In your opinion, knowing that there is such an apparent resistance to the raw truth of the situation and an unwillingness to lift the bureaucratic restraints on our operations, is OEF a lost cause? Is an overhaul of our policies even possible at this point, or are we just looking for a way to bail out gracefully?
Okay, but you can see why I find it strange, especially after that wiki-leaks video where they fire on that camera crew and then the make-shift ambulance...
I think we should have a new rule here. Any sort of serious discussion you should be banned from posting on. Because you generally have an uniformed opinion, that is border line retarded (south side of that border) on everything. Even when someone with first hand knowedge tells you something, you revert back to your fucking conspiracy theory bull shit. This is the idiot board, not the loose change mongoloid board.
BH - So what do you think the solution is? You guys in particular are trained not only to kill, but to integrate with the indigenous population. You guys are the best of the best. I am reading what you write and I am enraged. No air support? What the fuck? I know you weren't picked solely on your door kicking expertise, so what do we do at this point? P.S. General Stanley McChrystal is the MAN. AQ and the Taliban sleep peacefully tonight knowing he retired.
You find it strange because you are a civilian who has absolutely no real-world experience in such things, nor even the ability to put such things into a realistic context. You are interpreting things based on your exposure to Fox News / MSNBC clips/snippets, and are trying to rationalize things yourself rather than take advantage of training or experience in the matter, neither of which you have. Remember that Jack Nicholson scene of "You can't handle the truth"? There's more truth to that little movie clip than a lot of people would care to believe.
YOU SEE. This is exactly the kind of mind numbingly stupid shit I was talking about. Who the fuck comes up with retarded rules like this?
A military that has to pussyfoot around because there are as many journalists as soldiers over there, and they are just waiting for one little screw up to make the military look bad.
In its current form, OEF is a lost cause. Counter Insurgency is the strategic equivalent of Communism: it looks great on paper but doesn't take into account the most basic tenants of human nature. The "COINistas" were willing to trade American lives to enact their grand experiment, one that had already failed in countless other countries. Nothing will happen until 2012 because something important to Mr. Obama happens November 2011 (EDIT: 2012; my bad) , but in my opinion we have two options in Afghanistan: 1) Push all troops to the eastern border of Afghanistan, giving a half-assed apology to all the multi-generational blood enemies we made through our half-assed bullshit tactics as we leave. Give Pakistan a 6 month ultimatum to clean up AQI in their country and if it isn't done to our satisfaction we'll run 50,000 B-52 sorties into the country from Waziristan on up targeting every building that looks habitable by a human being. Then we go home. 2) Pack up all our shit as fast as humanly possible and go home. Too many people have died due to a cruel mixture of incompetence and hubris. 9 complete rotations of officers have now used Afghanistan as a springboard for future promotions and that is enough. I'm not going to outline them here because they are still in use, but the Taliban are legitimately afraid that Dave Petraeus is going to get rid of the asinine rules of engagement put into place by King Stan. McChrystal didn't strike fear into the hearts of any Taliban. Also, there is no AQ in Afghanistan anymore. No, the military pussyfoots around because US politicians and military leaders are convinced that, 50 years from now, people will give a shit about how many civilian casualties there were. Does anyone remember Dresden other than Vonnegut? No, they do not. I'd rather just fucking win.
Are you referring to APEC? If so, how would that bear on his decisions regarding Afghanistan? Keep in mind, I have a third grade knowledge of global economics.
My bad. Then nothing will happen until after November 2012. Or maybe not. The over/under on the Iraqi genocide after we pull out December 31, 2011 is 1 million.
Hey BH, thanks for being so candid. This is an awesome thread. And, I think most don't know you're <a member of a certain military unit>.
By the way, Left or Right, right or wrong, Obama vs Bush; none of that matters. You do what you do because that is what you're ordered to do. Enough said. Thank you for your service. Period. bill
Here's my 2 cents on how to run a war. It's contentious, but fuck you to anybody that disagrees (let's have a war....) Step 1: Declare war. Give immediate option to surrender or get the fuck out. Step 2: Ban all media from reporting anything other than war has been declared. Step 3: Unleash hell. Step 4: Media reports that war is won. I've never been to war, but I'm as much of an expert as every other shitheel because I can watch a tv. Unlike most of them, I accept that war is messy and when you shoot bits of metal and explosives at high velocity it tends to hit things and not always the things you want to hit. Fuck scrutiny. If you're going to do it, do it. Let the guys who know what they're doing get on with the job. I don't need the details.