COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Let the Clamor Begin

Ready, Aim, Fire McChrystal
Diana West
Friday, September 25, 2009

There are many reasons to fire Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, and all of them are contained within his 66-page "assessment" of the war in Afghanistan.

The document is fascinating, just as the work of zealots is always fascinating. As a high priest of the politically correct orthodoxy, McChrystal has laid out a strategy to combat Taliban jihad in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan without once mentioning Islam, and forget about jihad (fireable offense No. 1).

The resulting black hole leads the commander to conclude, for example, that the reason the 99 percent-plus Muslim people of Afghanistan are "reluctant to align with us" is due to the "perception" -- eight years and untold billions in largesse after we entered the country -- "that our resolve is uncertain." Nothing so simple as what a member of the Afghan parliament recently told the Economist: "The Taliban tell them the Koran says they have to fight the Crusaders and they believe them."

No, it's all our fault. Seizing on the Left's all-time favorite villain, the general blames us -- our troops -- for the Afghan people not liking us. And that, according to the report, is why we're losing this war (fireable offense No. 2).

To win what McChrystal describes not as a battle in the war on global jihad (fireable offense No. 3), but rather as "the struggle to gain the support of the (Afghan) people," (fireable offense No. 4), he writes that we must "connect with the people" -- the same "people," he acknowledges, who "can often change sides and provide tacit or real support to the insurgents" (fireable offense No. 5).

Turning battle-hardened Marines into Miss Congenialities who "must be seen as guests of the Afghan people" doesn't mean our men have to wear swimsuits, but they do have to take off their armor (fireable offense No. 6). "Pre-occupied with protection of our own forces," McChrystal writes, "we have operated in a manner that distances us -- physically and psychologically -- from the people we seek to protect."

Frankly, McChrystal is "pre-occupied" with what he calls "population protection" in a manner that "distances" him -- psychologically and emotionally -- from the men and women under his command (fireable offense No. 7).

That a general could write so disparagingly of the means to preserve his soldiers at least to fight another day is despicable. But this is what zealots do. They serve theories, not men; they see visions, not reality. And that theory, that vision is akin to the familiar Marxist notion, likely imbibed during PC school days, that denies that identity, religion and culture matter. In the resulting tunnel vision, the so-called hearts-and-minds strategy looks like a winner.

This is the underlying basis of the counterinsurgency warfare now in vogue. "Hearts and minds" is not only the flawed rationale behind "nation-building," it also inspires the restrictive rules of engagement finally causing unease at home. This strategy -- now framed as "the battle for the support of the (Afghan) people" -- must be junked as a fraud if our military is ever to be used effectively and appropriately.

Remember, Iraq was a "hearts and minds" war, too. Early on, Gen. David Petraeus ordered signs posted in every barracks asking: "What Have You Done to Win Iraqi Hearts and Minds Today?" Many years, billions and casualties later, behold OPEC-participating, Israel-boycotting, Hezbollah-supporting Iraq. Does it count as a "hearts and minds" victory? The "ungrateful volcano," as Churchill called it, never let us fill up a humvee for free, and even after everything we've put into the country doesn't grant us staging rights for an attack on Iran (or anywhere else).

The zealots call that success, and want to repeat it in Afghanistan. But any more such "success" will break us completely.

Still, the war goes on, and far from Afghanistan. Jihadists learned from the Taliban rout not to rely on one safe haven, "creating many safe havens, one to replace the other," as Jamestown Foundation analyst Murad Batal Al-shishani puts it. Besides the Af-Pak region, he writes, varying jihadist presences exist in regions including Yemen, Somalia, Central Asia, Lebanon and, yes, even Iraq. Plus, I would add, the leading cities of Europe and the United States.

For this global war, we not only need a new general, we need a completely fresh re-assessment.

63 comments:

  1. From a couple of threads back:

    Doug said...

    4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush

    Now cut again, this time to Sept. 8, when four U.S. Marines were killed when the Taliban ambushed their patrol in Kunar province.

    The Marines were taken completely by surprise and pinned down under heavy Taliban fire. McClatchy reporter Jonathan Landay was with them and wrote a harrowing account of their desperate battle to survive.

    The rules of engagement again played a role.
    "U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and treelines,"
    Landay wrote,
    "despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village."
    ---
    At 5:50 a.m., Army Capt. Will Swenson, of Seattle, WA, the trainer of the Afghan Border Police unit in Shakani, began calling for air support or artillery fire from a unit of the Army's 10th Mountain Division. The responses came back: No helicopters were available.

    "This is unbelievable.
    We have a platoon (of Afghan army) out there and we've got no Hotel Echo," Swenson shouted above the din of gunfire, using the military acronym for high explosive artillery shells.

    "We're pinned down."
    Sun Sep 27, 04:33:00 AM EDT
    Doug said...

    "Chandrasekaran reported that McChrystal "seemed caught off guard." Wardak clarified a bit more: "We've been too nice to the thugs," he said.

    So instead of receiving an angry lecture on America's disregard for Afghan life, the general received an angry lecture on America's hesitance to go after the enemy."
    Sun Sep 27, 04:39:00 AM EDT

    ReplyDelete
  2. That McClatchy Reporter has seen a Hell of a lot more combat than the General.
    HQ Queen

    ReplyDelete
  3. The "Best" the Army has, should have been fired after the Tillman fiasco.

    That he is still around, and considered the "best" by our resident den mother, may just well prove the point of how dysfunctional our military has become.

    The General is engaged in building another "Kingdom" for the "Lifers" not winning a war.
    This is further evidenced by the "contractor" fiasco at the Embassy, there in Afghanland.

    Afghanistan for the Afghans, time to come home. The General has no clothes, that much is clear, now.

    The US military, no "Wins" since 1945. Well, I guess we can credit them with beating Panama and Granada.

    Here in the Americas.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Essentially, McChrystal is saying that we have not been employing a COIN strategy.
    ------------------------
    One question is whether another 40,000 troops would be adequate.

    ReplyDelete
  5. McChrystal's assessment is that the insurgents are essentially Afghani aided in small (very small) part by outsiders.

    It's disheartening that after all these years we are not in a position to clear and hold. We went through the same problem in Iraq where we could not provide security to the civilian population. We got lucky there due to the "Awakening" otherwise we would have two major Charley Foxtrots instead of one major and one minor.

    With Obamacare sucking all the oxygen out of the room, there is no debate about US commitment to Afghanistan.

    The Afghanis and the Eastern Europeans see this...

    ReplyDelete
  6. So does al-Qaeda, et al.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Trust me, 4 MILLION Troops wouldn't be adequate.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Man, we had some goofy fucking generals in Nam, but in our worst nightmares we never had any this fucking insane.

    ReplyDelete
  9. More on McChrystals assesment:

    Afghan Army must be increased to 134,000 by fall 2010 with a flexible target of 240,000. Target strength of National Police Forces must be raised to 160,000.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Do we have the money, men, material or international support to build an Afghan nation or even a security apparatus?

    Is there a will anywhere in the whirled to defeat the Taliban?

    ReplyDelete
  11. From the NY Times:
    Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, said in an interview Monday that he wants to know how the uncertainty surrounding the recent Afghan elections and a plan to reintegrate Taliban fighters into Afghan society could affect General McChrystal’s troop request.

    I said before that we would make a deal with the Taliban, declare victory and leave.

    Watch Levin and others do exactly that.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "McChrystal is in charge of the heroin cartel for the Carlyle Group.
    He ordered the assassination of Tillmanm, who was about to go public with information about how Special Forces were used to guard heroin shipments.
    "
    :-)
    You can't make this shit up.
    Somebody else did tho!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Obama doesnt want to WIN, he wants a teachable moment for the arrogant Americans...

    He WANTS to change the ROE to tie American hands behind our backs..

    WHY WHY WHY

    Simple really..

    He wants an America that has no stomach for war, victory or American supremacy in anything..

    HE wants the USA to be vietnam'd again...

    what a fuckin piece of shit our current "potus" is..

    ReplyDelete
  14. We knew Obama was an anti-American piece of shit when we elected him.

    McChrystal is the Huge disappointment. And, by the way, He has a boss. His name is Petraeus. And, he has a Boss. His name is Mullen. This shit didn't happen in a vacuum.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, 1,200 visits in 24 hrs, and Not a Single One from a Library.

    One lonely little dot down in Colombia, though. Hmm, I wonder who That could be?

    I guess I need to clean up my language some, huh? I didn't know people actually knew where this blog was.

    ReplyDelete
  16. All this time I thought we were just chatting among ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I probably doubled that.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The best vitamins to take before facing Iran:

    B-1
    B-2
    B-52
    F-16
    FA-18
    F-22
    C-130
    EA-6B

    ReplyDelete
  19. Remember the Screams from the Left when some of our troops got to Iraq without the very latest body armor?

    Now, McChrystal wants our troops to take it off. I guess the Sunday talk shows were just overrun with Dhimicrats "outraged" over this, huh?

    Huh?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Germany turns right-wing just so they can still say they hate America.

    http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/85859/

    ReplyDelete
  21. If you get an email with the subject line: "Nude Pics of Nancy Pelosi" DO NOT OPEN. It may contain nude pics of Nancy Pelosi.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Bait and Disgust.
    Bait and Deliver.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Rufus said,
    "McChrystal is the Huge disappointment.
    And, by the way, He has a boss.
    His name is Petraeus. And, he has a Boss.
    His name is Mullen.
    This shit didn't happen in a vacuum.
    "
    ---

    "The thing I find intriguing about President Obama’s appointment of a SOCOM operator, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, is the fact that he is being tasked to work for his former command, SOCOM, CENTCOM and EUCOM, but it seems that it’s being reported that
    “He’s the HMFIC Afghanistan,working for a trusted friend Gen Pertraeus”.
    Am I missing something? Has the war by committee thing changed here?
    "
    ---
    Who Is Stanley McChrystal

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hey Rufus:
    What are you looking at for those traffic figures and where the hits come from?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Doug, click on the little graphic of the "Whirlled" right under the blogroll.

    ReplyDelete
  26. How long ago did he put that up?

    ReplyDelete
  27. Gosh, I feel more special than ever:
    In the vast reaches of the Pacific...

    ReplyDelete
  28. Wonder which dot represents murray?

    No murray, none of the time.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Yeah, murray.

    Complained about my posting, but then, when I cut back ...

    He did not step up.

    Moral coward, most likely.
    Hypocrite fer sure.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Send 'em some photoshop work, Deuce.
    You got anything to contribute, T?

    ReplyDelete
  31. What the General's report said, in a nutshell ...
    There is a need for 500,000 men at arms.

    Para-military and Afghan Army and others, totally 500,000.

    ... supporters of sending more troops have to answer this:
    to defend sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, they have to defend their scenario that there's going to be 350,000 Afghan boots on the ground.
    Otherwise - according to General McChrystal - their plan is not going to work.


    Read more:

    Seems to be a reasonable osition. If there is little chance of quickly fielding 350,000 Afghans, the "Plan" is doomed.

    After seven years we have fielded ...

    Training security forces is not cheap. So far, the estimated cost of training and mentoring the police since 2001 is at least $10 billion. Any reliable figure on the cost of training and mentoring the Afghan army since 2001 is as invisible as the army itself. But the U.S. currently spends some $4 billion a month on military operations in Afghanistan.

    The Invisible Men

    What is there to show for all this remarkably expensive training? Although in Washington they may talk about the 90,000 soldiers in the Afghan National Army, no one has reported actually seeing such an army anywhere in Afghanistan. When 4,000 U.S. Marines were sent into Helmand Province in July to take on the Taliban in what is considered one of its strongholds, accompanying them were only about 600 Afghan security forces, some of whom were police. Why, you might ask, didn't the ANA, 90,000 strong after eight years of training and mentoring, handle Helmand on its own? No explanation has been offered. American and NATO officers often complain that Afghan army units are simply not ready to "operate independently," but no one ever speaks to the simple question: Where are they?

    My educated guess is that such an army simply does not exist. It may well be true that Afghan men have gone through some version of "Basic Warrior Training" 90,000 times or more. When I was teaching in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2006, I knew men who repeatedly went through ANA training to get the promised Kalashnikov and the pay. Then they went home for a while and often returned some weeks later to enlist again under a different name.
    In a country where 40% of men are unemployed, joining the ANA for 10 weeks is the best game in town. It relieves the poverty of many families every time the man of the family goes back to basic training, but it's a needlessly complicated way to unintentionally deliver such minimal humanitarian aid. Some of these circulating soldiers are aging former mujahidin -- the Islamist fundamentalists the U.S. once paid to fight the Soviets -- and many are undoubtedly Taliban.


    From the Redstone Network, CBS:
    September 21, 2009

    Meet the Afghan Army


    Ann Jones:
    Is It A Figment Of Washington's Imagination?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Just poked his nose in once, whining.

    Just won't let it go.

    Fellow is a dickweed.

    ReplyDelete
  33. The official website of the Afghan Army

    Active

    1880s — Present
    Country

    Afghanistan
    Role

    Domestic Defense
    Size

    46,000 troops active (April 2007)
    Commanders

    Chief of Staff


    General Bismillah Khan


    Afghan National Army (ANA) is the army of Afghanistan that is being trained by the coalition forces to ultimately take the lead in land-based military operations. Since 2001, the United States has provided more than $2 billion worth military equipment and facilities to Afghanistan. Another further $2 billion worth military aid was announced in 2006 and will be delivered in 2007, which will include 2,500 Humvees, tens of thousands of M-16 assault rifles and body armored jackets. It will also include the building of a national military command center. To thwart and dissolve localized militias, the Afghan government has offered cash and vocational training to encourage members to join the ANA.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Doug, you ever cause me to have to look at something like that again, I'll come out there, twist your head off, and shit down your neck. If I have to swim, I swear to God you'll wish waterwings ha never been invented.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Blogger rufus said...

    Doug, you ever cause me to have to look at something like that again, I'll come out there, twist your head off, and shit down your neck. If I have to swim, I swear to God you'll wish waterwings ha never been invented
    .

    Doug's links were pretty tame, Rufus. Go here
    for Zombietime's report on the 2007 Fair. Heed the warning at the first page, the rest of the post is NSFW, or anywhere else for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
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