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I've been saying for some time now that we've been there too long and we no longer have a clear mission. This sort of thing is what we saw as Viet Nam dragged on and our purpose there became more and more poorly defined. The military should never be used as a peace-keeping force. Its purpose is to kill our enemies, not prop up unstable and unpopular governments.
In 1954 when Eisenhower first sent troops they were to be advisors, only, and had to go about unarmed. Now how successful were they that way? If the politicians in DC had had the desire to "win" that one it would have been done.
My favorite example of that is the way that the North Vietnamese managed to always establish hospitals, or buildings with red crosses on their roofs next to ammo dumps and the like and our people were not allowed to bomb the latter sights. So many restrictions were put on the military in the earlier days of that thing and it got worse as time continued. I was always glad that I had served my time when that thing first started and in Europe, at that.
Those men need to be charged with the crimes and held accountable if they killed innocents.
It starts at the top. When the commander in chief is more concerned with image and how he's going to get out of Afghanistan instead of winning it, that tends to filter down to the enlisted, I think.
How do we "win" it? If we are not planning on turning it into a colony, what's the prize?
It will still be a country controlled by warlords, with or without the us or the current Afghanistan government there. And it will still have thousands of foreign fighters coming across the border from Pakistan bent on returning the Taliban to power.
In 1954 when Eisenhower first sent troops they were to be advisors, only, and had to go about unarmed. Now how successful were they that way? If the politicians in DC had had the desire to "win" that one it would have been done.
My favorite example of that is the way that the North Vietnamese managed to always establish hospitals, or buildings with red crosses on their roofs next to ammo dumps and the like and our people were not allowed to bomb the latter sights. So many restrictions were put on the military in the earlier days of that thing and it got worse as time continued. I was always glad that I had served my time when that thing first started and in Europe, at that.
We went in, even with the upfront knowledge of the (lack of) success of the French in there. Our military (at the time) wasn't designed for warfare in that environment. The military leaders knew it, but war is good business for the military.
The military has become an employer of last resort. In this kind of economy we'll see the armed forces being thought of as a job much like any other, regular paydays are going to be a rarity for a lot of our youth. This mornings news had a story of a 21 year old man killing a 40 year old man for nothing more than sport. The killer stated that when he drank booze he just became enraged and out of control. Put that man in uniform and you've got the problems that field commanders are well aware of. I'm sure that the military is aware of their predicament, less than desirable civilians won't make good soldiers.
I was watching a show on CNN that showed the soldier in the interview, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock had been in 2 IED attacks, and had major psychological issues. This raises the question yet again about the mental health of soldiers involved in this futile war.
WADDINGTON: The Army knew it because they were prescribing drugs to him to try to treat his symptoms. His symptoms involved nausea, vomiting, inability to sleep. These are injuries that are common in traumatic brain injury. The Army knew that he had been blown up in two IED attacks. The Army then chose, rather than to treat him, to take his weapon, give it back to him, because -- for whatever reason, and then load him up on drugs.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The drugs, shown here districted in plastic baggies, included Ambien and amitriptyline, both of which carry FDA warnings about producing suicidal thoughts.
[quote=plannine;16077201]How do we "win" it? If we are not planning on turning it into a colony, what's the prize?
It will still be a country controlled by warlords, with or without the us or the current Afghanistan government there. And it will still have thousands of foreign fighters coming across the border from Pakistan bent on returning the Taliban to power.[/quote]
actually we have upped drone strikes to take out the taliban leaders and has been a great sucess they have got 9 of the 20 most wanted taliban leaders along with 1400 other taliban/al-Qaeda. one thing in the 2009 with the troop surge they also added was to make sure we leave pakistan with very stable position.
as for winning it in Afghanistan is for us to push hard and take out more strongholds and train their police force then hand it over and say goodluck.
I was watching a show on CNN that showed the soldier in the interview, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock had been in 2 IED attacks, and had major psychological issues. This raises the question yet again about the mental health of soldiers involved in this futile war.
why were they giving him ambien which is a sleeping pill if he may of had a brain injury
Military physicians have learned that significant neurological injuries should be suspected in any troops exposed to a blast, even if they were far from the explosion. Indeed, soldiers walking away from IED blasts have discovered that they often suffer from memory loss, short attention spans, muddled reasoning, headaches, confusion, anxiety, depression and irritability.
why were they giving him ambien which is a sleeping pill if he may of had a brain injury
Military physicians have learned that significant neurological injuries should be suspected in any troops exposed to a blast, even if they were far from the explosion. Indeed, soldiers walking away from IED blasts have discovered that they often suffer from memory loss, short attention spans, muddled reasoning, headaches, confusion, anxiety, depression and irritability.
That's exactly the point. He was given a rudimentary examination, prescribed Ambien and Amitriptyline, then told to carry on as before. I suspect there are many cases such as these.
The five facing murder charges are Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska
Hey now....it must be Sarah Palin's fault.
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that would be Obama.
