Global War By the Rich: Afghan Chapter

Lies about the reasons for invading other countries that pose no direct or immediate threat to the U.S.; lies about your mortgage, which was sold to you on false pretenses after which the mortgage was sold, the paperwork was “lost,” and the new bank then defrauded you; lies about kissing up to a violence-prone, right-wing faction of expansionists in Israel and pretending they represent the interests of the Israeli people (much less of the American people); and now…according to a U.S. Army Colonel just back from Afghanistan, lies about the Afghan war. Say whatever you want; this is a free country: just don’t call this class warfare. Does anyone see a pattern here?

 Truth, lies and Afghanistan 

How military leaders have let us down 

BY LT. COL. DANIEL L. DAVIS

 I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces….

I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level….

If Americans were able to compare the public statements many of our leaders have made with classified data, this credibility gulf would be immediately observable…. When it comes to deciding what matters are worth plunging our nation into war and which are not, our senior leaders owe it to the nation and to the uniformed members to be candid — graphically, if necessary — in telling them what’s at stake and how expensive potential success is likely to be. U.S. citizens and their elected representatives can decide if the risk to blood and treasure is worth it.

Likewise when having to decide whether to continue a war, alter its aims or to close off a campaign that cannot be won at an acceptable price, our senior leaders have an obligation to tell Congress and American people the unvarnished truth and let the people decide what course of action to choose. That is the very essence of civilian control of the military. The American people deserve better than what they’ve gotten from their senior uniformed leaders over the last number of years. Simply telling the truth would be a good start.

This article deserves to be read very carefully – all of the message is in between the lines. As an active military officer, the author is subject to censorship and stated clearly that if you want the details, you will have to read his not yet declassified full report to Congress. Given that this is an election year, Washington officials are having a hard time determining whether or not you, good citizen, need to know. Read between the lines.

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis has almost certainly destroyed his career by doing this service to his nation of trying to hint at the ugly truth about the U.S. military catastrophe in Afghanistan. Here we have the tip of the catastrophic (unless you are part of the 1%, which has profited almost beyond imagination) iceberg of the so-called “war on terror.” [For example, the salary of the CEO of sole-source war profiteer Halliburton was $42M just before the collapse of Wall Street.]

The good news is that Lt. Col. Davis received permission to publish, so evidently there are some in the Pentagon who still have good intentions. Now let’s see how many politicians react responsibly to this whistleblowing.

_________________

And Next Door in Pakistan...

Here's one little anecdote about the war against Islamic radicalism next door in Pakistan: as noted by the Long War Journal, the other day the U.S. launched its sixth attack since 2008 on the same Pakistani village. Now, doesn't that just make you proud of your military and the political leadership directing it in the still very hot global war on...villages?

__________________