Afghanistan - Time to Go
A gunner walked into the museum the other day, back in the USA on a 30 day leave, carrying his child, out for a day of relaxation with his family. Well toned, like a greyhound, wearing his civvies, we talked for a while about " over-there," and he told me thus: he is stationed along northern Afghan, near the Pakistani boarder.
Pakistan, that is where the bad guys hide - all of them he tells me. He's back in the US for leave because in the fall and winter, they hide in Pakistan in the cold season, and " we can't chase them across the border."
He says, everybody on our side stands down until spring, they cross back and our guys arm up and start the shooting all over again. This time, a new crop of newer, younger Taliban shows up and falls down under .50 caliber fire from US troops. " They just keep coming, " he tells me.
Sounds reminiscent of Vietnam, Nixon, Cambodia, Thailand, tedium ad Naseum, doesn't it? At least President Nixon had the guts to attack the enemy where they lived - out of bounds. True, the Nixon haters went Asiatic when he did it, but at the forefront, Nixon's goal was destroying the enemy. Those long-lost anti-war types who denigrated him, the war, and most of American goals never considered that, but now we have an American administration that doesn't have our soldiers' best interests truly at heart, do they?
Pakistan hides the killers and the Administration turns a blind eye to their complicity. Indeed, they hid Bin Laden within blocks of their own " West Point" and crowed WHO? ME?...C'mon, who ya kiddin?
I asked him, if it's time to come home?
"We're conflicted. Half of us are tired of this. We build schools, feed kids, and the bastards come down and blow up the buildings right after we leave. We're doing some good here, and a lot of us like it, but it is frustrating as hell."
He says the country couldn't organize a trip to the bathroom, let alone self defense. Iraq it is not.
The question is this: is it worth one more American life?
My opinion, it is not worth the life of the young soldier I met carrying his 3 year old boy spending the day with me in a museum last Saturday.
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Pakistan, that is where the bad guys hide - all of them he tells me. He's back in the US for leave because in the fall and winter, they hide in Pakistan in the cold season, and " we can't chase them across the border."
He says, everybody on our side stands down until spring, they cross back and our guys arm up and start the shooting all over again. This time, a new crop of newer, younger Taliban shows up and falls down under .50 caliber fire from US troops. " They just keep coming, " he tells me.
Sounds reminiscent of Vietnam, Nixon, Cambodia, Thailand, tedium ad Naseum, doesn't it? At least President Nixon had the guts to attack the enemy where they lived - out of bounds. True, the Nixon haters went Asiatic when he did it, but at the forefront, Nixon's goal was destroying the enemy. Those long-lost anti-war types who denigrated him, the war, and most of American goals never considered that, but now we have an American administration that doesn't have our soldiers' best interests truly at heart, do they?
Pakistan hides the killers and the Administration turns a blind eye to their complicity. Indeed, they hid Bin Laden within blocks of their own " West Point" and crowed WHO? ME?...C'mon, who ya kiddin?
I asked him, if it's time to come home?
"We're conflicted. Half of us are tired of this. We build schools, feed kids, and the bastards come down and blow up the buildings right after we leave. We're doing some good here, and a lot of us like it, but it is frustrating as hell."
He says the country couldn't organize a trip to the bathroom, let alone self defense. Iraq it is not.
The question is this: is it worth one more American life?
My opinion, it is not worth the life of the young soldier I met carrying his 3 year old boy spending the day with me in a museum last Saturday.
###
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