, whatever it was. Enough already. This bedlam must end. This insanity will be going on just as strongly five hundred years from now and breaking our national treasure and killing or maiming our young people will not make any difference in the long run. Mr. President, bring them home! Iran is protesting the moves by the federal government here in the USA over the weekend to freeze all assets of the Alavi Foundation, a front for Iranian activities that may include terror financing. The story is here. In this story from Politics Daily that can probably only be fully understood by an American intelligence operative, the CIA has been willingly spending millions of dollars since 2001 in assisting the Pakistani Intelligence Services even when it knows that these people are openly and aggressively aiding the Taliban. I just dont get it. Get informed, stay informed. It is your duty as an American veteran to participate in the political process of our republic. You need an informed opinion to do that. Contact your elected officials frequently. CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)
In today’s Washington Post late edition we find a story outlining Secretary of State Clinton’s role in establishing clear guidelines for civilian aid to Afghanistan. That story is here. 
French marines and Foreign Legionnaires along with a few Afghan troops have opened a new offensive in eastern Afghanistan. That story is here.
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=9404
Posted by Veterans Today on Nov 15 2009, With 0 Reads, Filed under AfPak. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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I say bring the troops home before we have to build another wall and have accomplished nothing. Stop throwing blood and money down a hole and stop providing the money to buy the weapons that shoot our own!
TB, it ain’t often we are on the same page, but you’ve got me here. damn fine idea.
Damn straight!!! I may be a tad dense, but can someone actually tell me how the US’ freedom is being foght for in Iraq and Af-Pak??
Ahhh Grasshopper. Using the Nations Military to take over a foreign country so the oil companies won’t have to pay them for the oil they steal is priceless, but after eight years of not having a strategy to do it with, is worthless.”
Yup, lets do another cut and run. S eems no one learned a damned thing from VIetnam did they. All the elected officials fell into Bushes trap, and decided to go to war, now that liberals and liberal newspapers are painting the an unpleasent picture it is time for all the elected officials to decide to do another cut and run. The Wall’s purpose was not only to memorialize the fallen from Vietnam, but serve as sign of what happenes when the powers to be decide to commit our young men and women, then dicide to cut and run. Think about it since 9/11 all of Bill of RIghts has been shattered, our men and women in uniform (Just like us before them) do their duty, and only ask for support from the people who sent them there, and from their felllow citizens, and just like us they get treated with disdain from liberal policticans and liberal newspapers, all calling for the withdrawl of troops. If the government had no intention of finishing this job, they should have not sent our men and women in uniform in harms way in the first place. So lets all do the same thing just like Vietnam, lets cut and run, and ask for a another “peace with honor”. Guess what? Terrorist won’t grant us any peace. So wake up and the smell the coffee politicans, and liberal media.
Robert:
You make a valid point and you have a right to be bitter. But things are not as they seem. The "government" never waged this war, if by government you mean the communities that we all live within.
This war was waged by American service men and women being used as Legionaires by American business interests.
To state this simply, there is no national defense need for us to be in western Asia, therefore, the use of American troops is unethical, unreasonable and illegal.
Our troops serve only one purpose legally under the Constitution and that is to "provide for the common defense". That is not the case in western Asia. That was also not the case in Viet Nam.
They are more or less being used in the same role that Rome used the Roman Legions. This has been going on at least since the Spanish American war in 1898 and some historians make a case that it stretches back to the Mexican American war of 1848.
In fact, if you ask the typical college educated Native American, he or she will probably tell you that General Andrew Jackson’s decimation of the Seminole in Florida and Alabama during the War of 1812 in order to take their land for American business interests was the real reason he went to war with Spanish garrisons there.
We have been doing this for a very, very long time. We look for wars to start in areas of the world where our business interests dictate that we control that particular local economy or a piece of that particular market that our Big Money people want to engage and eventually control.
Here is an excerpt from the U.S. Navy Museum’s view of Commodor Matthew Perry. This happened in the 1850s. As you read this, you will see that nothing has changed.
Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan
Background
"On March 31 1854 representatives of Japan and the United States signed a historic treaty. A United States naval officer, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, negotiated tirelessly for several months with Japanese officials to achieve the goal of opening the doors of trade with Japan.
For two centuries, Japanese ports were closed to all but a few Dutch and Chinese traders. The United States hoped Japan would agree to open certain ports so American vessels could begin to trade with the mysterious island kingdom. In addition to interest in the Japanese market, America needed Japanese ports to replenish coal and supplies for the commercial whaling fleet.
On July 8,1853 four black ships led by USS Powhatan and commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry, anchored at Edo (Tokyo) Bay. Never before had the Japanese seen ships steaming with smoke. They thought the ships were "giant dragons puffing smoke." They did not know that steamboats existed and were shocked by the number and size of the guns on board the ships.
At age 60, Matthew Perry had a long and distinguished naval career. He knew that the mission to Japan would be his most significant accomplishment. He brought a letter from the President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, to the Emperor of Japan. He waited with his armed ships and refused to see any of the lesser dignitaries sent by the Japanese, insisting on dealing only with the highest emissaries of the Emperor.
The Japanese government realized that their country was in no position to defend itself against a foreign power, and Japan could not retain its isolation policy without risking war. On March 31, 1854, after weeks of long and tiresome talks, Perry received what he had so dearly worked for–a treaty with Japan. The treaty provided for:
After the signing of the treaty, the Japanese invited the Americans to a feast. The Americans admired the courtesy and politeness of their hosts, and thought very highly of the rich Japanese culture. Commodore Perry broke down barriers that separated Japan from the rest of the world. Today the Japanese celebrate his expedition with annual black ship festivals. Perry lived in Newport, Rhode Island, which also celebrates a Black Ship festival in July. In Perry’s honor, Newport has become Shimoda’s sister city."
So having said what I just said above, and knowing full well that we have been doing this for centuries, I must admit that "cut and run" seems to be the obvious answer to what is really a necessary evacuation of our troops that were illegaly deployed in the first place.
But I have to ask you, would you rather see more dead American servicemen and women so that we can protect our "honor"?
Would you rather see this series of American involvements in what are essentially inter-Muslim religious wars surrounded by ancient and bitter tribal rivalries between Muslim countries and non-Muslim tradtional enemies?
What are we doing there that has anything to do with National Defense?
CWO3 Tom Barnes (Ret.)