The Long Crisis

Warning: unserialize() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in /home1/smartde3/public_html/longcrisis/wp-content/plugins/postswapper-plugin.php(37) : eval()'d code on line 131

While I’m aware that not many Americans are focused on the eight year old and counting War in Afghanistan, after all the economy and health care drama is bearing the heat of American’s rage, as a Vietnam veteran I can’t help but think as the war escalates, “on no, here we go again. When will we ever learn?” America’s leaders have to be brain dead.

The headline in today’s New York Times “U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient” says quite a lot doesn’t it? I remember well the “surge” build up of US forces in Vietnam beginning in about 1965 and peaking at nearly 600,000 troops in country in 1968. I was part of that build up and while in Danang and Hoi An heard all of the “we need just a few thousand more troops” and “we are turning the corner” and “light at the end of the tunnel” lame bullshit all the way through to the end of the 1968 Tet offensive and almost to the 1973 drawdown of American combat troops.

After Tet, even though the US “won” the two month long battle, as public support for the misguided war plummeted, the military and Johnson administration seemed quite a lot less sure that more troops would do the job. In the end the US had to admit that a military solution to the Vietnam War was impossible no matter how many battles we won.

Some seven years later as the last US presence left Vietnam I was living the good life in Honolulu, Hawaii. I was surprised at how emotional I was as I watched on TV the last of the American forces leaving Saigon. Tears flowed as I watched US helicopters transporting scared Americans from the roof top of the US Embassy in Saigon to US Navy ships waiting offshore. The departure was a full scale frightened panic, not an orderly military retreat. What a waste of lives and US resources the Vietnam War was.

The really troubling common element between the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan War is that the US leadership never understood the nature of the war in Vietnam and today’s leadership does not understand the nature of the war in Afghanistan. From the Vietnamese point of view the war was a war of reclaiming and reunifying a country that had been occupied first by the French, then the Japanese. then once again the French, then the Americans. Americans thought of it as a war against Communism rather than a dedicated nationalistic effort to reunite a divided country.

Big mistake. When “insurgents” are fighting to liberate and to unify their own country, using asymmetrical warfare, they are very tough, really almost impossible to defeat. The US found that out the hard way in Vietnam. You would think that Americans of all people would know this as a rag tag American “army” defeated the mighty British in our own war of liberation. Fighting an asymmetrical war against “insurgents” was tough for the British in 1776, the French in Algeria in the 1950′s, and the Russians in the 1980′s. And it is no less tough for the US today.

I really don’t know what we think we can win in Afghanistan. President Obama is smart enough to know that nation building is a thankless, outrageously expensive, gig. Especially when the nation to be rebuilt is one of the poorest and most corrupt nations on earth. And as in Vietnam propping up a corrupt, inefficient government doesn’t work out well at all. The Karzi government is proof enough of that.

I believe that Obama has downsized President Bush’s simple minded thoughts about nation building. After all, that means many, many years of effort and hundreds of billions of dollars that we do not have. But Obama seems to be taking the advice of those who think that with enough boots on the ground the war is winnable, whatever that really means.

No doubt military planners don’t understand what they are up against in Afghanistan. As in Vietnam calling everyone who opposes your presence in county an insurgent and thinking that you can sort them out and win the war from the air with “surgical” air strikes is a dream, and a bad one at that.

The Taliban grow only stronger as we seek out insurgents by bombing villages and wedding parties, even funerals, and by treating the entire population as if they are the enemy. Many of the Taliban are local tribal people in one of the most tribal countries on earth. The odds are great that when you kill a Taliban fighter you generate another two or three recruits who are honor bound to revenge the death of their cousin or friend.

In my opinion, no matter how large a force the US fields in Afghanistan it will be insufficient. But it appears that American pride and hubis will rule the day in Afghanistan as it did in Vietnam so many years ago. And more than likely with the same result. President Obama should study the nature of the huge buildup in Vietnam and the result of that build up. The most visible result was in the number of body bags required for American troops who died while following the foolish orders of their leaders.

I expect that in coming years we will see the sad sight of American helicopters lifting the last of the American forces from the roof top of the American Embassy in Kabul. Should that happen I’m sure the tears will once again well up in my eyes. What a waste. President Obama may well be betting his second term on a successful outcome to the Afghanistan War. That is a risky bet. When will we ever learn?

1. Have Blocked Drain ,where Can I Buy A Manhole Cover Hook...
   blocked drain, the manhole cover i need to lift is very heavy,it has a metal handle and i need something to lift this, i am trying to find...
    
   
2. Bake-A-Dog-A-Bone.
   Turn Your Passion For Pets Into Profits. Bake-A-Dog-A-Bone....
    
   

Sphere: Related Content

Tweet This Post

Related posts:

1. Air Bridge to Afghanistan : Why Expanding the War is so Difficult It takes huge amounts of supplies and equipment to keep...
2. Time to Get Real About Afghanistan “We can fight this battle on the streets of Kabul...
3. Taliban in Afghanistan a Tough Cunning Enemy This video shows the life of British and Afghan National...
4. President Obama Needs to Rethink Afghanistan Until last night I stlll had a little hope that...
5. American Hubris and Destruction in Vietnam and Afghanistan As a US Vietnam veteran I saw for myself how...
6. High Ranking CIA Agents Say No “Victory” to be Won in Afghanistan I’ve always thought that the War in Afghanistan is nuts....
7. Obama’s War – Down and Dirty with US Marines in Afghanistan In the summer of 2009, reporter and brave man Ben...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.