Archive for July 30th, 2009
Afghanistan Today-The GWOT Hotspot-Thurs. 7-30-09
Someone loaned me the book, “Inside the Revolution”, and I must say, so far, and I am only at page 100, it is an excellent read, written by Joel C. Rosenberg.
What stood out and struck me especially hard were the number of players who were involved in Afghanistan policy circa 1979 who are still around, and pivitol in Afghanistan today.
1979 was very active in Afghanistan, where the US Ambassador Adolph Dubs was kidnapped and killed by radicals in Kabul on February 14, and on December 25th, the Soviet Union invaded.
The reason cited in the book is this: location, location, location. It said the Soviets would then control 2 borders of Iran and would give the Soviets an excellent launching pad to take over this oil rich country and allow them to dominate the Persian Gulf region.
In addition, in 1979, there was the overthrow of the government in Iran, US hostages were taken at the embassy, and for the first time an Islamic republic was formed. The book says the CIA was unprepared for either event.
Some of those players still in play 30 years later from 1979-2009 include: Jimmy Carter’s U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, whom I hear on TV interviews, especially on MSNBC where his daughter now co-hosts “Morning Joe”, and Robert Gates, at the time a deputy to Brzezinski.
Gates it states was CIA director under Bush 41 and Secretry of Defense under Bush 43, where he continues under President Obama. The book also points out that in 1979 Gates just returned to the CIA after a five year stint with the National Security Council.
The book states that in July 1979 Pres. Carter authorized a half million dollars in covert aid to Islamic rebels in Afghanistan for insurgent propaganda and psychological operations, according to the recollecitons of Gates, who was reported to then be a member of Carter’s National Security Council.
All this involvement in Afghanistan by Gates about floored me, and I wondered how someone who was on Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council was appointed to Secretary of Defense by Bush 43 and continued in that position as President Obama.
I especially don’t understand how he is running around saying that the measure of success in Afghanistan in 2009 for American troops will be not how many Taliban they kill, but by the number of civilians protected. I’ve written my representative and senators and requested a weekly update so I can tell, as a taxpayer if the generals and Sec. of Defense are a success or no? I want a count of the number of civilians protected weekly, so, I can tell if this war is a success or if we need a new secretary and new generals. This time around we should call the position: SECRATARY OF WAR and the GOAL should ALWAYS be VICTORY!
There are other players still alive and playing, including Osama Bin Laden himself. Former President Jimmy Carter is also alive and well, still out giving speeches, which in my opinion, are a continuation of the weakness he showed in office.
Bin Laden came out in 1979 to fight the Soviets, and is still loose today. On October 23, 1983 the Marine barracks was blown up by agents of the ayatollah who plowed into it with a truck filled with explosives in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 innocent Americans. On Sept. 7, 2007, U. S. Judge, the Honorable Royce Lamberth, ruled in favor of the Marine families and awarded them over $2.6 billion dollars. He ruled that agents acting on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran caused the deaths of over 241 peacekeeping servicemen at the Marine barracks in a willful and deliberate act of extrajudicial killing.
Well, there is much more as the book is over 500 pages!
I don’t know how this all plays out in 2009 as we are at war in Afghanistan with a troop surge there right now. I am not sure why Secretary Gates says what he says as a way to tell if the war is a success. I am not sure why an American general would say something such as this statement by Gen.McChrystal, reported n the media today, again saying the US was not in Afghanitan to kill the Taliban, but to protect the Afghan people.
Where it all ends I don’t know. I just hope and pray our soldiers and Marines stay safe. I hope they are allowed to win the war. The United States can win any war we WANT to.
God Bless the USA, may our troops be led to victory, and God bless our troops.
Links from around the GWOT, the Global War on Terror:
1.) Colonel: No point in lingering in Iraq; declare victory and come home. I have been writing my senators and representative and the Armed Services Committees in the House and Senate to start issuing IRAQ VICTORY MEDALS for our troops who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Then end the campaign. Link:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_iraq_quicker_withdrawal_073009/
2.) Army report warned of burn pit effects. These burn pits have caused a lot of damage to the health of our veterans, or so it appears. Link:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/military_burnpits_particulate_072909w/
3.) Gen. Mattis leaves NATO command, just an update on where one of the key figures from the Global War on Terror is now. Link:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/marine_mattis_073009w/
4.) If this doesn’t beat all, a Taliban code of conduct for their fighters:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_taliban_code_afghanistan_072909/
5.) DynCorps takes a lot of the contracted jobs in Afghansitan:
