Democracy Now report on Afghan progress purported by Obama in Portugal. The Afghan report starts at 12:00 in the vid.
I can't help but feel like I am watching old footage from Vietnam when I see these types of reports. It frustrates me to have to keep posting counter points of view at the expense of my military friends. My intent isn't to discourage those serving...my intent is to add voice and info to the debate in hope that people will put pressure on their representatives to end these costly campaigns.
2 comments:
Well it's not at the expense of soldiers serving to advocate they stop going to war. In my mind that feels like support, but its all perspective. The battalion commander's comment that 'if they don't want it, it won't happen' is so telling. How do you make someone want something? Its tough. President Obama's comments sound like they came directly out of Gen. Pertraeus' mouth. My hope is that our leadership just needs to leave on a positive note. The 'experts' pretty much don't want admit defeat so even if we leave defeated our leadership has to claim success. If the war is more about pressure on Iran or energy pipelines, we the troops, are totally screwed. If we don't leave in 2011 I will be very bummed out and so will almost all the officers that I've been serving with the past decade. We just can't say that cause you can't have the coach telling the players the game isn't even worth playing, right?
E. You aren’t discouraging anyone, over here anyway. What is discouraging is what Bacevich mentioned with the term “nation building”. In the military there is a term called mission creep, usually when one element begins doing another’s mission. We in the military have lost a battle of trickled down and forced mission creep from the diplomatic side of our government. We have been relegated to the task of building a nation. It seems it is the purple elephant no one wants to talk about. Your counter-points you post are the essence of and essential to a democratic discourse, especially if it is to be honest and true. Briefly, there are two things that discourage me and make me want to vomit; the appearance that the military has been unable to or cannot complete the mission of securing the country and men like the Lt Col who are patronizingly labeled as upbeat when in reality they are fighting their own opinions in a professional way while soldiering on in a combat zone. They are and must remain professionally optimistic and confident. This is an attribute that is distinct in a way to the military. When the military mission became grey and our nation’s leadership including the previous and current administration decided the military could double as diplomats and nation builders as well as a professional fighting force, is when I became discouraged. ~Shane
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