More of Bush-Cheney's Faith-based Blunders

This time, affecting the military, directly:




ONE OF THE VOICES WE SELDOM HEAR PUBLICLY

In my last position in the Air Force, I led those 200 men and women in a deployment to Iraq, where my team came under daily mortar attacks as they were controlling the air space over Iraq. During this deployment I was named one of the top officers in my career field for the entire air force.

"Shortly after I left Iraq, someone in the unit that had replaced mine found my private e-mails that I had written to family and friends in the stress of a combat zone. In Iraq during the height of the insurgency, the Air Force conducted a search of my private e-mails solely to determine if I had violated Don't Ask Don't Tell, and to gather whatever evidence they could use against me. ...

"I was relieved of my duties leading nearly 200 airmen, my security clearance was suspended, part of my pay was terminated, and I was forced to endure a grueling 16-month legal ordeal before I was ultimately discharged from the Air Force. On my final day of active duty I was given a police escort from the base as if I were a common criminal or a threat to national security.

Major Mike Almy, UAF

The Final Sacrifice

The first known gay soldier killed in Afghanistan.

A letter from his partner made it known.

(Even in death, his name is unknown to us, at this time - as are others.)

Thieves at the feast

The sad case of our own ammo finding its way, through allied hands, into enemy hands.

Is U.S. Military Gassing Itself

No, not farts. Real concern about burn pits in theater.

Lies about the status of the Afghan conflict?

I don't remember Rumsfeld saying anything about strongholds have existed for three years:

U.S. and NATO commanders were not certain whether the insurgents who have lorded over Marja for the past three years would stay and fight

I guess that was part of national secrets?

After how many years, do you stop getting called an "insurgent"?

Now, in our seventh year or so of starting over-over-over-over-over-over-over:

The group finally got moving, but by then a group of Afghan soldiers had already raised their red, green and black flag in the bazaar for the dignitaries. The governor and the visiting generals walked around the rubble of the market -- large parts of which were destroyed by a U.S. Special Forces airstrike in spring 2009 -- and hailed the progress of the current mission.

or not:

"It's still dangerous in this area," one soldier said. The Taliban "might burn it.

"Cambodia" weighs in on the conflict

"It's high time we move beyond that era [of mistrust] and see what is good for all of us," a Pakistani military official said. "We are home to 70 percent of the Pashtuns," an ethnic group in southern Afghanistan and Pakistan that forms the bulk of the Taliban insurgency, "and we have a legitimate right to be part of this effort," the official said.

-WaPo

Or, is it more like Pakistan is the new Egypt? Praise Allah and pass the ammunition:

Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan, and Washington - The United States has delivered a fleet of drone aircraft and billions of dollars in aid to coax Pakistan to do more to confront Afghan Taliban militants taking refuge in the country.

Over the next seven years of our "deployment in Afghanistan", we will surely find out.

("Our deployment", not "war", must be the right term, given that the American public are seized of the Olympics, American Idol, and Tea Baggers, not "war").

and, Karachi, now?:

Several former U.S. intelligence officials and terrorism experts said Karachi is increasingly seen as a base of Taliban operations, with key leaders hiding in plain sight in an urban center that offers greater access to communication and resources.

A media war

A sophistcated, learning enemy:

He too is frustrated, accusing the Taliban of manipulating the rules of engagement by using women and children as shields and shooting from hidden positions before dropping their weapons and standing out in the open.

"They know we can't shoot them if they don't carry guns or without positive identification. They are fighting us at another level now," MacLean said.

-First Lt. Aaron MacLean, 2nd Platoon commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment.

I have no reason to doubt this.

I'll wonder aloud the same as one does when the Israelis complain the same thing: in such circumstances, a telephoto lens is probably more effective than a rifle scope. Using women and children as shields is really, really, really, really, really bad press.

Without the video tape, ...

Awesome Afghanistan Photos

David Guttenfelder, from last October, so a bit late to see these.

The Cost of Bush-Cheney on COIN

What happens when you start late...:

The events provided another example of how fragile relations between Afghans and Americans have become, and how ready Afghans angered over civilian casualties are to blame American forces in virtually any circumstance.

While the first reaction to the explosion was shock, within a few hours an angry crowd gathered, chanting anti-American slogans. The crowd blocked the road to the border for several hours to protest the episode.

-NYT

If this can be generalized, then "long, hard, slog" was just a prelude to "long, hard, slog"...

Imunity for Murder

US Federal Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed the charges against the five [Blackwater defendants], saying prosecutors violated their rights by using incriminating statements they had made under immunity during a US State Department probe.

Cheney's no-blame zone is apparently bigger than anyone could dream ...

Civilian Self-Pity Meet Command Performance

O'Donnell, 29, stood at attention yesterday as the litany of broken bones was read off — then bounded up onto a makeshift stage as if none of that had ever happened, as he took command of about 290 soldiers that make up Headquarters and Headquarters Company.

Interesting because ...

..the injuries that Capt. Ray O'Donnell suffered in a 2007 Humvee rollover in Afghanistan.

... included facial fractures, traumatic brain injury, a crushed pelvis, spinal damage, a fractured hip, dislocated femur and severe nerve damage.

Yup, Once Again, We've Got Nothing

When is someone - anyone - going to admit that the USA just cannot (and never has) been able to 'do intelligence right'?

latest recognition of failure

Is "the" reason that we play too much politics with our intelligence, both outside and inside the agencies? Probably.

Everyone's a fly-boy

OPERATION ENDURANCE

The price tag, by Newsweek.

Housekeeping: Casualty Lists, Apologies

I have not been able to keep up the regular discipline. I want to get back to that.  It's important. 

I'm sorry that the country flags on older postings have disappeared.  The image hosting service that held them is defunct and it will take a long while to load up all the images again and to fix the old posts.