In the latest news from the war in Vietnam Afghanistan, General Westmoreland's McChrystal's strategy of "winning the hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese Afghani people took a hit over the weekend as another 33 civilians, including women and children, were blown away by an "errant airstrike". General Westmoreland McChrystal immediately issued an apology to President Nguyen Van Thieu Hamid Karzai.
Ya think? On the bright side, Viet Cong Taliban recruiters reported a banner day.
"One day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai made an impassioned plea for American-led forces to do more to avoid killing civilians in their fight against the Taliban, a NATO air strike killed as many as 33 civilians in southern Afghanistan.
The errant strike hit a small convoy on Sunday that NATO forces suspected was filled with Afghan insurgents preparing to attack coalition soldiers, NATO said in a prepared statement. Instead, a local police official said, the three vehicles were carrying members of the Hazara ethnic minority who traditionally have little sympathy for Taliban insurgents, who are predominantly Pashtun.
NATO soldiers realized their mistake when they arrived at the scene and found the bodies of women and children."
...U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the head of coalition forces in Afghanistan, issued a personal apology to Karzai. He conceded that the deaths would shake confidence in his pledge to minimize civilian deaths in Afghanistan."
Ya think? On the bright side,
The British were fighting the Taliban more than a hundred years ago.
Short of killing everyone in Afghanistan, you will never get rid of them. Unless we actually do something about their safe havens in Western Pakistan. But we all know that won't happen.
Reminds me of a line from the old "Laugh-In". Dan Rowan, dressed as a 6 star general said about VietNam..."It's a dirty little war. But it's the ONLY one we've got."
Military-industrial complex has to "milk" these conflicts for all they're worth.
I have learned that the Dogs of War cannot be trained, and that dogs, well - they just do what dogs do...
Carguy, the military knows one thing, at least at the General Officers level. Promotions come faster when we have troops in the field. Higher rank means more exposure, higher pay and better chance of a major civilian job after they retire. So its to their advantage to have hostilities. Whether they are good at what they do is another question. Because of the way the system works no one critiques them in a realistic manner.
The "follow through"......I suspect it is as important in war as it is in bowling.
Wish we'd had better "people" on this project from the get go.
Not that this makes it any less tragic or more acceptable, but it looks like this airstrike was not in compliance with the news rules of engagement intended to minimize civilian casualties.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/world/asia/23afghan.html?hp
And Carguy, there are Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan to this day because we ignored Afghanistan for the last 6 of 8 years we were there (from 2003 to 2008) and probably longer while distracted in planning and executing the false war in Iraq. Damn shame too as the Taliban were totally routed a couple of months after we invaded but allowed them to reconstitute to their current strength by not finishing the job before starting another folly of a war in Iraq.
I am curious...does the right hand have a clue what the left hand is doing?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/military-training-of-afgh_n_471519.html
The U.S. military has two primary functions in Afghanistan. 1) To train the Afghan people to defend themselves agfainst the Taliban. 2) To fight the Taliban until which time as goal #1 is accomplished.
Here, after 8 years, we are mounting an "offensive" against Taliban strongholds in the SW part of the country. WHY, exactly, after 8 years ARE THERE any Taliban strongholds??? Why, with all the sophisticated military hardware we have are we still fighting a rag-tag army like this? And, I understand, that after 8 years of training Afgahns, they have a total army/security force of less than 60,000???????
And now, NATO can't distinguish the enemy from the civilians?????
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I understand WWI and WW2, but Vietnam and the current wars are, IMO, just a huge waste of life.
I also agree with Carguy - they DON'T have a grasp of what is going on!
I am losing my faith in our military leaders over there. Much as I did during VietNam. These "blunders" are ocurring almost every week. And that's just the ones we hear about.
I saw Petraeus on MTP yesterday. I really don't think he or McChrystal have a grasp on this mess. And, after 8 years, 8 YEARS, that's pretty disheartening.
I don't think anyone (especially the military)considers a banner day for recruiting the taliban a 'bright side'