Afghanistan...Firebase Restrepo
One can usually assume that there are subtleties in a fire-fight, especially in Afghanistan, and then again, with the Taliban.
But, yes, there were in the HBO special on our 'Firebase Restrepo" recently aired over and over on HBO, and from it, I aired my own opinion on our commitment in that country.
I am a HAWK. During VietNam, I served in the Air Force. I also wore a lapel pin that said, "Make Love AND War."
Our soldiers in the Afghan conflict are none finer, brave, committed, couldn't ask for better. Dead shots, all. Finest equipment, back-up and decision making much better than Nam.
The subtlties of which i speak were from the Afghanies in the council meeting where our guys sat down to speak to them over an accidental shooting of a cow...yes, a COW. The luckless beast got tangled up in concertina wire encircling the firebase and was slashed to bits. Mercifully, our GI's shot it to put the poor cow out of it's misery.
The local villagers were having none of it. These guys, rags, chewing their cuds, falling asleep around the council circle, yawning in the GIs faces, pounded the ground, demanded $500 for a frigging cow.
The unit CO called his top guy who said no-way. They would get the same tonnage in food, rice, butter, provisions, but no mony. None. Zero. Zip. They balked, got up and walked out.
Five hundred for a skinny cow in the middle of sand, rocks, and no 7/11 for a hundred miles. They wouldn't know what to do with that much money.
They were in it for whatever they could fleece the GIs for, forget the Taliban, to which most of them probably belonged after dark, anyway.
We should leave NOW, because
But, yes, there were in the HBO special on our 'Firebase Restrepo" recently aired over and over on HBO, and from it, I aired my own opinion on our commitment in that country.
I am a HAWK. During VietNam, I served in the Air Force. I also wore a lapel pin that said, "Make Love AND War."
Our soldiers in the Afghan conflict are none finer, brave, committed, couldn't ask for better. Dead shots, all. Finest equipment, back-up and decision making much better than Nam.
The subtlties of which i speak were from the Afghanies in the council meeting where our guys sat down to speak to them over an accidental shooting of a cow...yes, a COW. The luckless beast got tangled up in concertina wire encircling the firebase and was slashed to bits. Mercifully, our GI's shot it to put the poor cow out of it's misery.
The local villagers were having none of it. These guys, rags, chewing their cuds, falling asleep around the council circle, yawning in the GIs faces, pounded the ground, demanded $500 for a frigging cow.
The unit CO called his top guy who said no-way. They would get the same tonnage in food, rice, butter, provisions, but no mony. None. Zero. Zip. They balked, got up and walked out.
Five hundred for a skinny cow in the middle of sand, rocks, and no 7/11 for a hundred miles. They wouldn't know what to do with that much money.
They were in it for whatever they could fleece the GIs for, forget the Taliban, to which most of them probably belonged after dark, anyway.
We should leave NOW, because
- our President has no clear exit strategy
- As Colin Powell once said, " the exits SHOULD be clearly marked (and they are NOT)
- The Afghans, at the village level, clearly could care less about our helping them
- These people are obviously in capable of reaching any kind of self-governance within this century
- We are not in a nation building mode in this particularly case right now
- We have our hands full other places.
- Remember the Bush quote, "fight there to prevent fighting here"? Well, we are now fighting here.
- Let's pull back and focus on cleansing the home-land of potential terrorist attacks.
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