America's war in Afghanistan

In Russia, foreboding about America's war in Afghanistan

Thirty years ago this week, the Red Army began its invasion of Afghanistan, a move that sank the Soviet Union in a decade of guerrilla war and hastened the collapse of the Cold War empire.

Today, as former Soviet soldiers watch American troops trying to pacify the same stretches of Afghan land they once fought for, aging Soviet generals and grunts alike are reminded of a war they'd rather forget....>>>>>

Lessons of Vietnam

Applicable to Today

It was half a century ago, on the night of July 8, 1959, that the first two American soldiers to die in the Vietnam War were slain when guerrillas surrounded and shot up a small mess hall where half a dozen advisers were watching a movie after dinner.

MSgt. Chester Ovnand, of Copperas Cove, Texas, and Maj. Dale Buis, of Imperial Beach, Calif., would become the first two names chiseled on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial — the first of 58,261 Americans who died in Vietnam during the next 16 years.

The deaths of Ovnand and Buis went largely unnoticed at the time, simply a small beginning of what would become a huge national tragedy.

Presidents from Harry Truman to Dwight Eisenhower to John F. Kennedy to Lyndon B. Johnson to Richard M. Nixon to Gerald R. Ford made decisions — some small and incremental, some large and disastrous — in building us so costly and tragic a war...........

"We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam." is the sequel to Joe Galloway's and Gen. Hal Moore's bestseller "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young."

Moving Tribute and a Primer on Leadership

"We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam". Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, USA Ret., and Joseph L. Galloway. HarperCollins Publishers. 272 pages; maps; photographs; index; $24.95.

By Col. Cole C. Kingseed
U.S. Army retired

Literary sequels seldom live up to their advance billing and reader expectation, but We Are Soldiers Still by Lt. Gen. Harold (Hal) Moore, U.S. Army retired, and Joe Galloway is a notable exception. In writing a sequel to their New York Times best seller, We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, the authors address a new generation of warriors because “there is no such thing as closure for soldiers who have survived a war.” For Moore and Galloway, the survivors have “an obligation, a sacred duty, to remember those who fell in battle beside them and to bear witness to the insanity that is war.”......

Global War on Terror: How Long, at What Cost?

War Without End?

Is this Global War on Terror going to last forever? Has it already changed our nation from an historically defensive Athens to an offensive Sparta whose military looks everywhere for trouble and finds it? Who is calculating the cost-to-benefit ratio of sending Green Berets and other Special Operations troopers into remote corners of the world to assassinate suspected terrorists?

Ever since the Vietnam War, our presidents have ushered members of Congress into the grandstand where they can boo or cheer military decisions but not make them, despite what the Constitution says right there in Article 1, Section 8: "The Congress shall have power to provide for the common defense."

Unlike Congress, William Greider, a brilliant writer and analyst, has looked these and other dangers in the eye and told us what he sees around the corner in his new book, "Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country".

He dares to write in the book that America has indeed transformed itself from Athens to Sparta to the point that our unchecked militarism endangers us all. What follows is an excerpt from his chapter entitled "The Next War:"

"The U. S. military, despite its massive firepower and technological brilliance, has itself become the gravest threat to our peace and security. Our risks and vulnerabilities around the world are magnified and multiplied because the American military has shifted from providing national defense to taking the offensive worldwide, from being a vigilant defender to being an adventurous aggressor in search of enemies.

"The predicament this muscle-bound approach puts our country in is dangerous and new," Greider warns. "Go looking for trouble around the world and you are likely to find it. The next war may be a fight that is provoked not by them but by us. The next war may already have started somewhere in the world, perhaps in a small, obscure country that we've never considered threatening."

I agree with Greider that there is a new attack elephant in the American living room. The old watchdog that would bark if some stranger knocked at the door but only bite if he broke into the house has been retired. Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates seem to have fallen in love with Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Marine special operators who do their deadly work in the shadows.

The mentality is creating More hatreds towards us and any who go along with this mentality that first there's a War on what is and are criminal acts of terror, as we wage the same terror ourselves!

Those Hatreds create more 'enemies' towards the policies thus creating the 'Blowback' seeking retaliation for strong arming others to our will and wishes, all I might add for Wealth and Power, Not for any type of 'National Security'.

The mentality left from the previous administration not only was dumped into the hands of others, as they walked away fat cats, but has assured a long lasting extreme problem with the growth of the criminal terror groups and hatreds, this will now last for decades.

The total opposite of what they did would have not only contained that growth but if we had acted as we say and think we are, towards others, would have rather quickly brought those guilty to justice and dampened any further growth in the retaliation!

That total opposite is to have used the total world support we had because of 9/11. Taken that support and working with intelligence agencies and law enforcement tactics, bringing in the military as a partner not a destructive force when needed, would have contained these relatively small groups of criminal terrorist. We went into Afghanistan to take down the leading force harboring those who were guilty of the 9/11 attacks and to find and arrest or kill those guilty parties. Making promises to the Afghans of helping them re-build and restructure after the many years of occupation and war with the soviets and than the taliban regime. We quickly left and focused All of our attention on an innocent country and a once great friend and supporter, who we helped place in the dictatorial rule of his people, in Iraq, leaving minimal military forces in Afghanistan and not bringing in the help we promised, once again, as we did after the Soviet occupation.

We're still in Afghanistan, building up military forces, we're still in Iraq, not pulling down our occupation forces, and we're bombing and probably invading across the border into Pakistan. All this is Creating hatreds not Winning Hearts and Minds in the Whole Region. We've killed tens of thousands, we've destroyed two countries as we say we're helping to rebuild, we're now bombing another killing more innocents than insurgents fighters. We're fighting the present inhabitants whose numbers are growing, worldwide, not diminishing, and the children of the region growing up in all of this will be the future Criminal Terrorist seeking the 'Blowback' for the lives we've given them and the deaths and destruction we've caused, the Terror We've Waged on Them!!

We are a very arrogant society, led by the extremely arrogant, and as shown in the previous administration and those recent congresses, extremely incompetent. We consider ourselves at the top with any others way below our feet and care nothing about them nor who or what they are even after we invade and occupy them. We make and rewrite histories, not only our own but others, to suit our needs or propaganda of a time, or in rewriting the present we're going to do better then others who've tried before us, the same wants.

Brandon Friedman, of VoteVets, has a short post up at VetVoice pointing to the website of historian Steven Pressfield who wrote "Gates of Fire" Brandon starts out his post with this quote by Pressfield:

The defining characteristic of the enemy--then and now--is not Islamo-fascism or Islamic extremism or Jihadism or terrorism. I believe it's tribalism and the tribal mindset that give the enemy his power.

--Steven Pressfield

Back in the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan this, about the tribalism, was mentioned as well. And it isn't only tribalism that will fuel an insurgency against an occupying military force, but nationalism of the residents occupied and those in the surrounding region of the occupation, it destabilizes the structures set up within each country.

Steven Pressfields site is a Video Blog site of five video's on his historical view of that region we are now in long running occupation of, these each last about five minutes.

The first, Brandon posts as I will, is called "It's the Tribes, Stupid"



Take a trip over and read Brandon's short personal post and than visit Steven Pressfields Video Blog and watch, with attention, the other four episodes in his short series.

In our arrogance and feelings of superiority we've even allowed the laws we've strictly enforced and condemned others of their practice of to not only be broken, thus creating even more hatreds as well as stamping correct that which others have used as their propaganda against us, but accepting of the rewriting of the policies giving a reasoning as to why we must break them. Breaking the Laws of Torture, domestic as well as those we helped write on the international stage, and embracing their practice has played right into the hands of how others really view us, we've now stamped, with our total approval, that view with our public display of being what we condemned, and still do with our lists of Human Rights Violators, turning those lists into jokes read round the planet!

Accountable for Torture

The rule of law demands accountability. Will we hold accountable those who sanctioned torture in the name of the United States? Watch what some in the military have to say about it. Learn more at ACLU: Rule of Law Produced for the ACLU by Joel Engardio

Visit the ACLU link above and sign on for the Accountability this Country needs before we can even think about moving forward in the world community!

Heads in the Sand

The so-called Sunni Awakening, in which American forces formed tactical alliances with local sheikhs, has been credited with dampening the insurgency in much of Iraq. But new evidence suggests that the Sunnis were offering the same deal as early as 2004—one that was eagerly embraced by commanders on the ground, but rejected out of hand at the highest levels of the Bush administration...................

Leading up to the Hype of the 'surge' {i.e. escalation} while our Soldiers, and Iraqi's, were being Killed and Maimed! The 'politics' of War 'propaganda' from the civilian leadership, as well as some in the military leadership, who's main job is Protecting Their Troops!!

This is a Must Read!!

The Sunni Awakening, when it did finally come, provided welcome relief, says Jerry Jones. But the cost of delay is quantifiable. “From July ’04 to mid-’07,” he points out, “you can directly attribute almost all those K.I.A. [killed in action] in the Sunni regions of Iraq to this fatal error, and if we hadn’t been fighting the Sunni, we’d have had a lot more resources for dealing with Shia militia leaders like Moqtada al-Sadr in places such as Baghdad. It didn’t have to happen. Those lives did not have to be lost.”

And many in this country didn't want nor still don't want Accountability???

In Bleak Afghan Outpost,

Troops Slog On
GIs await reinforcements as Pentagon retools its anti-insurgency efforts

Stalemate

May 14: NYT: The U.S. counter-insurgency in this Taliban stronghold in Kunar Province has been at a bloody draw for years now.

KORANGAL OUTPOST, Afghanistan - The helicopters landed in blackness before the moon rose. The infantry company rushed out and through waist-high vegetation and into forests on an Afghan ridge.

Over the next 40 hours, more than 100 soldiers from the First Battalion, 26th Infantry, swept Sautalu Sar, the mountain where members of the Navy Seals were surrounded in battle in 2005. They were looking for weapons caches and insurgents.>>>>>>

From Bad, to Worse

Following what has been going on in Iraq and trying to follow Afghanistan, with the little, until recently, we get about that theater, I've had a growing uneasy feeling.

We all know that the bush doctrine has been a total failure and I need not go into the whole extreme mess these power hungry idiots have made. There is one thing I do see they succeeded in, creating an enemy and building that into a fear for Perpetual Conflict, replacing the Cold War Mentality to justify Huge Defense Contracts, Huge Profits, and the needed fear factor in the populace of not only the U.S. but the western world, the rest already have their problems from the wests continuing failed policies towards them, of which helped create this enemy.

It's has been rather hard to follow the news on Afghanistan, but it can be done if following overseas reporting.

Than this tragedy happened:

Sgt. Jacob Walker and Spc. Tyler Stafford talk about the attack

Soldiers recount deadly attack on Afghanistan outpost


The insurgents found a weakness, not at the base as much as in backup for or distance to nearest backup, soldiers, air by U.S. or NATO or Afghan forces.

Lately, along with the Obama visit, the above and more is now being focused on what should have been over with long ago, with the ouster of the Taliban and we already should have accomplished the search for al Qaeda there as well as being deep into rebuilding and helping the Afghans use their natural resources to build their long lost economy.

The growing uneasiness is the expansion of both conflicts, laying low in Iraq, for the present, and recruiting around the region and possibly the world for a buildup by the insurgents as to Afghanistan with the unstable government there as well as in Pakistan.

Everyones been worried about an attack on Iran and that fear has been placed front and center for a long time by those controlling the talk, while virtually silent on Afghanistan and Pakistan, either not caring about the tensions there or just plain ignoring it. I choose the latter what with their track record to date.

I caught this the other day.

Along with the Taliban's ongoing progress in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda has strengthened its position in Pakistan's tribal areas, reinforced by a steady stream of new recruits from other countries and an expansion of its networks among local tribes.

The situation reached a point where the Pakistani security agencies, in connivance with the Saudi establishment, felt they had to act. They hatched a plot to establish a proxy network in a newly formed Taliban group that rivals the anti-state al-Qaeda franchise of Baitullah Mehsud's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Taliban.

It didn't work, as the report will tell you, but notice this in the above: "reinforced by a steady stream of new recruits from other countries", wasn't the intelligence watching this, if so why doesn't it seem that actions were taken especially as to beefing up firebases like the one that was attacked!

Today I find this:

al Qaeda calls for a new Afghan 'Jihad'

Afghanistan, and not Iraq -- is the main front of struggle

In the video Escobar states this: "If they win this battle with the infidals than they can go to the land of the two rivers, that's Iraq."

Al Qaeda is back with a vengeance. Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, interviewed by Pakistan’s Geo TV says “there is no difference between the American people and their government”. He goes on to attack the Pakistan government for suppressing the Islamist movement. He calls for Jihad in Afghanistan, on both sides of the Pakistan/Afghan border. As far as future US policy goes, Obama is on a learning curve while McCain seems geographically challenged.

Pepe Escobar has written this up as well over at the Asia Times not completely following what the video gives, but real close.

"At this stage this is our understanding - that there is no difference between the American people and the American government itself. If we see this through sharia [Islamic] law, American people and the government itself are infidels and are fighting against Islam. We have to rely on suicide attacks which are absolutely correct according to Islamic law. We have adopted this way of war because there is a huge difference between our material resources and our enemy's, and this is the only option to attack our enemy."

This isn't a religious confrontation, it is made so by the leading players on both sides and their supporters, which suites them fine, for the purposes of the fear factor they want to instill.

Al-Qaeda's strategy is to suck in the US military - this is classic Osama bin Laden ideology, according to which the US should be dragged to fight in Muslim lands. Al-Qaeda is reasoning that an attack on the tribal areas, in fact a real third front in the "war on terror" (so dreaded by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen) will have Pakistani public opinion so outraged that the Pakistani army would be powerless to follow the US track. And al-Qaeda, in the end, would be left with an even freer hand.

As to the use of this so called 'surge' that supposedly worked so well, if you listen to the rovian 'revisionist history' being spoken by McCain and those who support the bush doctrine, whatever the hell that is, one just needs to go back to the selling of this 'surge' by bush and those involved, these 'revisionist history' creaters get away with it because the ones that listen to them don't remember nor do they want to, as they debate themselves from both sides of their own argument.

The 'surge' worked great, security is tight, attacks are down, but as for any pulldown of troops, some 15,000 more still in theater than before the 'surge', well that depends on conditions on the ground.

If their 'surge' worked, as they are now defining it, than conditions on the ground are great, so thus troops not needed!

But lets see how well this 'surge' is working, as to the new definition:

Fallujah braces for another assault

In the face of US military claims of improved security, violence has been rising by the day this month. The city has now been placed under tight curfew while US and Iraqi military forces prepare for a new offensive,according to the local Azzaman daily.
Iraqi security forces have established new checkpoints around the city and are forbidding movement of people and traffic. Pick-up trucks are roaming the city warning residents that al-Qaeda has once again infiltrated Fallujah.

Seems the insurgents and whatever the U.S. wants to label al Qaeda of Iraq are still playing 'whack a mole' in country and laying low when they need to, hmmm sounds abit like 'Nam over those long years, or just like any guerilla war fought in an occupied country.


Than we have a few, there have been recent ones as well, reports about another part of the 'surge' the supporters don't discuss, the Government of Iraq, along with other reason for:


Kurds Object to Iraqi Provincial Election Law

“This vote has ruined the atmosphere of harmony which dominated Iraq in the recent period,” he said. “It paralyzed the elections. The chance of having an election during this year has been lost.”

Iraqis Take Flawed Step On Electoral Legislation

Losing political power in Kirkuk is likely to hinder the Kurds' long-standing goal of annexing the city into the Kurdistan Regional Government. Keegan said it's too early to tell how Kurds in Kirkuk will react to parliament's vote.

"The likelihood of a violent uprising is unlikely," he said. "A U.S. combat brigade sits up here."

"A U.S. combat brigade sits up here.", right like that's stopped anybody, like the Shiite's and the Sunni's, untill before the 'surge', these last 6 plus years!

It seems that a new 'mujahadeen' is forming or growing from an already established insurgent force along with al Qaeda and the Taliban, with the problems plaguing the Pakistan and Afghan governments, and they are now using the whole region in this game of 'whack a mole', and this spells deep trouble for the region as well as the forces of the U.S. and NATO!

Iran? No! Pakistan? Yes! Forgotten Conflict Soon To Expand and Escalate Dangerously!

I was going to post a followup to a recent post I had done referencing some disturbing news, but suspected, out of Afganistan. That post, a few days ago, followed the extremely sad news about the loss of the nine soldiers, fifteen injured, in a battle at a small fire base they held by Afgan insurgents. This U.S. Abandons Site of Afghan Attack is a recent report on that and as the title says the American forces abandoned the base. It was than apparently retaken by the Afgan Insurgents as well as the little town near it, and control of the territory well around the town and base.


Another report came out yesterday, in the Asian Times, but was dated for today, I've already seen that other sources have been picking it up today, that will follow shortly.


Than this morning Sebastian likes to rattle cages has this diary up with news out of The Guardian that may answer a few questions, or more like worries, I had. This could also explain, and make much more clearer the reason for this, American Envoy To Join Iran Talks, which should have happened over 6 years ago, right after the illegal invasion and as many knew an insurgent conflict would result.


The only ones who could have quieted the rising Blowback, from the invasion and coming occupation, were the neighbors of Iraq, All of them, it's their region, their neighbor, their religions, their sects, and many of us were calling for their involvement.


But Iraq never was and still isn't the only huge problem and extremely failed policy of this administration and it's cohorts, The forgotten War, Afganistan, has and is a big part of the picture and the growing Hatreds in the region, towards us, from those policies!



The other day I had this in that post:

Afghan Warlords, Formerly Backed By the CIA, Now Turn Their Guns On U.S. Troops


They defeated the Soviets with Washington’s help, but now they attack Americans as the new occupiers


And these folks don't play games, they're well seasoned guerilla fighters, in their own country and the terrain well known by them!


They also don't need to raise up hatreds or indoctrinate others, we're doing a damn good job across the region, from Iraq, raising the civilian hatreds towards us in Iran by our rethoric and threats, through Pakistan and into Afganistan, making enemies of tens of thousands if not millions, and this has nothing to do with religious ideology, that's used on both sides to embed fear and control the masses not directly involved, pure propaganda!

But amid a well-coordinated assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and large-scale bombings last week in the capitals of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are keenly aware that they are facing an increasingly complex enemy here—what U.S. military officials now call a syndicate—composed not only of Taliban fighters but also powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency. "You could almost describe the insurgency as having two branches," says a senior U.S. military official here. "It's the Taliban in the south and a 'rainbow coalition' in the east."

Indeed, along with a smattering of Afghan tribal groups, Pakistani extremists, and drug kingpins, two of the most dangerous players are violent Afghan Islamists named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to U.S. officials.

And these two are whom:

were once among America's most valued allies.

I've always thought that bin Laden, and it has been suspected and reported, because of his family thus the connections to possible U.S. officials, was on the CIA payroll and a middle man for the arms dealings for us in the Afgan/Soviet conflict.

Hekmatyar, then widely considered by Washington to be a reliable anti-Soviet rebel, was even flown to the United States by the CIA in 1985.

immortalized in the recent film Charlie Wilson's War

We even made him a cult hero in our movies, now that's the American Way.

Today, the Haqqani network is driving the recent rise in violence in eastern Afghanistan, according to U.S. military officials.

In the course of conducting these operations, insurgents have benefited greatly from the shortage of U.S. and allied troops here, say U.S. officials.

My guess, just like during the Afgan/Soviet conflict, the rise in violence, especially the changing tactics, is drawing fighters from Iraq as well. If that's the case, and violence abates in Iraq, if we still have troops in that country it won't be quiet for long. With quiet comes complacency and if that complacency is seen an felt by the insurgents a very quick rise in insurgent actions will follow for we will still be occupiers in their land, some coming from those we're paying now not to fight us!

U.S. officials had an even higher opinion of Haqqani, who was considered the most effective rebel warlord. "I adored Haqqani. When I was in Afghanistan, Haqqani was the guy who made sure I would get out," says Wilson. "He was a marvelous leader and very beloved in his territory."

The above has been suspected, actually more than suspected because of the lack of ability to get Afganistan under control and not only because the administration just walked away from it and our promises.



This is what I found yesterday at the Asia Times Online:


Militants ready for a war without borders


Hell of a Title that just grabs the attention!


It isn't anything new, that's what Criminal Terrorism, on a World Scale, has been about for years, striking back from the few for the Wests failed policies in their lands and regions and started long before 9/11!



This is how the report starts out:

From thinly disguised insinuations against Pakistan following the suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul this month to outright accusations against Islamabad by the Afghan government over the unrelenting Taliban-led insurgency, the blame game has entered a critical time: a major regional battle could erupt in a matter of days

A matter of days?



The U.S. now wants to, late, send more troops into Afganistan and do what should have been done after we rid it of the Taliban government and al Qaeda, Seek Out Insurgents In Pakistan, in others words expand the conflict into anothers country and not a very stable country at that!



I've been wondering, though haven't heard anything, if some of the insurgents of Iraq have been moving their front, because of the blastwalls that surround the neighborhoods, the employing of others by the U.S. to fight their own countrymen and not our troops, the refugee's all over Iraq and neighboring countries, the ceasefires..................................................., and more.



In Guerilla Warfare everything becomes a weapon to use when the need arises!

Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani was quick to call in senior strategic analysts, who pointed out that the military would only follow the directions of the civilian government. Yet just days earlier, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani had announced that all decisions concerning military operations would be decided by the army chief. This does not bode well for Pakistan's whole-hearted cooperation.

But regardless of how sincerely the Pakistani army fights against the Taliban, the fact is that the Taliban have already staged a virtual coup in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan.

Now if you were in a military of a country that gets invaded What Would You Do!!

As a result, the middle and lower members of the security forces are effectively non-functional and answer to the Taliban's call across NWFP.

Bring together the above about the Afgan Insurgents and Warlords around that country, add the Growing Taliban ranks as well as the original al Qaeda.

On Monday, a high-level al-Qaeda shura (council) concluded in Miramshah in North Waziristan with instructions to all members with families to retreat to safe locations in expectation of the Afghan war spreading into Pakistan's tribal areas.

We have been feeding the growing hatreds, the longer we stayed in Iraq and the dangerous stagnation we've been a part of in Afganistan.

The shura also noted that militant ranks in the region had received their biggest boost since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, including growing numbers from Muslim countries.

If the Guardian report, and apparently others have started reporting same, is correct, though way too late, establishing even minor diplomatic relations might quell actions and arms supply from Iran as well as Iranians joining what possibly could be a full scale conflict with Afgan Warlords, Taliban, al Qaeda, Pakistani Tribesmen, possible Pakistani military forces, irate Afgans, Pakistani's from around the country, and a new Mujahideen, made up of, Once Again, fighters from around that region and elsewhere, including Iraqi's!!

Afganistan=Iraq, Iraq=Afganistan, add Iran, Pakistan and Extreme Failed U.S. Policies

By now most every knows of the sad news, for the U.S. Military, of the 9 Americans Killed in the Afghan Attack, with 15 wounded as well as others at the firebase.


A more recent report can be found here, Afghanistan: 'Hundreds' attacked NATO base with their Story Highlights being:
**Afghanistan: Attack involved 400 to 500 militants. 9 American soldiers killed
**Attack was the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since June 2005
**NATO spokesman: "This was a larger scale attack than normal"
**Bomb kills 6 Afghan guards accompanying vehicle of U.S. private security firm


And many know the deaths of Afgans and Coalition forces occupying Afganistan, especially U.S. forces, has surpassed those in Iraq for several weeks now, even before the above attack.


What does the general American public think when they hear of Afganistan, which is rare:


9/11
bin Laden (now that one is thought of rarely, even by the potus!
Taliban
Poppy i.e. drug trade
Backward People hey if you lived there, and stayed alive, how much would you invest in better living if you could first find a job and second purchase the modern materialistic wants, all while living through decades of others invading and blowing your country up, while you wait for the next invaders who are there now, what's next. If I was Afgan, you'd find me in a cool semi comfortable cave, growing my own food and tending a flock of goats or cows for milk and meat.


I've been saying recently that I'm getting the feeling these theaters are combining, if they weren't before. Remember 'Whack-A-Mole' in Iraq, still going on to a certain extent, in Iraq. Starting before the so called 'surge', i.e. escalation in reality, that was getting under a certain control. Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.) has a post up today, 7-14-08, Here and Here about what was happening prior to the escalation and against the wishes of the administration. It further went to a touchy but controlled condition.


And all along people were not only fleeing the cities and country but were being forced out of their homes if not of a certain sect.


As attacks still occurred but were fewer in number the Iraq definition of the 'Gated Community' started expanding, enclosing the ethnically cleansed neighborhoods and suspected troubled neighborhoods, in the cities, behind huge concrete blast walls.

The vehicles moved through the cratered roads and alleys, looking for a way to leave the neighborhood.


My microbus driver zig-zagged aimlessly, changing course or going straight as other drivers made hand gestures to indicate that the road ahead was closed or open.

After a while we were all moving like a convoy, a convoy of microbuses searching for a way out of the neighborhood.

It was the day after the wall went up. The wall consists of gloomy concrete chunks, 12 feet high, set side by side to enclose my neighborhood.

Seven miles of it went up overnight. We call it "the Black Night."

Let me ask a few questions, would you want to be a Refugee in your own country or forced to move to anothers? Would you want to live in neighborhoods surrounded by huge chunks of concrete with limited entrance/exit capabilities, let alone with bombed out buildings and homes around you and sewage in the streets, as well as limited electricity? Would you want to be burying family members and friends on a regular basis, or have no idea where they may be or even if they were alive?


But it controlled the insurgent parties waging fights and destruction to rid their country of foreign occupiers, somewhat, because the fighting, killing, and destruction goes on.



Now directly above we have the paying of former insurgents to not be insurgents, we have millions of refugee's in and out of their own country, we have neighborhoods under almost total control behind huge blastwalls and we also can add very shaky ceasefires between the sects and government.


Why the growing violence in Afganistan?


With our takedown of the Taliban government while seeking out bin Laden, remember him, and al Qaeda we pushed the remnants to the Afgan Pakistan border region, already a well known.


Then we pretty much left to Invade a Country for Absolutely No Justifiable Reason, pulling out resources and troops there for the coming invasion and occupation of Iraq, again an already well known.


When we left behind a much smaller force in Afganistan, joined by a small coalition of other countries, as well as not putting into that country the monies promised to rebuild and give some semblance of a normal society back, something greatly lacking for years, we started paying that countries warlords to supposedly maintain a very shaky quiet.


Sound familiar, well we're doing the same in Iraq now and word is that program might be coming to an end at least for the payments from us.


There's a new report out in US News and World Report about some old friends, from another occupation, not ours, and possibly some of the new friends after our invasion, and well seem to have gotten tired of our friendship, which prompted me to try and put a few things together for hopefully abit of a better picture of our Forgotten War and equally Forgotten Troops untill attacked and killed or maimed, than back to quiet.


Afghan Warlords, Formerly Backed By the CIA, Now Turn Their Guns On U.S. Troops


They defeated the Soviets with Washington’s help, but now they attack Americans as the new occupiers


And these folks don't play games, they're well seasoned guerilla fighters, in their own country and the terrain well known by them!


They also don't need to raise up hatreds or indoctrinate others, we're doing a damn good job across the region, from Iraq, raising the civilian hatreds towards us in Iran by our rethoric and threats, through Pakistan and into Afganistan, making enemies of tens of thousands if not millions, and this has nothing to do with religious ideology, that's used on both sides to embed fear and control the masses not directly involved, pure propaganda!

But amid a well-coordinated assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and large-scale bombings last week in the capitals of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are keenly aware that they are facing an increasingly complex enemy here—what U.S. military officials now call a syndicate—composed not only of Taliban fighters but also powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency. "You could almost describe the insurgency as having two branches," says a senior U.S. military official here. "It's the Taliban in the south and a 'rainbow coalition' in the east."

Indeed, along with a smattering of Afghan tribal groups, Pakistani extremists, and drug kingpins, two of the most dangerous players are violent Afghan Islamists named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to U.S. officials.

And these two are whom:

were once among America's most valued allies.

I've always thought that bin Laden, and it has been suspected and reported, because of his family thus the connections to possible U.S. officials, was on the CIA payroll and a middle man for the arms dealings for us in the Afgan/Soviet conflict.

Hekmatyar, then widely considered by Washington to be a reliable anti-Soviet rebel, was even flown to the United States by the CIA in 1985.

immortalized in the recent film Charlie Wilson's War

We even made him a cult hero in our movies, now that's the American Way.

Today, the Haqqani network is driving the recent rise in violence in eastern Afghanistan, according to U.S. military officials.

In the course of conducting these operations, insurgents have benefited greatly from the shortage of U.S. and allied troops here, say U.S. officials.

My guess, just like during the Afgan/Soviet conflict, the rise in violence, especially the changing tactics, is drawing fighters from Iraq as well. If that's the case, and violence abates in Iraq, if we still have troops in that country it won't be quiet for long. With quiet comes complacency and if that complacency is seen an felt by the insurgents a very quick rise in insurgent actions will follow for we will still be occupiers in their land, some coming from those we're paying now not to fight us!

U.S. officials had an even higher opinion of Haqqani, who was considered the most effective rebel warlord. "I adored Haqqani. When I was in Afghanistan, Haqqani was the guy who made sure I would get out," says Wilson. "He was a marvelous leader and very beloved in his territory."

In Guerilla Warfare everything becomes a weapon to use when the need arises!


Now we know where some of the funding is coming from for the new mujahideen in Afganistan, the drug trade from the wealth of the poppy. And we know about the want for the oil in Iraq and possibly Iran, Huge Markets for both, but really there is more, especially in and around Afganistan.


Minerals and such used daily in our societies and especially the things the wealthy and wanna-be wealthy want around them like:

The mountain of white marble shines with such brilliance in the sun it looks like snow. For four years, the quarry beneath it lay dormant, its riches captive to tribal squabbles and government ineptitude in this corner of Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Now in the construction professions and one of the many things people want around them is that Beautiful Marble you see in our buildings and on a smaller, but still expensive, scale in our homes, well more the homes of those who can afford it, some who can't will at least try for a marble countertop.

But in April, the Taliban appeared and imposed a firm hand. They settled the feud between the tribes, demanded a fat fee up front and a tax on every truck that ferried the treasure from the quarry. Since then, Mir Zaman, a contractor from the Masaud subtribe, which was picked by the Taliban to run the quarry, has watched contentedly as his trucks roll out of the quarry with colossal boulders bound for refining in nearby towns.

And there's even more:


Another recent article caught my eye and clicked these tired memory cells from a few years back:

Afghan Minister for Mines Ibrahim Adil has said that his ministry had discovered varieties of mines worth of 300 billion U.S. dollars in Afghanistan's central high lands, a local newspaper reported Saturday.

Daily Outlook quoted the minister, who had recently visited the above provinces, as saying the coal mine reservoir discovered in Yakawlang district of Bamyan province could be more than 200 million tons.

He said that the iron mine discovered in the same district could have some 1 billion tons of the metal.

That reminded me, also mentioned in above report, about something I had read awhile back:

Chinese state-owned mining group China Metallurgical Group Corp. and Jiangxi Copper Co. have won the right to develop a copper deposit in Afghanistan after agreeing to invest $3.7 billion in the project, according to statements by the companies.

Now guess what the Chinesse are going to have to do to work these contracts with the Afgan Government, well they'll need to pay off the Warlords of the regions there in as long as that country stays Unstable!


And though I doubt the Chinesse will play our game of arming the new mujahideen, the money will support and supply and the Chinesse can claim no knowledge, just as we would!


Here's a PDF of Afgan Minerals


Here's a document site with a number of links about Afghanistan on the Aynak Copper Deposit


Now need I say how valuable copper is to everyday living?


Here's a Wikipedia page of Afghanistan's natural resources



Now just to add to the mix to what we've caused Pakistan militants focus on Afghanistan

In early June, about 300 fighters from jihadist groups came together for a secret gathering here, in the same city that serves as headquarters to the Pakistani army.

The groups were launched long ago with the army's clandestine support to fight against India in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. But at the meeting, they agreed to resolve their differences and commit more fighters to another front instead: Afghanistan.

"The message was that the jihad in Kashmir is still continuing but it is not the most important right now. Afghanistan is the fighting ground, against the Americans there," said Toor Gul, a leader of the militant group Hezb-ul Mujahedeen.

Now, and this is just speculation, if we had stayed in Afganistan, after taking down the Taliban, and desimating al Qaeda, forcing both towards the mountains and the boder region.


And looked at Terrorism for what it is, a Criminal Act.


With the help of the Military and other Militaries if needed, and the Overwelming World Support after 9/11.


Both groups would have been boxed in, and wether Pakistan wanted to help or not it would have faced World Preasure to do so, than chances would have been good to eliminate al Qaeda and stop the growth of the Taliban.


Would it have eliminated Criminal Terrorism, probably not, but it would have been a much smaller and scattered group, easier, with the Intelligence and Criminal Organizations from all over to find and route out the Criminals thus shutting down their organization abilities and contained much of it, it would have disappeared on it's own.


We could have, along with the rest of the World, all pitched in and Helped Afganistan Rebuild It's Country and It's Society and Helped them Develope their own Contries Resources, non Drug.


Millions of Iraqi's and Afgans would still be alive and not maimed.


Thousands of ours and others Military Troops would still be alive and not maimed.


Millions of Iraqi's and Afgans would not be Refugee's in and outside of their country.


Saddams government was already well contained and the Iraqi's would have eventually taken him down.


Other dictators, some we supported like Saddam, would have seen a New World rising in the 21st century and so would their people, changes would have come.


But that wasn't what was to be, now We and We alone have Created possibly Tens Of Thousands who look at us in Hatred and niow are Enemies of All we Say We Stand For, for they have seen and lived the Reality!

"Independence Day", and No Celebration?

Yesterday I got an e-newsletter about the same time I caught this post. The e covered what prompted the post by ScottyUrb.

Today, the 4th of July, we here in the States celebrate our "Independence", no need to go into an explanation, or give a link to read about, we're all supposed to know and understand what that means, and so are others who think they've achieved that.

This year there'll be alot less traveling to a further destination for relaxation or whatever, more home bodies, we all know the reasons, or we should.

There will be plenty of "Rockets Red Glare" and "Bombs Bursting In Air" with probably more attending the local festivities, along with the many neighborhood unsupervised inexperianced piro-techs.

We mass to watch these shows of loud noise and explosive display, cheering them on, just like we cheer on the "Shock and Awe's" on our TV's when we invade anothers Country, Owwwww and Awwwww!

Except for the possibility of a tragic accident these display's of dangerous explosives rarely hurt anyone, and especially do no damage, as to the numbers putting them on, or watching them.

There was, what supposedly should have been, a day of independence for others at the end of last month.

We are reminded of that "Independence Day" by Kelly Dougherty

Branch: Army National Guard of the United States (ARNG)
Home: Colorado

Eight-year veteran of the Colorado Nat. Guard where I served as both a medic and military police and was deployed to the Balkans and Iraq. I am a co-founder of IVAW and current executive director.

Of, as mentioned above, IVAW.

She reminds us of this Day of Independence in a short letter to the IVAW membership, and all of us, on the front page of their site. In her letter she gets right to the point in the opening:

Just a few days ago Independence Day came and went, and did anyone notice? June 28th was the day the US returned sovereignty to Iraq in 2004, and it should be a day of celebration, a day when Iraqis mark their equal status among nations, just as America did more than two centuries ago.

I read that and just Stopped. Than started thinking that I hadn't heard nor seen anything about this on any MSM outlet, nor was there even a short press speach in the Rose Garden, after all we brought them "Independence", "Freedom", and "Democracy", with over six years of "Rockets Red Glare" and "Bombs Busting In Air", you'd think the President would have that day marked on his calendar and remind the populace of this country of that important date, His Important Date.

After all the surge is supposedly working great

Not only wasn't there anything of note here in the states but apparently Nobody In Iraq felt like celebrating their day of "Independence", didn't see nor hear about anything from there also. Could that be because it's really hard to celebrate such a day while struggling to exist in your own country or in neighboring countries and for some in differant parts of the world. Or if your neighborhood became a cherished gated community to better control you, your neighbors and those throughout the city, You'd think many would want to get together to better know their new neighbors, who moved into houses purged of their previous neighbors because they were of the wrong religious sect or tribe.

Kelly touches on this as well:

Would we be celebrating if our Declaration of Independence had been edited by King George III? What if Britain maintained troops and military bases inside our major cities? Would we mark the day this "independence" began with fireworks and parades?

With a few other reasons it might make it tough to be in celebration mode.

Now they have their "Rockets Red Glare" and "Bombs Bursting In Air", on a daily basis, almost all over, for well over six years now, that may just make them abit hesitant to use that form of celebration. You see they don't have the few accidents like there are here, their "Rockets Red Glare" and "Bombs Bursting In Air" really do cause the intended, Death, Maiming, and Total Destruction, tearing a society and country apart. They've even killed and maimed tens of thousands of visitors? to their country, some visiting? a number of times, some getting extended visiting? privileges without even needing a visa.

Kelly adds these words of truth and what we are supposed to be about:

We need to do more than just celebrate our Independence Day this July 4th; we need to live up to the ideals it represents.

Now not all is lost as to celebrations for the Iraqi people, in their totally destroyed country and society, they really do have their days of remembrance from their long history, and they did hold a celebration of one of those which they celebrated at the beginning of this month, it celebrated the 88th year of their important date, and yes it was about "Independence", a hard fought for "independence" apparently.

The Iraqi province of Muthanna celebrated the 88th anniversary of the outbreak of Iraq's major revolt, known as Thawrat al-Ishreen, or the 1920 Revolution, against the British who were then occupying Iraq.

This may give you a better picture of that time in Iraq and their occupation than.

There apparently were the ussual nicie nice political speaches, and in the state the country is in now, probably made more so as not to piss anyone off during the celebration, thus stopping any blowback from. As well as a few about that time and not the present:

Meanwhile, Sheikh Hatim Rajouj, a local chieftain, gave a speech in which he highlighted the role played by Muthanna tribes in driving the Britons from the province and establishing the first national government in the country.

Not a puppet government under the thumb of the Brits.

The Iraqi revolt against the British started in Baghdad in the summer of 1920 with mass demonstrations of both Sunni and Shiite Muslims

Of that time the real important day, for the Iraqi's of that province, was:

On July 13, 2006, British, Australian, and Japanese forces handed over security responsibility for Muthanna province to Iraqi forces in the first such transfer of an entire province.

Now back than I'll bet the occupying forces left the provinces that were turned over. Today we are supposedly turning over some of the provinces to the Iraqi government and troops, trained and armed by us but it seems we can't trust them quite yet. As well as not leaving that which we turn over

Kelly said U.S. forces would stay at current levels in Anbar for now, but gradually reduce. He did not give details.

"Eventually, we will move into an overwatch posture, away from the population centres," he said.

(Differant Kelly than above)

Keep in mind, a Guerilla Insurgency doesn't end untill the Insurgents say it does!

Happy 4th of July folks, and be careful not to have any 4th of July accidents, the Iraqi's wish they could be so lucky!!!!

Oh and lest we forget the other occupation, Afganistan, the much forgotten till recently, they would like everyone to keep the promises made, giving them real choices and rebuilding a country that has been totally destoyed over and over!

My 'Brothers' Want Their Proud Name Back!!

When you hear the term "Swiftboat" what comes into your mind?

I already know your answer, but it isn't the meaning for those who served on nor any Navy Personal who served In-Country Vietnam.

Not to far back a small group of misguided Navy personal, who served aboard 'Swiftboats' in 'Nam, took that once proud name and used it for their political purposes and gains, with some others joining them, who not only never served on swiftboats, and the extremely dangerous missions they were sent into, but some never served at all, in the Military nor In War/Occupations!

They not only Disgraced their own service but the service of all who served on Swiftboats as well as All of us Navy personal who served In-Country as well as the Blue - Water Navy serving off the shores of 'Nam. They 'Verbally Spit' on themselves and their brothers, All their Navy brothers and sisters!

Recently some who served on but did not partake in the slanderous actions have been back in the news, They want their Proud Name and Proud Service to Country back, especially for the brothers who were Lost!

John Kerry, hands on hips, and Roy F. Hoffmann, kneeling, in Vietnam. Mr. Hoffman helped start the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which criticized Mr. Kerry in his 2004 presidential bid.

One of the recent news reports to service was this one:

Vets Say Billionaire is Going Back on His Word.

Some Vietnam veterans are claiming that Texan businessman T. Boone Pickens is going back on his word to pay $1 million to anyone who can find inaccuracies in claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential election. Agreeing with the veterans, oddsmaker Ben Eckstein says that failing to deliver on a bet is "sacrilegious." "In the world of betting and gambling, your word is your bond," said Eckstein, president of America's Line, a sports and entertainment oddsmaking business. "Whether it's a $7 bet or a $500,000 bet, once it's made and once you shake on it, it should be done."

Which carried this:

"We have 11 different falsehoods that the [Swift Boat Veterans for Truth] came out with in 2004. We have documents, videos, editorials and depositions not just by my boat crew but other eyewitnesses who were involved in the operations."

Sanudsky added that while his group has come up with "everything Pickens asked Kerry for in November," it has all been for nothing.

Brother Navy 'Nam Vet Sanudsky added this,

"We're disappointed because he's ducking out," Sanudsky said. "He's dodging the bullet because we've got the ammunition."

In writing about the above report I placed this in my posts and e's:

Less was known about the Navy's role in that Guerilla/Insurgent Occupation. One says 'Navy' one thinks Sailors on Naval Ships or stationed on shore bases, which by the way was how I spent my whole four years, on shoreduty. Only ships I went on were 'Cuban' cargo vessals riding them through the Panama Canal guarding against them ramming the locks or causing other damage, which was a long running part of the duty down there and was Assinine to say the least, we finally got that practice stopped.

I wasn't a part of the 'Brownwater Navy' in 'Nam, Swifts, PBR's, Zippo's, PACV etc., nor was I a part of the SEAL's, which is probably the only part of the Navy in 'Nam some may have known about, still not knowing what they actually did. I did work with some in the 'Brownwater', mostly friends from previous duty bases who were there at the same time, and because of what I did some work with the SEAL's, I was a GunnersMate small arms.

Untill Apocalypse Now, the movie, I doubt the knowledge of Navy duty In-Country was a reality to most. My brother Sailors were involved in a whole slew of differing parts of that Occupation.

Do a search of 'Swiftboat', 'PBR', 'Brownwater Navy', 'COMNAVFORV', you'll find numorous sites to learn more about the Naval role in Vietnam.

A few days later this followed:

More on T. Boone - swiftie funder

T. Boone Pickens Says No Deal on Swift Boat Bounty

T. Boone Pickens is not giving up his million dollars

And today there's another report out that should be hitting Every Major/Minor Newspaper and MSM Outlet, Especially the Talking Heads who backed the Slander, Speaking Apology and putting Present Meaning To Rest!

Give My Brothers Their Proud Service Back!

More "Swiftboat Sailors" are coming out in demanding their Integrity and Service to Country Back.

“I was proud of what I did, and all the guys I was with,” Mr. Miller said. “Now somebody says ‘Swift boat’ and it’s a whole different meaning. They don’t associate it with the guys we lost. That’s a shame.”

“You would not hear the word ‘Swift boat’ and think of people that served their country and fought in Vietnam,” said Jim Newell, who spent a year as an officer in charge on one of the small Navy vessels in An Thoi and Qui Nhon. “You think about someone who was involved in a political attack on a member of a different party.

“It is time to ban a word that is at once offensive, demeaning and obscene both to and for anyone serving in the naval profession. That word is ‘Swiftboating.’ ”
This month, a group of veterans who served with Mr. Kerry took up the challenge by Boone Pickens, the billionaire Texas oilman who helped finance the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, that he would give $1 million to anyone who could disprove anything in the group’s campaign against Mr. Kerry.

Now Billionaire T. Boone never served on a Swiftboat nor did he serve in Vietnam, but felt it was his Political Duty to fund this slanderous attack on someone who served Honorably and not only on Swiftboats but prior to that on a Support Ship for the same Swiftboats off the shores of Vietnam, doing Two tours, untill wounded in the second.

On Swiftboats.net, Larry Wasikowski tends to a crew list, a history of the boats and even archives of newsletters that various crews sent home to their families from 1966 to 1969. Mr. Wasikowski and the sailors’ association grant the designation of “Swiftie” meticulously, requiring extensive official documentation from anyone who claims the title.
By the association’s count, about 3,600 men served aboard Swift boats in Vietnam, 600 officers and 3,000 enlisted.

Some 200, a questionable count, took part in using the proud name "Swiftboat" in a Political Slander Campaign against one of their own. They did so simply because a small handfull can't stand John Kerry and his Politics, that small handfull can't even stand John McCain and some are now going after him as well!!

Regardless of what they thought of Mr. Kerry, many Swift boat veterans objected to the attacks.
“It was unconscionable,” said Stan Collier, who served as an officer in charge on a boat based in Qui Nhon. “I thought those boys struck a new low.”
Mr. Collier considers himself a conservative and did not agree with Mr. Kerry’s politics, but he voted for him to protest the Swift boat campaign. “We’ve all been attributed to the sleaziness that those guys assigned to Kerry,” he said. “I think we’ve all been demeaned.”
As Mr. Miller said, “People don’t know about us; they know about those few TV advertisements.”

“It’s taken on a life of its own,” Mr. Wasikowski said. “The problem is, it’s on the wrong side. We would like to be remembered as the one operation in Vietnam that succeeded, totally.”

And there is another group of Very Proud Military Service Members that would like their Honor Back, this covers All Conflicts, All Service Branches, and isn't making the News. It happened in the same year as the above. Yet after it occurred extremely little has been mentioned since, and especially as we have Two Theaters of Military Operations and Occupations still ongoing. Many died for this Honor, many were Maimed for this Honor, from the start of it's existance right up to Today and will continue into the forseable future.

Remember this:

This happened at that years Political Convention. A certain Political Party, who claim they are the Party of a Strong National Defense and Supporters of America's Military Personal found it not only Amusing but Extremely Funny to Pass Out and Wear their Purple Heart Bandaids, many with their Lapel American Flag Pins as well, why the Joke even carried to their talking heads, political spinmeisters, and their legions of Supporters, most who have Never Served In The Military nor do much in our times of Wars Of Choice and Occupations, except to scream they want More. More of making More Hatreds and Enemies of our Country and Us Americans! More of allowing the War Profitteers to rob from our Treasury! More of the Huge Defense Budgets with No Questions Asked about where the moneys going, More of sending the few into Multiple Tours and Stoploss! More of Not Taking Care of those sent when They Return! As long as most of them don't have to Sacrifice and can continue to call themselves a Party of Moral Americans!

I never heard an APOLOGY to the few who Serve and are Awarded Purple Hearts, America's Highest Honor, for Dying and being Maimed in America's Wars, Wars mostly of Choice not Need!

Shame On You T Boone, Shame

Your word has turned to slime, hope the business world is paying attention, though you'll always find
snakes like you to deal with and make some bucks, and I'm sure many already have learned about you
through your years of building your billions.

What's this all about? Well,

Vets Say Billionaire is Going Back on His Word.

Some Vietnam veterans are claiming that Texan businessman T. Boone Pickens is going back on his word to pay $1 million to anyone who can find inaccuracies in claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential election. Agreeing with the veterans, oddsmaker Ben Eckstein says that failing to deliver on a bet is "sacrilegious." "In the world of betting and gambling, your word is your bond," said Eckstein, president of America's Line, a sports and entertainment oddsmaking business. "Whether it's a $7 bet or a $500,000 bet, once it's made and once you shake on it, it should be done."

You see, and many already know, Pickens made his $1million wager to anyone who could bring forth falsities to disprove the 'swifties' claim, of which T. Boone had bankrolled, at a dinner for the American Spectator magazine in '07.

Kerry took him up on it, and I doubt to collect on the bet but to set the recod straight,

offering to meet Pickens and provide him with information that Kerry said would debunk the allegations.

Pickens in turn refused to meet with Kerry, wonder why, after all he made the bet calling Kerry out.

Now Pickens equally slimmy spokesperson Jay Rosser is trying to spin the meaning of the bet.

"Boone can't be accountable for everything the [Swift Boat Veterans for Truth] say," Rosser said. "[He can only be responsible] for the ads that he helped fund."

And adds,

"Nobody has stepped forward with any factual mistakes in those ads," Rosser added.

Really? Kerry makes an offer to meet with Pickens, face to face, and my brother 'Nam Navy Vets, who were stationed with Kerry as well as some being on the Swiftboat Kerry commanded taking part in the daily operations they were sent out on, in other words being the eye witnesses to anything and everything their boat, as well as the other boats with them, experianced.

"We have 11 different falsehoods that the [Swift Boat Veterans for Truth] came out with in 2004. We have documents, videos, editorials and depositions not just by my boat crew but other eyewitnesses who were involved in the operations."

Sanudsky added that while his group has come up with "everything Pickens asked Kerry for in November," it has all been for nothing.

Brother Navy 'Nam Vet Sanudsky added this,

"We're disappointed because he's ducking out," Sanudsky said. "He's dodging the bullet because we've got the ammunition."

And this,

"Where we come from, your word is your bond," Sanudsky said. "Mr. Pickens hasn't heard the last from us.
"We won't rest until he admits the truth that he bankrolled a big lie."

Now many back than couldn't understand why Kerry didn't strongly fight the charges being made by the 'swifties', especially the small number involved in that group and some not even being Swiftboat Sailors, who for purely political purposes were trying to bring some sort of 'Noble Cause' to that quagmire built on lies.

To me, a brother Navy In-Country 'Nam Vet '70-'71, I understood Kerry and knew where the swifties were coming from, as they, for political purposes, were slandering not only Kerry but their own 'Nam service as well as all who served In-Country, especially us Navy personal. Some of those clowns have been doing the same, and making money off their slanders since 'Nam as they roped in the simple minded who bought their crap.

Lets bring it closer to the present. Most, in this country, hadn't a clue what we were doing in 'Nam just like they haven't a clue what the Military Personal are doing in the Theaters of Afganistan and Iraq today, though back than the media, as small as it was, were at least reporting on some of what was going on with actual footage of firefights, firebases in the jungles, bombings in the cities.............................. etc..

Less was known about the Navy's role in that Guerilla/Insurgent Occupation. One says 'Navy' one thinks Sailors on Naval Ships or stationed on shore bases, which by the way was how I spent my whole four years, on shoreduty. Only ships I went on were 'Cuban' cargo vessals riding them through the Panama Canal guarding against them ramming the locks or causing other damage, which was a long running part of the duty down there and was Assinine to say the least, we finally got that practice stopped.

I wasn't a part of the 'Brownwater Navy' in 'Nam, Swifts, PBR's, Zippo's, PACV etc., nor was I a part of the SEAL's, which is probably the only part of the Navy in 'Nam some may have known about, still not knowing what they actually did. I did work with some in the 'Brownwater', mostly friends from previous duty bases who were there at the same time, and because of what I did some work with the SEAL's, I was a GunnersMate small arms.

Untill Apocalypse Now, the movie, I doubt the knowledge of Navy duty In-Country was a reality to most. My brother Sailors were involved in a whole slew of differing parts of that Occupation.

When all this was happening, as to the swifty attacks, it was frankly mistifying that many bought into the lies being spread, just simple common sense should have quickly dispeled them, especially as the main characters for this group, the leaders, had been doing same for years with no actual proof of their charges and they didn't have anything than, still don't.

Moral of this story: If you going to do a 527 political action group, or other obscure fringe group, you had better have all your 'i's' dotted and your 't's' crossed if paying for advertising, or saying things, to be seen, or heard, by the masses when bringing on charges, actual proof of, against someone running for office. You'll grab the minds, or lack there of, of the fools with the slander you'll put forth, but when confronted with the actual proof to slam down your slander you had better retract your charges, and most certainly, wether a billionaire or not, don't place a bet on the slander, a gambler, like me sometimes, is gonna go with the sure thing and we want our payday.

A little note to those who force their beliefs? on others:

Have those who follow their religious ideologies, all you 'christian's?' especially, forgotten that lying is a 'sin', or have you all just thrown that bit of the bible teachings out with the rest you don't care to follow, like tolerance of others?

More on T. Boone - swiftie funder

T. Boone Pickens Says No Deal on Swift Boat Bounty

T. Boone Pickens is not giving up his million dollars

Is There An Election Coming??

If so, looks like the 'boogeyman' will be letting our Troops follow it back to the homeland, or the scare is being germinated in the populace:

Intelligence Officials: Dozens of Europeans Have Trained in Terror Camps in Pakistan
Officials Fear This May be the Beginnings of a New Breed of al-Qaeda-Affiliated Terrorism

Dozens of white Europeans have trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan's tribal regions in recent months, U.S. intelligence sources tell ABC News, in what officials fear may be the beginnings of a new breed of al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorism.

Back to serious, I buy this report, We've raised the Hatred Level Around The World.

These clowns aren't getting 'Recruited' they're joining up and I doubt that they are of an unintelligent breed, like say with an 'R' after their names!

One wonders what 'Blackwater' may be doing under the sheets in the name of this country and ours, anywhere in the World!!

They don't need a rush or fox or o'really!

Lets Simplify the Iraq Fiasco

Conn Hallinan who is a Foreign Policy In Focus columnist has a writeup over at Foreign Policy in Focus, go figure.

It's titled Basra: Echoes of Vietnam, and while some is about the recent cheney debacle in Basra, and yep he had to have requested the Iraqi action in his resent visit, looks too much like what he's done these past 7plus years, in short it shows the ignorance and failed policy decisions, once again, that this Nation has been subject to as we destroy others.

Let me first go to something he wrote near the bottom of the piece, that frankly has been said over and over by many others in almost the exact same way or in other ways to get the point across, especially by us 'Nam Vets who saw, and lived, what was going on.

As it did in Vietnam, the United States looks at Iraq though the lens of firepower and troop deployments. But war is not just about things that blow up, and occupiers always ignore the point of view of the occupied.

People, people, people, when one invades anothers country, than occupy those who were invaded, we're in Their Country, it's Their Traditions, Their Heritage, Their Patriotism, Their Homes, Their Families, Their Friends, Their Neighbors, Their Lifestyles, Their Religions, Their Histories, and any other Theirs you can think of that are Invaded and Destroyed, so One Better Have A Real Damn Good Reason To Invade to begin with, otherwise the Enemies, as we like to call those in their own countries, Increase In Numbers, and their once friends and neighbors get targetted if there's collaboration with the invaders, that's the way it is.

Who suffers the most? The Innocents in their own countries, from the actions of the invaders and occupiers to those, mostly but not always nationalists, fighting the invaders, and all the while the propaganda machines, on both sides, spew out the rethoric to cause the fears and hype needed to gain support of the already failed policies.

Mr. Hallinan puts this near the beginning:

But while a single battle may not end a conflict, it can illuminate an underlying reality.

And that reality has been voiced over and over and over......................... since even before the debacle was unleashed!

In his section Remembering Tet, which by the way gives you the reason for the title, as these years and this invasion have given us 'Nam vets the sense of DeJa-Vu and Total Outrage, as most of us said we would never allow that to happen again, he refers to a few others. Like an Op-Ed by Frank Rich on Tet, and spokesman for General Petraeus Rear Admiral Gregory Smith talking about the success{?} being made.

“There is a parallel to Tet here,” says military historian Jack Radey. “’We have won the war, violence is down, the surge works’ [the U.S. told itself], and then Kaboom! The Green Zone is taking incoming.”

Reality Bites!!

Now on Tet, 'Nam, and Guierilla/Insurgent Warfare:

“It is more likely proof that you have lost track of him, and he will, at his own chosen time, find ways to remind you of his presence.”

Time is a Weapon in Guerilla Warfare, including Years! Lessons quickly forgotten!!

According to historian Gareth Porter, the United States mistakenly concluded that the ceasefire Sadr declared six months ago was a sign that the Mahdi army was vulnerable.

Our arrogance rules over the reality of the time, and Sadr isn't the only one, we're paying others to fight the gangs calling themselves al Qaeda of Iraq, when will they Bite Back or has that begun already with the continuation of the fighting with the Mahdi army.

He than goes into Other Analogies which give an almost perfect picture of the present clashing with the not so far back past:

But Tet is not the only relevant Vietnam analogy. The other parallel was Operation Lam Son, the 1971 invasion of Laos by the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). The United States pushed South Vietnam to attack Laos in order to demonstrate that the ARVN could stand on its own two feet, and to make the point prior to the upcoming 1972 U.S. elections that Nixon’s policy of “Vietnamization” was working
Instead, U.S. audiences watched as panicked ARVN troops clung to helicopter landing skids in their desperation to escape from Laos. Lam Son “was a disaster,” writes historian A.J. Langguth in Our Vietnam: The War, 1954-1975: “Vietnamization became one more doomed fantasy. After 10 years of training and costly equipment, South Vietnam’s troops seemed to be no match for the Communists.”

With abit more added.

Than he has In Basra

As Indian diplomat M.K. Bhadrakumar points out in the Asia Times, the principal outcome of the fighting is that “the Bush Administration’s triumphalism over the so-called Iraqi ‘surge’ strategy has become irredeemably farcical.”

So, after three years and $22 billion in training and equipment, the Iraqi army got shellacked. The only thing that prevented a full-scale rout was the intervention of U.S. troops and air support.

Guess what, the same Damn Thing happened in Vietnam!

His closing section, though the whole thing isn't that long, he calls It's the Oil Stupid

Rather than as an assault on “criminal militias,” virtually every independent observer saw the attack as an effort by Maliki and the Americans to take control of Basra’s oil resources preliminary to turning them over to private oil conglomerates. Standing in the way of both those goals was the nationalist-minded Mahdi army as well as Iraq’s oil and dockworkers unions.

Those damn Nationalists combined with the Oil and Dockworkers Unions, of guess where, if Iraq You're Right, no prize though just Our Shame and Guilt, they got in the way and one upped everyone's Big Plans, and are now still fighting because our leadership{?} and the puppets didn't get the point. Now more will die and get maimed, more will be destroyed, and the hatreds will grow, leading to more 'blowback' and more death and destruction.

For starters, people don’t like losing control of their country. With the exceptions of the Kurds and Maliki and his allies, Iraqis are overwhelmingly opposed to the occupation. That disconnect between occupied and occupiers was summed up by Luu Doan Huynh, a Vietnamese veteran of the war against the Japanese, the French, and the Americans, and one of the key diplomats in the Vietnam peace talks. “The Americans thought that Vietnam was a war,” he said. “We knew that Vietnam was our country.”

Which, because it's now and not the Vietnamesse, will lead to further 'blowback' that our children now will contend with and possibly their children, pandora's box has been destroyed and only the People, not the so called powerful, can try and glue the pieces back together!

"Veterans"

I use a 'Live TV' toolbar to get a number of stations, worldwide, which brings up a player that stays up as I'm browsing or working. Most aren't worth watching or are not in english, but some interest viewing can be found as well as a few english language News Programs or Networks, like the BBC and Al Jazeera.

Checking in on Al Jazeera English to see what they were reporting, most of the time like the BBC and a few others, much more than the U.S. MSM, free press and all, on Iraq and Afganistan and other regions, I caught the near ending of a Special Program series they are running called 'Veterans'.

In a special four part series Al Jazeera looks at the fate of veterans from some of the world's most savage or forgotten conflicts.

Whether they are conscripts, civilians, survivors - all have felt the shock of war and have been forced or chosen to fight to defend their country, their families or even an idea they do not fully comprehend

Some veterans have reintegrated into normal life with great ease and success but others have been unable to overcome the legacy of the conflict and say they have been abandoned by the countries they once served.

The first of these reports is on the Soviets in Afganistan, Remembering the Soviet 'Vietnam'
, which I happened on, the last few minutes of.

The Black Tulip memorial in Yekaterinburg is one of few tributes to victims of the war

More than 600,000 troops participated in the Soviet Union's decade-long war in Afghanistan, the USSR's largest military operation since the second world war.

Yet for many in modern Russia, and in other former Soviet countries, the conflict is one they would rather forget and is regarded with humiliation. Two years after the Soviets were forced to withdraw the USSR collapsed and many veterans returned to a changed country.

Al Jazeera found many of those who returned alive and are still disappointed by the lack of support they received and still bear the psychological scars from a conflict sometimes referred to as the USSR's "Vietnam".

They have this report on their YouTube Channel, and I bring both parts to you.

While you watch this, if you choose, place in your mind another country and a present conflict, actually Two, might even travel back in memory, for some, some 30 to 40 years ago as well!!

Veterans - Soviets in Afghanistan - March 31 - Pt 1

12 and a half minutes

Veterans - Soviets in Afghanistan - March 31 - Pt 2

11 and a half minutes

The next three, in the series, will be:

Rwanda

Few conflicts are imprinted in the public conscience as much as the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
In one of Africa's bloodiest ever atrocities it is estimated as many as a million people from the country's Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus people could have been killed in a period of only about 100 days.
Although now at peace Rwanda still has many wounds to heal and the reconciliation process has been painful for many veterans of the country's often forgotten longer civil war.

Bosnia: The siege of Sarajevo

The Bosnian capital Sarajevo is a tranquil and picturesque place. However its name will forever be associated with bloodshed after the city was subjected to one of the longest sieges in modern history in 1992.

For 44 consecutive months, its citizens were forced to take up arms to defend themselves from attack by Serb forces - forces whose violent actions against Bosnian Muslims across the country gave rise to the term "ethnic cleansing".
The destructive effects of war endure for many veterans and Al Jazeera met people who fought on both sides and a volleyball team who have put physical injuries aside to turn misfortune into triumph.

Argentina and the Malvinas

The Falkands war is a conflict many people in Argentina would like to forget but one that most cannot. Although the war in 1982 lasted just 74 days the effects have lasted a last time for the country's veterans.
A total of 649 Argentinians died in the conflict and for those who survived they became synonymous with a humiliating defeat and an unpopular military junta that collapsed soon after. At least another 350 veterans have committed suicide in the 25 years since the war.
Al Jazeera visited survivors still effected by the war for who the Malvinas (as the Falklands are known) are still an inalienable part of Argentina.

Veterans, beginning with Soviets In Afghanistan, airs from Monday March 31 at the following times: Monday 0630, 1430GMT, Tuesdya 1130GMT, Wednesday 2030GMT, Thursday 0730GMT, Friday 0230, 1330GMT

I came in a few minutes before this was stated: "Veterans are the best peace keepers, they know the value of life!"
I'll just say most are and most do!

The rest look like a continuation of this interesting series, but that first, and our own, should have been Remembered and Understood by the Neo-Cons, who's interest were, and are, Wars Of Choice, sending others to battle for them.

In Wars Of Choice an 'enemy' didn't exist, it's created once invaded and those invaded fight back many times with regional help, more often than not, no one intercedes except the arms merchants, for there's wealth in them there Wars, and Damn the Inhumanity!!

And I hope the Treatment of our returning Veterans, of Mutiple Tours, Stop Lossed, and some Returned to Theater with PTSD, more than once popped into the mind as you watched the above Video Reports, as well as what some of these Soviet Soldiers are now experiancing, reminds me of my 'Nam Brothers!!

The War as We Saw It

By BUDDHIKA JAYAMAHA, WESLEY D. SMITH, JEREMY ROEBUCK, OMAR MORA, EDWARD SANDMEIER, YANCE T. GRAY and JEREMY A. MURPHY
Published: August 19, 2007

LTE To New York Times

Baghdad

VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)

The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the battle space remains the same, with changes only at the margins. It is crowded with actors who do not fit neatly into boxes: Sunni extremists, Al Qaeda terrorists, Shiite militiamen, criminals and armed tribes. This situation is made more complex by the questionable loyalties and Janus-faced role of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Army, which have been trained and armed at United States taxpayers expense.

A few nights ago, for example, we witnessed the death of one American soldier and the critical wounding of two others when a lethal armor-piercing explosive was detonated between an Iraqi Army checkpoint and a police one. Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and Army officers escorted the triggermen and helped plant the bomb. These civilians highlighted their own predicament: had they informed the Americans of the bomb before the incident, the Iraqi Army, the police or the local Shiite militia would have killed their families.
As many grunts will tell you, this is a near-routine event. Reports that a majority of Iraqi Army commanders are now reliable partners can be considered only misleading rhetoric. The truth is that battalion commanders, even if well meaning, have little to no influence over the thousands of obstinate men under them, in an incoherent chain of command, who are really loyal only to their militias.

Similarly, Sunnis, who have been underrepresented in the new Iraqi armed forces, now find themselves forming militias, sometimes with our tacit support. Sunnis recognize that the best guarantee they may have against Shiite militias and the Shiite-dominated government is to form their own armed bands. We arm them to aid in our fight against Al Qaeda.

However, while creating proxies is essential in winning a counterinsurgency, it requires that the proxies are loyal to the center that we claim to support. Armed Sunni tribes have indeed become effective surrogates, but the enduring question is where their loyalties would lie in our absence. The Iraqi government finds itself working at cross purposes with us on this issue because it is justifiably fearful that Sunni militias will turn on it should the Americans leave.

In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear. (In the course of writing this article, this fact became all too clear: one of us, Staff Sergeant Murphy, an Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head during a time-sensitive target acquisition mission on Aug. 12; he is expected to survive and is being flown to a military hospital in the United States.) While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force.

Given the situation, it is important not to assess security from an American-centered perspective. The ability of, say, American observers to safely walk down the streets of formerly violent towns is not a resounding indicator of security. What matters is the experience of the local citizenry and the future of our counterinsurgency. When we take this view, we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.

Coupling our military strategy to an insistence that the Iraqis meet political benchmarks for reconciliation is also unhelpful. The morass in the government has fueled impatience and confusion while providing no semblance of security to average Iraqis. Leaders are far from arriving at a lasting political settlement. This should not be surprising, since a lasting political solution will not be possible while the military situation remains in constant flux.

The Iraqi government is run by the main coalition partners of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, with Kurds as minority members. The Shiite clerical establishment formed the alliance to make sure its people did not succumb to the same mistake as in 1920: rebelling against the occupying Western force (then the British) and losing what they believed was their inherent right to rule Iraq as the majority. The qualified and reluctant welcome we received from the Shiites since the invasion has to be seen in that historical context. They saw in us something useful for the moment.

Now that moment is passing, as the Shiites have achieved what they believe is rightfully theirs. Their next task is to figure out how best to consolidate the gains, because reconciliation without consolidation risks losing it all. Washington's insistence that the Iraqis correct the three gravest mistakes we made de-Baathification, the dismantling of the Iraqi Army and the creation of a loose federalist system of government places us at cross purposes with the government we have committed to support.

Political reconciliation in Iraq will occur, but not at our insistence or in ways that meet our benchmarks. It will happen on Iraqi terms when the reality on the battlefield is congruent with that in the political sphere. There will be no magnanimous solutions that please every party the way we expect, and there will be winners and losers. The choice we have left is to decide which side we will take. Trying to please every party in the conflict as we do now will only ensure we are hated by all in the long run.

At the same time, the most important front in the counterinsurgency, improving basic social and economic conditions, is the one on which we have failed most miserably. Two million Iraqis are in refugee camps in bordering countries. Close to two million more are internally displaced and now fill many urban slums. Cities lack regular electricity, telephone services and sanitation. Lucky Iraqis live in gated communities barricaded with concrete blast walls that provide them with a sense of communal claustrophobia rather than any sense of security we would consider normal.
In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days ago with deep resignation, We need security, not free food.

In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are an army of occupation and force our withdrawal.

Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.
We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.

Buddhika Jayamaha is an Army specialist. Wesley D. Smith is a sergeant. Jeremy Roebuck is a sergeant. Omar Mora is a sergeant. Edward Sandmeier is a sergeant. Yance T. Gray is a staff sergeant. Jeremy A. Murphy is a staff sergeant.