Pictures of the dead
Yet again, our glorious and supremely eloquent counterinsurgency strategy stands to be liquidated by the foolishness of our troops in Afghanistan.
Really? Photos, published by the LA Times, depict soldiers posing with the remains of a suicide bomber who’d just tried to kill them. Is it the burning Korans and photos of dead terrorists that’s causing us to lose this war, or is the strategy itself the problem?
Let me be clear that the soldiers did wrong. The photos (2 years old, I may add) should not have been taken for the purposes of personal collections. Why? Because it’s the rule. Mostly, just because it’s the rule and soldiers follow orders. A breakdown in the ability of troops to follow the rules results in a mob, not a professional army.
But it was not the soldiers who killed the dead terrorist. He killed himself while trying to kill them. Do we feel the same way about photos photos taken of dead robbers and criminals in the Old West?
How about photos of gangsters and miscreants from the 20′s and 30s? Remember Bonnie and Clyde?
Michael Yon wrote an article saying we shouldn’t blame the media. He’s right. The Soldiers are the first cause of this problem. But how big of a problem is it?
American soldiers in WWII mailed the skulls of dead Japanese back to their ladies:
And frankly, the sight of the dead insurgent is the historical tool used by rulers to crush uprisings. Ask the Romans and Vlad Drakul. Hiding the results of being a terrorist doesn’t help our cause. The message to all young Afghan and Pakistani males should be that this is what you look like when you strap on a bomb and try to murder people.
Let’s get real. This is not an atrocity. This is soldiers breaking an administrative rule. There should be no talk of kicking them out of the military. And, the soldier who gave the photos to the LA Times is a weasel. If he were so concerned, he should have given the photos to his chain of command–years ago. We need a little more outrage aimed at the culture that breeds these self-immolating haters. In any event, don’t ask me or other soldiers to like the people that are trying to kill us. Blog and talk bravely of our philosophy, and cultural sensitivity and all that, but just don’t ask us to hug the dude trying to take me from my kids. Maybe 10 years from now, but not now.
I’ve spent more time in Afghanistan than most. I worked along side young soldiers every day. I never once saw anything like this. I did not witness any heroic deeds, though there are many in the last ten years that have become heroes. But I did witness an incredible adherence to duty, to getting the job done, day in, day out, under very uncomfortable circumstances. 20 year old men doing whatever was asked of them, going without real sleep or hot food for days, sleeping in trucks waiting for a car bomb to drive up. Being dirty for a week at a time. To say that these photos depict some sort of evil culture within the military is just plain stupid.
Television and my return from war
This is my second full day back from Afghanistan, back with my family in Germany. Needless to say, it feels great to be home. Only one thing has marred my return experience: television.
In Afghanistan, I did have access to television, but very little. Sometimes a tv was on in my office, but the sound was usually off. Mostly, though, I didn’t watch any television.
My first night back, my wife was watching tv while I read at the kitchen table. The show airing was a reality show starring Shaquille O’neal’s ex-wife; apparently she feels the need to broadcast her dating habits to the whole world. More than likely, though, she needs more money, as surely the millions she scored in the divorce settlement aren’t enough to support her shopping habits. It was also very important that she repeatedly point out how young the males she’s dating are. Every fourth word or so uttered by the men needed to be beeped out by the television editors; todays 20 year olds’ vocabulary is quite limited and populated mostly by expletives.
After about 10 minutes listening to the destruction of my culture on television, I decided to lay down in bed and continue reading.
The next evening, MSNBC refreshed my memory as to why I feel like throwing a boulder through my television anytime that station shows up on my television. Some far left-winger was carrying on. Again, I chose my bed and a book over the blast radius of television noise.
I’ve decided that I missed very little from missing television for a year. The sensationalization and outright corruption in the media is an abomination. After my return from Afghanistan, I have little patience for such nonsense. Not that I’m against all television; today I fell asleep on my couch with my daughter while watching the Yankees play the Devil Rays.
My grandfather once said that television was going to destroy America. While that was an overstatement, it’s obvious what he was trying to say. And it’s obvious to me that my grandfather was right.
An article I wrote on Pastor Terry Jones, published in The Gainesville Sun
Pushlished in April in the Gainseville Sun. Originally accepted for publication by The Jerusalem Post, but that’s another story…
My opinions on Pastor Terry Jones, who oversaw the burning of a Koran which resulted in riots and death in northern Afghanistan.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110406/NEWS/110409713/1123/opinion?p=all&tc=pgall
WikiLeaks
The recent classified info dump on WikiLeaks is a violation of the nation’s trust, but it is not a catastrophic indictment of the war effort.
Americans should be concerned that there are people who have high-level security clearances that disseminate information they are sworn to protect. Some have an axe to grind with the military, like this traitor, the very smart but traitorous Army Intelligence Analyst, Bradley Manning, who gave WikiLeaks a Top Secret video of US helicopters attacking and killing a group of people, two of which were Reuters journalists.
Whomever released these files to WikiLeaks is either in desperate need of attention or has an anti-war agenda. Quite probably, the person needs to have a spotlight on himself and justifies his actions with an anti-war meme.
That the recent leaks, from what is now known, are in any way “chilling” or devastating” is beyond laughable. Very little of what is not already widely known was released. People are more offended by the details than by the actual content. It’s like the hamburgers and sausages we eat: We love the taste, just don’t show us film of the process for making them.
Most valuable information is called ”Actionable Intelligence”. That is, intelligence which can be acted on immediately. For instance, let’s say that a credible source tells a Special Forces team on the ground in southern Afghanistan that Osama bin Laden in living in a hole two miles from their location, that they saw him not more than an hour ago and he’s supposed to be there for another day. That kind of information would bring immediate results should a SF A Team move and capture bin Laden. General intelligence, such as “IEDs are the primary weapon used by insurgents” does not give the US information that immediately impacts the war. A compromise in Actionable Intelligence is far more dangerous than compromised general intel. This compromise of an Israeli operation is an example of compromised Actionable Intel.
Information in the released files will be spun in every direction. Many people will be “horrified” by information that is rather banal. But, whatever some may say, it is an undisputed fact that the the files were leaked by people sworn to protect them from release. Those people operate under a cloak of anonymity. What they are doing is not brave, nor does it serve a greater good; most of the information leaked tells little. These people so entrusted, when and if they are found, should be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law. Not only can’t they be trusted, but their hubris enabled them to believe they were more important than all the other people fighting this war.
Liberal McChrystal eaten by his own
Rumor has it that General McChrystal was an uber liberal who went so far as to ban Fox News from his office. This would explain why he’d let self-proclaimed ambush artist Michael Hastings into the fold and why Obama gave McChrystal the job in the first place.
Here’s Michael Hastings proving he’s scum in an interview with GQ mag:
But “The dance with staffers is a perilous one. You’re probably not going to get much, if any, one-on-one time with the candidate, which means your sources of information are the people who work for him. So you pretend to be friendly and nonthreatening, and over time you “build trust,” which everybody involved knows is an illusion. If the time comes, if your editor calls for it, you’re supposed to fuck them over”
Does locker room talk matter?
You’d think that General Stanley McChrystal just crossed the Rubicon. When Julius Caesar took his legions across the river which marked a sacred boundary set by the Senate, he sounded the death knell of the Roman Republic. 
Several people, including many very high ranking officials in the military, including Admiral Mullen, as well as civilian leaders such as Robert Gates concluded that the Rolling Stone article displayed a threat to civilian control of the military.
Honestly, I find it hard to believe that Admiral Mullen hasn’t heard similar talk about civilian leadership from military men before. All it really is is venting. It’s well documented that US military personnel will bitch and complain about everything and then get on with being the best fighting force in the world. What thing of material value threatened civilian control?
If people only knew the things that are said in locker rooms. At the police department I worked at, some of the talk would have had lawyers lining up. But 99% of the cops went out and did their jobs honestly. It was masculine joking. The reaction to the article is exactly why military types don’t trust the media and politicians: They’re credulous, without humor and thin-skinned. Everything you can’t be and succeed in the military.
What I’m afraid of is that the reaction to this article will deter military officers from voicing disagreement. The more I think about the article, the more I realize the motives of Hastings. The very title of the article talks about “wimps in the Whitehouse”. That term is never used by anyone in the article’s body. The most scornful word–clown–is reserved for a former US Marine General, Jim Jones. If people think that the nickname, “bite me” given to VP Biden is a terrible thing, they’d be in for a shock if they heard all of the other stuff. And yet, Soldiers still go and risk their lives because that’s their duty.
The only thing I can say, is that locker room talk is best reserved for the locker room, not for journalists from left-wing magazines.
Videos show the truth
These videos shows the people on the Gaza aid ship rushing to attack the first Israeli Commando that lands. The first 5 of the 6 ships surrendered peacefully.
Overman
He hath heart who knoweth fear but vanquisheth it; who seeth the abyss, but with pride. He who seeth the abyss but with eagle’s eyes, — he who with eagle’s talons graspeth the abyss: he hath courage. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
I always hear people talking about some horror they witnessed on the news. “I can’t believe people can do that. People are so evil. The world is such a terrible place.”
My response is usually a shrug accompanied by, “Yup. People can do some really bad things.”
The other people though really seem to internalize all of it, as if the local news proves to them that they should be afraid to walk outdoors for fear of being raped, kidnapped or shot. They won’t let their kids go out to play. I’ve heard some tell me they lay in bed at night thinking of some story that they heard on the news. Maybe someone put their baby in an oven or something. It convinces them that they’re living in a Stephen King novel.
I tell them that I don’t think we’re meant to know every evil that occurs in every dark corner of the world, just as 24 hr news has allowed us to do. I tell them, walk out on your porch right now, and tell me how much evil you see? Do they know someone who was murdered? Do they know someone who knows someone who was murdered? But how can we live in such a world? With a smile, I say. With strength and vigor nonetheless….
Horror stories on TV rarely do much for me or to me. I feel that as a former police officer, I have every right to be cynical and believe that the world is evil, that we should be afraid at all times.
But I don’t believe that.
I saw all kinds of evil as a cop, but I recognized that the chances of it happening to me or someone I knew were small. That criminals themselves composed a large portion of crime’s victims, because they hung out with other criminals. That the news scours the Earth for the very worst amongst us.
And indeed, if an evil so great were to rise amongst us, I don’t think we’d recognize it, because we’d be part of it. As in the book Eichmann in Jerusalem, when evil becomes banal–normalized–things get bad. From outside the fishbowl, the madness is apparent, but from within, slaughter is perfectly acceptable.
I take each moment at a time, each place for what it is. Concentrate too much on evils thousands of miles away and you will miss all of the good within your arms reach. You’ll become bitter, afraid. The most evil men in history were those that were very afraid.
With full knowledge of evil’s existence and potential, I awake each day and look forward to new challenges. I can see good everywhere, but am not afraid to speak against evil. Many who speak of the evilness of man (and he is, compared to God) are afraid to call true evil, evil. They’re afraid they may hurt someone’s feelings. If only these people could see how the world is waiting for a strong, wise leader. Over and over I see that wisdom mixed with justice and strength produce much more than mere populism.
This is the type of man that Nietzsche spoke of, The Ubermensch. A man who controls himself regardless of the world around him. A person who can do what is right regardless of outside circumstances. A man who smiles at pain and chaos and indeed finds them both as a fuel for his burning, creative energies. I have found within myself, an ability to take the worst many people can offer me, and smile, blunt their sadism with confidence and competence. No man can steal my happiness, no evil.
Now I know some of my Christian brethren don’t like me to mix it up with Nietzsche, but as CS Lewis stated, just because a religion is not Christian, it does not mean it cannot contain a nugget of truth. If we must spin it with Christianity, Soren Kierkagard had another name for the Overman–The knight of faith. A person who can meet all obstacles with grace, with utter confidence.
Everyone should refuse to live in fear. Even when we fail, we learn. There is too much around us that we can enjoy, too much we have to give others. Meet life with courage. Do not focus on the evil of the world. Christ overcame the world, and with His help, you can too.
Green Berets at Firebase Cobra, Afghanistan
America’s Special Forces fight a semi-covert war inside Afghanistan. National Geographic follows them.
This just in: Refusing to fight results in losing in war
The Taliban knows far more about winning wars than our politicians.
See what our troops are facing are facing on the ground, here. This video shows that our enemies want us dead.
Feckless, detached and morally weak, Congress and the Executive branch never hesitate to put in place rules that will ensure the deaths of our warriors who fight against radical Islam. They’re paralyzed by media reports of civilian deaths in war, and mindless of the media’s under reporting of what works: Killing bad guys.
In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins received a letter from John Bernard, a retired 26 year veteran of the US marine Corp. His son, Joshua was fighting in Afghanistan in the Marines. John Bernard expressed his outrage over the handicas given our troops: The restrictions are: “nothing less than disgraceful, immoral and fatal for our Marines, sailors and soldiers on the ground,” and our troops are: “without reinforcement, denial of fire support and refusal to allow them to hunt and kill the very enemy we are there to confront are nothing more than sitting ducks.”
Three weeks later, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard was killed fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Being a Mainer myself, and knowing how politics go there, I have little faith that Sen. Collins would advocate unleashing the dogs of war… As a matter of fact, I see no one standing up for our troops’ right to fight back, only for the right t pour more of our blood and money into a dusty laboratory. John McCain wants more of our young men there to make a show. If he wants them there to kill as many Talibs as possible, he should say so.
And that’s one reason I don’t support this war anymore. I’ve learned that no matter how many troop we pour into the wasteland called Afghanistan, our troops will never be allowed to really fight.
I am torn between giving my honest opinion about the situation in Afghanistan and knowing that our troops need words of encouragement. So let me be clear: I endorse our troops’ right to kill the Taliban. They can defeat the Taliban, but to ask them to remake Afghanistan is asking too much. I support using all the technological and tactical abilities of our military to wreak havoc on the enemy, to strike him with such overwhelming force that his will is shattered.
I do not support having our men stand around, reacting instead of acting, fearing to pull the trigger because CNN will report American “attrocities”. I do not support our troops driving back and forth on IED laden roads, that have been mined by men who could have been killed in previous engagements but were not for fear of killing innocents. We’re making things worse with our reluctance, encouraging an enemy that understands more than we do that will is the primary asset in war. Not bombs, satellites, not smart munitions. It’s all about how much pain you’re willing to endure. And so, the most powerful Army in history has been fighting backwoods illiterates for eight years–and barely breaking even. And it’s because our politicians lack the political will to let our men fight. But of course they’ll let them die.
Need proof that fighting harder will help? Remember that air strike that destroyed two Taliban-hijcked fuel tankers earlier this month? It was front page news of course, because the Coalition Forces had apparently made a mistake. Or did they?
On that day, two F-15E Strike Eagles prowled the skies above the tankers and beyond the view of approximately 100 Taliban fighters moving around the tankers. The F-15Es broadcast a real-time video back to a German Tactical Ops Center and an Afghan informant spoke by radio with a German intelligence officer at the center, insisting that only Taliban were near the trucks. Given the order to destroy the vehicles and kill the Talibs, a F-15 unleashed a 500 lb. satellite guided bomb, killing about one hundred Talibs. Perhaps two dozen civilians were killed. Civilian survivors of the blast knew they should not go near the trucks. One man aid he hoped to get some free fuel. A surviving ten year old boy went to th site against the wishes of his father. How do the appeasers propose we stop this?
But next comes the real lesson of this incident. While the New York Times was busy giving aid and comfort to the Taliban , local Taliban officials near the bomb site gave General Stanley McChrystal the business. In an article written by Washington Post Foreign Service writer, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, (an article which got almost no attention, even though it is the most detailed account as to what happened that anyone outside the military has), it’s reported that a local council chairman, Ahmadullah Wardak, actually cut McChrystal off in his apologies for the civilian deaths, saying:
“If we do three more operations like was done the other night, stability will come to Kunduz,” and “If people do not want to live in peace and harmony, that’s not our fault.” And finally: “We’ve been too nice to the thugs”.
To McChrystal’s and other US officials’ surprise, there was a lack of outrage amongst locals.
All but unreported in the mainstream media. If we will not let our Centurians fight the Vandals in far off lands, we should bring them home.
Story of US Soldier captured by Taliban doesn’t ring true.
Initial reports on captured US Soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, suggested he “lagged behind his patrol”. I thought about this and wondered what that could possibly mean. In all the training I’ve had, no one–I mean no one–was allowed to lag. And this guy’s an infantryman.
More recent reports are saying Bergdahl simply abandoned his post, violating the First General Order, and then has proceeded to violate the Code of Conduct, by making statements against his own country. The Taliban knows that America’s weakness is its own media’s portrayal of the American military.
Here’s Ralph Peters on Bergdahl:
US Soldiers die in Afghanistan, while Michael Jackson receives a Hero’s farewell
Media adoration of Obama is preventing the right questions from being asked. What are we trying to do? What regime are we trying to topple? Where are the terror training camps of 2001? Why are 80,000 troops needed to accomplish this mission in a country void of infrastructure?
The media won’t let Obama fail. They won’t make him responsible for troop deaths.
Six of the troops died by roadside bombs. One Soldier is possibly being held as a POW by Taliban extremists. It can be expected he will not return to us alive. But that doesn’t matter, because a suspected child molester died last week…
Al-Qaeda did it, not America
I was at the book store flipping through blogger/journalist Michael Yon’s new book yesterday.
All I can say is: If you have an interest in the Iraq War–buy this book. Yon’s blog link is on my blog-roll and you can check out some of his other contributions to war journalism. I was stunned at some of the photographs Yon captured while in Iraq at the peak of the fighting. Photos of men in the mid-fall after being struck by 7.62 rounds. Puffs of powdered cement as bullets skipped of walls right next to US soldier’s heads.
Yon is a former member of the US Special Forces–and he’s virtually fearless. I like him too because he’s been criticized by both the Left and the Right. I can appreciate someone who doesn’t find it necessary to pander to carry on. As Yon says, if you want to make money writing, tell people what they want to hear. If the war in Iraq matters to you though,–tell the truth. Leftists hate him because he was the first to report that the surge worked and that US soldiers were not raping and pillaging. On the other hand, twice Yon has been kicked out of military units because he pissed off some colonel.
By reading this book, you'll see that the Iraqis knew who destroyed Iraq: Al-Qaeda did.
Yon is not an appologist for Bush. He does not hesitate to call Al-Qaeda what it is, though. Evil and in need of destruction. He documents over and over the un-reported events that show what Iraqis really think of America: That we saved them from a horrible regime.
One Iraqi who thought he was going to die , as he lay bleeding begged soldiers to cut his heart out and bury it in America. Iraqi boys dream of becoming US soldiers. One Iraqi man said: “Look what Al-Qaeda has done to my country.”
That statement caught me off guard. I knew it intellectually, that it was not America causing the violence. But to see the words from an Iraqi changed the meaning for me. Al-Qaeda, bent on establishing a Neo-Caliphate ruled by absolutists, recruited former Baathists and set about to ruin everything. And aided by our own media, they almost succeeded. Insurgents killed anyone they could in order discredit America. And yet we were blamed.
It’s a bit like blaming a woman’s rape on the fact that she wore tight pants or a short skirt.
Now that Obama is president however, Time magazine is making statements like ” Afghanistan: Why failure is not an option.”
Slow learners them folks. But Afghanistan’s not as important as Iraq was and is. Time wants it to be because their president thinks it is.
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