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Sometimes it's good to step back and take a look at things with a historical eye. President Obama is probably losing sleep about what to do in Afghanistan. Or maybe he's just wondering where to find all those soldiers that General McChrystal is requesting for the war.
According to multiple reports from major news sources, we have roughly 51,000 troops available for deployment. However, some of the brigades do not have heavy armor and are mostly light infantry. If you take away these light units, the number falls to around 37,000 men. We will have more in early 2010 when some brigades who are resting from previous deployments again become available.
Still, when you think about it, that isn't a whole lot of men, and some of them would (again) have to come from the ranks of the National Guard and the Reservists. We must remember that these NG's and Reservists are all-volunteers with civilian lives, jobs, and families. In reality, many of them are not prepared for full-scale war and heavy combat. As a former Regular Army volunteer, this writer can attest to this fact. Reservists are true patriots, but sending them into the breach is not the same as calling up Regular Army soldiers.
The whole thing reminds me of a quote from the film Apollo 13:
NASA engineer to Ken Mattingly in the simulator: 'Ken, you're telling me what you need. I'm telling you what we have to work with at this point. I'm not making this stuff up.'
Ken Mattingly: 'They're gonna need all these systems, John.'
John the Engineer: 'We do not have the power, Ken! We just don't have it.'
That pretty much sums up the present situation. We just don't have the power, or the money to fund such a ridiculous idea as expanding the war in Afghanistan. Our all-volunteer force has limits, and Hurricane Katrina was a good lesson about what happens when you strip our National Guard and Reserves to pursue foreign adventures. Increasing our forces in Afghanistan will leave the U.S. home front virtually defenseless on the ground, and if disaster strikes, we will have less response to it by the Federal Government.
It's as simple as that.
The only answer is to bring our boys back to their families intact - NOW - instead of purchasing more bullets, bombs, and body bags.
That scene is going nowhere. Ask the Russians, they know all about it.
September 11, 2001 is a date that will live, as FDR said so profoundly about Pearl Harbor, in infamy. But it's time for Americans to quit whining about it and move on. Yes, we should create memorials and tighten up the home front to make it much more difficult for such a thing to happen again. We surely won't forget it, but we have to stop living in the past and move forward.
September 11 was a massive and tragic event, but other countries have endured far worse and still moved forward. The famous London Blitz of 1940 is the best example from recent times.
In September of 1940, the German Luftwaffe bombed London for 57 days straight. And even after the Germans halted the constant bombing, they continued launching V-1 and V-2 rockets at the city for most of the remainder of the war. The bravery and resilience of London's citizens under such a barrage is a lesson for us all.
Of course, there are some differences between England's response to the Blitz, and our own response to 9-11. The British had two things going for them that still escape the United States. They had a definite enemy and they knew exactly where that enemy lived. They also had help in putting an end to the German threat from a number of other countries, including the Soviet Union, France (half), Canada, Australia, China, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Yugoslavia, little Luxembourg, and of course, the United States.
Although the U.S. has some minor help in Afghanistan, America does not have a worldwide consensus of support from our allies. Basically, we're going it alone and that is dangerous.
Where are our NATO allies in all of this? This is the list:
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
Most of them are conspicuously absent.
Should the President trust General Stanley McChrystal's word on Afghanistan? Although he's a great West Point officer, he was also criticized for his role in the Pat Tillman 'friendly fire' coverup, and some members of his unit in Iraq were disciplined for abusing prisoners during interrogation at Abu Ghirab.
These things show that even though McCrystal claims he can win the war in Afghanistan with more troops, that in reality he knows nothing about the real motives of terrorism.
Afghanistan is a dead end. This writer proposes a different approach. Tighten up security at home, and work within the global framework to fight terrorism overseas.
The present road we travel is dark, and our destination unknown. And if you think it can't get any crazier over there, consider this: Not only is it against the law in Afghanistan to attempt to convert the population to a non-Muslim religion, it is also against U.S. Army regulations to proselytize. But this hasn't stopped groups of soldiers from passing out Bibles printed both in English and in the local language. In THIS VIDEO, soldiers discuss 'hunting people for Jesus' to 'bring them into the kingdom'.
It's time to reconsider our priorities and end this war - once and for all.
