30 OCT

Greetings. This week's entry is the result of a question I was asked regarding my opinion on the actions of an American civilian who quit his government job due to loss in confidence in our efforts in Afghanistan.

Mr. Hoh is a civilian and can quit any job he wants when he sees fit and say anything about why he did what he did or how he feels about government policy. As far as what he said: he has lost confidence and understanding in the mission. The mission is clear: Train and enable the Afghan Government and Security Forces to do their jobs so they can stand as an independent free country that can squash any uprising or insurgency and fight to own land that would otherwise be inhabited by people who wish harm to millions of innocent people around the world. If we leave Afghanistan now or before the above mission is accomplished, there will be more blood on American soil. Why? Because the same peace-preaching hippies who want to bring all the troops home regardless of their need to be overseas won't take the steps necessary to keep bad people out of America or hunt down the ones already in our country in the name of rights (Reminder, they aren't American and they want to do bad things to us.). We can fight them over here or we can fight them in our streets, which sounds better to you?

I am not mad at you for asking or at Mr. Hoh for walking away. He had the right and he chose to exercise it. I wish we could leave here and the people here could live on their own and defend their country against all enemies foreign and domestic. Is the war "fueling the insurgency?" I think it is a ridiculous "trap question." What came first, the chicken or the egg? If we left, who would they blow up? The answer is, they'd blow up whatever they see fit in order to reclaim control of this country, which they probably would do eventually do. Then they'd establish a Muslim State and harbor more bad people that would train to kill good people and then they'd launch more missions like the embassy bombings of the late 90s, USS Cole of 2000 and the 9/11 attacks. Then what do we do, start all over? If at first you don't succeed, try again...I think that is best left for the first time you try to run a 5K or make the football team. What about, "If it is worth doing, it is worth doing twice." Nope, that isn' t it. The more appropriate saying for international conflict is, "If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right and finishing the first time."

The truth hurts, and in war people die. What changed regarding our superiority and patriotism between WWII and today? Why are our politicians scared of war? A few things...we haven't had a uniform-wearing enemy that wanted to fight man on man. They cheat. They hide among women and children and use them to kill Americans and coalition forces. Can anyone fight and succeed against America in the air, on land, or on the high seas? No, so no one will try. Anyone that would like to do so can easily fund our enemy to keep us busy and wear down our fighting forces....it is being done today by Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela, and the list goes on. Politicians need votes to stay in power. Coffins don't vote and actually can cause people to vote the other way. With a governing body that is more concerned about votes and staying in office than serving our country and upholding the constitution as it was written by the brave men that formed our country, you get people voting not in line with the long term best interest of the United States, but in the best interest of their individual political careers. I see it everyday in Afghanistan; people acting in their own interest instead of that of their unit or the people of Afghanistan. The same self-serving and self-righteous attitude that is not allowing this country to transition from crawl to walk is going to take America back to her knees. It has been said that we are hundreds of years ahead of Afghanistan and other third world countries (sans cellphones, computers, and internal combustion engines), but if our "leaders" continue us down the current course, we cannot maintain our superiority. It also falls on the American people to find new people to lead this country in the right direction instead of the resultant vector of their individual agendas. Russia was a great and powerful nation. Communism broke it and now they are getting back on their feet. America will borrow ourselves broke to bailout this and that and provide stimuli to our people because that is instant gratification.

Our first Gulf War lasted less than 48 hours...instant gratification, but if we'd finished Hussein off that time, we wouldn't be there today. Bush proclaimed mission accomplished too early in Iraq because he either suffered from the same anxiety that his father did and wanted to say it was over, or because he thought that is what the American people wanted to hear...probably both.

In Afghanistan, they say the Americans have the watches (all the fancy equipment and gear), but the Taliban have time. This means they know that all they have to do is hold out and make us lose the war at home by killing a few people here and there. The commanders over here are scared to lose people, so they make their folks sit around on bases all day making power points about how bad the bad people are. If the American police just sat around talking about bad people and never made an effort to go get them, we would never lose police in the line of duty, but many innocent Americans would die at the hands of rapists and murderers...would America stand for that? Why not, no police are dying? What is the difference? If we are going to kill these assholes that mean us harm, good red-blooded American men are going to die in the process. It will hurt and families will suffer losses, but no one over here was drafted and we all signed up knowing what lied ahead.

Remember, it is either going to go down on the side of some mountain or on a dirt road in this country, or it is going to go down in the streets of ours*. I will say it again. Home field advantage is not something you want in the war on terror.

BMP

*This was written 2 days before the FBI had a shootout in the streets of Michigan with an extremist Muslim cleric who preached hatred for Americans and all non-Muslims.