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Title: The Last Patrol - U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, Set to Leave, Are Called Back For One More Mission / WSJ Article
Source:
Wall Street Journal
URL Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/
Published: Jul 6, 2008
Author: By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
Post Date: 2008-07-06 10:21:08 by TwentyTwelve
Keywords: U.S. Troops, Afghanistan
Views: 211
Comments: 13
Wall Street Journal Article The Last Patrol U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, Set to Leave, Are Called Back For One More Mission. Will Their Luck Run Out? By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS July 5, 2008; Page A1 NARAY, Afghanistan -- It's 4 a.m., and a slender crescent moon casts a pale light over Spc. Sean Geer. He has nine bottles of water and 10 loaded rifle magazines strapped to his body armor. He has a bandana tied under his helmet to soak up the sweat. He has removed the pointer and middle fingers from his glove to give him a better feel for the trigger. "Ready for a fun one?" Spc. Geer radios in hushed tones to a buddy. It's another patrol, and one of the other cavalry scouts jokes that this war feels like a barroom fight where you can't cry uncle. "Enjoy your cigarettes," says a lieutenant. "Then we'll go." Sean Geer's war is supposed to be over. But it's going to be a long, hot day. Few war stories disturb soldiers more than the one about the man who gets hit just before he's due to go home. Not far from here, an Army medic was killed by a hidden bomb days before he was to leave. An officer in Spc. Geer's squadron, 1-91 Cavalry, stepped on a land mine within weeks of the end of his combat tour, shattering his foot. On Sunday, Spc. Geer and his fellow scouts thought such worries were behind them. They were back in camp cleaning their gear. Sergeants were collecting night-vision goggles, ammunition and the grenade launcher. They were waiting for the helicopter ride that would start them on their journey home. Then this comes along: The colonel needs someone to do a mission. He hands it to the captain and the captain calls the lieutenant. The lieutenant tells the sergeants and before long, the scouts know their war is on again. They all know it stinks, but what can they do? What began as an effort to topple the Taliban government has become a drawn-out guerrilla war, and there's always another patrol -- another insurgent to be killed or another heart to be won. The seven-year conflict has become a growing concern to Pentagon brass, rivaling the war in Iraq. Taliban insurgents have intensified attacks in the east and the south, making June the deadliest month so far for the U.S.-led coalition. The government of Hamid Karzai still struggles to exert its authority, and the lawless tribal areas bordering Pakistan have become a haven for militants. The Pentagon said this week that it is extending the tour by an extra month of 2,200 Marines sent to Afghanistan this spring to bolster coalition forces. Spc. Geer's new orders come at a moment when he's rethinking the war. Right after he arrived in the country, he thought constantly about being shot. His mother died when he was 10 years old. When the fighting gets crazy, he drops to his knee, drinks some water and asks her to look out for him: "Tell the people who don't know I love them that I do." At 16 years old, he dropped out of high school in Ventura, Calif., worked in a coffee shop, fixed hot rods and ran with the drug crowd. By 19 he had had enough. He got his diploma and joined the Army. Now 22 and just over a year away from the end of his enlistment, he's planning a career as an entrepreneur. He and another scout are in the middle of starting an online clothing company with T-shirts that reflect their combat experience. One shows the outline of a soldier scaling a mountain in front of a faded American flag. "There's got to be more out there," Spc. Geer says. "We've got to be able to do more with our lives than fight this war." When he gets word the platoon has one more patrol, he trusts his buddies to cover his back. First Platoon, Bulldog Troop hasn't lost a man during 14 months in combat, 14 months of humping heavy gear up and down steep mountains, 14 months of firefights with an enemy who's never quite in view. That evening, First Lt. Henry "Hank" Hughes IV, the platoon leader, briefs the men. The 24-year-old comes from a long military line. One ancestor was a captain in the Philadelphia militia in the Revolutionary War. His great grandfather served in World War I, his grandfather in World War II and his father in Bosnia. His mother was a captain in the signal corps. The lieutenant studied English and film at Boston University, where he developed a fondness for French films. He used to think of himself as something of a pacifist, but joined the Army knowing full well he'd end up at war. Now he commands 26 men, most of them not much younger than himself. Only one of his scouts has been wounded in action; Spc. Thomas Alford was shot through the jaw and neck. At his insistence, he was back with the platoon three months later. On a white board, the lieutenant sketches the snaking curves of the Kunar River, which runs close to the Pakistan border, and draws the contours of the ridge that overlooks the village of Nangal, a couple of miles south of the Army base. In June, insurgents left the villagers an anonymous note warning them against educating women. Shortly afterwards, someone set fire to the girls' school there. When the villagers rushed to put it out, they were shot at from the ridges above town. The Afghan government, wanting to cement its ties in the village, has dispatched the Afghan National Army to drive to Nangal, chat with local elders and hand out pens, paper and other school supplies. Lt. Hughes's platoon is going along to help protect against insurgent attacks; the Americans have heavier weapons and can call in air and artillery support, if needed. With half of his men, Lt. Hughes will leave at dawn and go on foot to the ridge overlooking the town. The other half, in heavily armed Humvees, will escort the Afghan troops and stay outside the village to maintain security. After the scouts leave the briefing, Lt. Hughes turns to his platoon sergeant. "Too easy," he says. "Every plan is easy until the first shot is fired," replies Sgt. First Class Michael Burns, 38, of Fort Wayne, Ind. "Then it all goes to hell." In Monday's pre-dawn light, Lt. Hughes, Spc. Geer and the other scouts set out past the razor wire. The lieutenant cheerfully greets the Afghan security guards at the front gate, and in a loud, clear voice says the name of a town far down the valley, well beyond Nangal, in case they're working for the other side, too. The troops walk down the dirt road in a staggered column, leaving enough room between men so a hidden bomb or lucky mortar shot would kill only one of them. They move silently, except for the crunch of boots on rock. They pass a few bearded herders hissing at their goats. At a quarter to five the scouts turn right up the steep hillside. Generations of farmers have built waist-high stone walls on the slope, turning it into a giant staircase of narrow terraces for planting crops. The men zigzag arduously up the terraces, reaching down to hoist each other up when the walls get higher and the rocks looser. As they climb, a single gunshot sounds in the distance. "You hear that?" asks Spc. Justin Jones, 24, of Jasper, Ala. It's his job to call in artillery fire if the scouts get into trouble. "Yeah -- probably over the ridge," Spc. Geer says. It's impossible to tell where it came from, where it went or if it had anything to do with them. They trudge on. The men have spent months carrying heavy loads in the high Hindu Kush mountains. But in recent weeks they've spent more time at the main squadron base and have lost some of their edge. As they walk, Lt. Hughes notices a young girl bounding up the terraces with her goats. "There's the embarrassing part," he says. "An 11-year-old girl is going to pass us." At 5:30 a.m., the sun emerges over the mountain peaks. Spc. Matthew Short, a 21-year-old from Winter Haven, Fla., reaches the top of the 900-foot ridge. He looks over, expecting to see Nangal below. It isn't there. "We're on the wrong spur," he yells to the lieutenant. Hundreds of yards of open ground lie between this ridge and the next. Lt. Hughes leaves half the patrol to provide cover while he, Spc. Geer, Spc. Short and two others press ahead. Twenty-five minutes later, the men reach the top. The village still isn't in sight. The lieutenant orders the men on the first ridge to join them. "Whose idea was it to walk anyway?" Lt. Hughes asks Spc. Geer. "Word on the street is that it was yours, sir," the specialist answers. Spc. Geer finishes a bottle of water, takes out his knife and slices it up. He has heard around camp that the insurgents are short of canteens and he doesn't want to help them out by leaving plastic bottles around. Spc. Short and the lieutenant pull out their maps to figure out what has gone wrong. As best they can make out, either the maps are wrong or the satellite coordinates they were given are wrong. In any case, they have no other choice than to keep climbing. "It never ends," gasps Spc. Short, as he tops the third ridge and sees two more ahead, like pleats in a skirt. "It's alright," says Spc. Austin Nenneman, a 21-year-old radio operator from Sacramento, Calif. "We're almost out of this place." A goat trail cuts steeply across the front of the fifth ridge. The lieutenant reaches the top first, and finds a sweeping view of Nangal and, sprouting from the hard, brown soil, wild marijuana. "There's weed all over here," he says when Spc. Short reaches the crest. "Weed and surfboards?" Spc. Short asks hopefully. The hilltop is fortified with stone trenches and bunkers, apparently built when Afghan guerillas fought the Soviets decades ago. The lieutenant puts a machine gunner on either end of his position. Riflemen overlook the village, which consists of a dozen of so flat houses. Sgt. Michael Harrington, 28, from Muskegon, Mich., jokingly asks the lieutenant for permission to fire his grenade launcher. "It's the last mission," he pleads. "Stop saying it's the last mission," Spc. Geer snaps. At 7:30 a.m., the soldiers watch the Humvees carrying the other half of the platoon alongside the Kunar River road, spouting plumes of dust. The Afghan soldiers arrive soon after in tan pickup trucks. Lt. Hughes and his men are watching the ridgelines for attackers when the river valley fills with a deep, thudding boom. Moments later there's a loud whiz from above. The big guns back at the base are firing artillery rounds into the mountains to the north. The shells can travel almost 19 miles, too far for the scouts to hear them crash back to earth. Spc. Geer takes up a position behind a tumbledown rock wall, looking towards the river. His arms are a canvas of tattoos. His mother's death date is tattooed onto his neck with a winged heart and a cross. "Mom," it says. Under the left sleeve of his camouflage fatigues, from shoulder to elbow, is a blue Virgin Mary, surrounded by roses and $100 bills. "Forgive me Father, for blood will spill," it says. Spc. Geer says the tattoo symbolizes his guilt and his aspirations. "I'm sorry for what I've done here, and I'd like to be a business professional once I get out," he says. After a few hours, the lieutenant receives word that the Afghan soldiers and their Humvee escort have safely returned to base. Just before 11 a.m., the scouts start back down the hill. As he jumps down the dried terraces, Spc. Geer thinks about the price of war; the killing bothers him as much as the dying. "I wish there were another way to do this, but there's not," he says. "Death is the only language they understand." The troops head for the road this time, making their way past stone houses and surprised farmers. A one-eyed man with a thick white beard walks by. "Salaam aleikum," Spc. Geer says, the traditional Arabic phrase meaning "'peace be with you." The man smiles and waves. At noon, after eight hours and 3,000 feet of climbing, the scouts return to base. They drop in the shade, most of them too tired to strip off their sweat-soaked body armor. "Last mission, guys," says Spc. Short, lighting a cigarette. Spc. Geer reaches back and taps on the door behind him, knocking on wood. No such luck. Within a few hours Lt. Hughes passes word that the platoon will be going out again. Write to Michael M. Phillips at michael.phillips@wsj.com
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#1. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
Not if Bush/Obama have their say. Israel and oil come first, and dont forget it.
Good holy Lord.........ENOUGH WAR ALREADY
During the primaries the voters across the country voted loud and clear for MORE WAR, with Bush/McKooK/Obama. Bush/Obama has a nice ring to it, does it not???
I can't help but think Hillary is not dead yet. O might choose her.
The boys in the backroom holding the Obummer, "I.O.U. will do have the final say as to who the real anointed one will be. Obummber will be the Court Jester.
Damn, that sounds like it has the makings of a hollywood movie.
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Director, CIA 1973–1976
Not at all. And BJC said that obama must 'kiss his a**'. Haaaahahahaha!
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
You must be kidding, right? This is America. America is ALL about war. Endless, continual non-stop war. This is why we are always either preparing for a war, fighting a war, or winding down from a war while preparing for the next war. Lather, rinse, repeat. America LOVES war. America LIVES for war. America is ONLY about war, all the time, always. America IS war. And now that we have the "War on Terror", we now have the basis of endless, infinite, permanent war forever. For America to forsake war for war's sake would be like any other living creature to forsake breathing. Can't be done.
"We've got to be able to do more with our lives than fight this war."
#2. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
#3. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
#4. To: Cynicom (#3)
#5. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
"Every plan is easy until the first shot is fired," replies Sgt. First Class Michael Burns, 38, of Fort Wayne, Ind. "Then it all goes to hell."
#6. To: Jethro Tull (#4)
O might choose her.
#7. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
The Last Patrol U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, Set to Leave, Are Called Back For One More Mission.
#8. To: Jethro Tull (#4)
I can't help but think Hillary is not dead yet.
#9. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
Good holy Lord.........ENOUGH WAR ALREADY
 | Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise. |
#10. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
The US and Her Fundamentalist Stooges are the Main Human Rights Violators in Afghanistan Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) The US and her allies tried to legitimize their military occupation of Afghanistan under the banner of “bringing freedom and democracy for Afghan people”. But as we have experienced in the past three decades, in regard to the fate of our people, the US government first of all considers her own political and economic interests and has empowered and equipped the most traitorous, anti-democratic, misogynist and corrupt fundamentalist gangs in Afghanistan. In the past few years, for a thousand times the lies of US claims in the so-called “War on terror” were uncovered. By relying on the criminal bands of the Northern Alliance, the US made a game of values like democracy, human rights, women’s rights etc. thus disgracing our mournful nation. The US created a government from those people responsible for massacres in Pul-e-Charkhi, Dasht-e-Chamtala, Kapisa, Karala, Dasht-e-Lieli, 65,000 Kabulis and tens of mass graves across the country. Now the US tries to include infamous killers like Mullah Omer and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar into the government, which will be another big hypocrisy in the “war against terror”. The reinstatement of the Northern Alliance to power crushed the hopes of our people for freedom and prosperity into desperation and proved that for the Bush administration, defeating terrorism so that our people can be happy, have no significance at all. The US administration plays a funny anti-Taliban game and pretends that a super power is unable to defeat a small, marginalized and medieval-minded gang which is actually her own product. But our people found by experience in the past few years that the US doesn’t want to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, because then they will have no excuse to stay in Afghanistan and work towards the realization of its economical, political and strategic interests in the region. After about seven years, there is no peace, human rights, democracy and reconstruction in Afghanistan. On the contrary, the destitution and suffering of our people has doubled everyday. Our people, and even our unfortunate children, fall victim to the Jehadis’ infighting (Baghlan incident), the Taliban’s untargeted blasts and the US/NATO’s non-stop bombardments. The Northern Alliance blood-suckers, who are part of Karzai’s team and have key government posts, continue to be the main and the most serious obstacle towards the establishment of peace and democracy in Afghanistan. The existence of tens of illegal private security companies run by these mafia bands are enough to realize their sinister intentions and the danger they pose. Human rights violations, crime, and corruption have reached their peak, so much so that Mr. Karzai is forced to make friendly pleas to the ministers and members of the parliament, asking them to “keep some limits”! Accusations about women being raped in prisons were so numerous that even a pro-warlord woman in the parliament had no choice but to acknowledge them. Rabbani, Khalili, Massoud, Sayyaf, Fahim, Ismael and other criminals for the sake of being “ISI” and “VEVAK” agents could become “leaders” in the early 90’s, invited their god-father General Hamid Gul of ISI to become their army chief. But today they raise anti-Pakistan slogans to hide their corruption and wrong-doings. In this act they even go further and abuse Pakistani people. But they never talk about the dirty act of Pakistan in creating fundamentalist bands and imposing them on our people. More importantly, they keep silent about the wider, more devastating and more active meddling of the brutal Iranian regime in Afghanistan through its cultural and media agents. Pro-Iranian regime politicians and intellectuals are as much traitorous to democracy and human rights as the intellectuals and politicians who, from an ethnocentric and reactionary point of view, call the barbarism and terror of Taliban a “national armed resistance,” and shamelessly defend them. The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) has announced a number of times that when the legislative, administrative and judicial bodies are ruled by drug-lords and warlords or their Talibi, Gulbudini, Parchami and Khalqi accomplices, they will never do anything positive for our deprived people. Rather these bodies will act as a mechanism to continue the ongoing crime, drug-trade and looting by these mafia bands to become richer. If the US government replaces Karzai with a new puppet, even if he is not from among the Jehadi criminals, it will be just a deception of our people and an attempt to put the responsibilities of today’s tragedies on the shoulders of a single person. Such a move will have no positive outcome for our nation. Only a president who rely on people and come to power through a fair election, free from any kind of dependence or dealings with the fundamentalists, would be ideal for Afghan people. Instead of defeating Al-Qaeda, Taliban and Gulbuddini terrorists and disarming the Northern Alliance, the foreign troops are creating confusion among the people of the world. We believe that if these troops leave Afghanistan, our people will not feel any kind of vacuum but rather will become more free and come out of their current puzzlement and doubts. In such a situation, they will face the Taliban and Northern Alliance without their “national” mask, and rise to fight with these terrorist enemies. Neither the US nor any other power wants to release Afghan people from the fetters of the fundamentalists. Afghanistan’s freedom can be achieved by Afghan people themselves. Relying on one enemy to defeat another is a wrong policy which has just tightened the grip of the Northern Alliance and their masters on the neck of our nation. By publishing the book “Some Documents of the Bloody and Traitorous Jehadi Years”, RAWA has taken another small step in unmasking and prosecuting the war criminals of the past three decades. But we will not stop here. In the face of continuous threats by the terrorists sitting in the parliament and the government, we will not be intimidated and despite the passivity and compromises of intellectuals in this regard, we are determined that with the help of justice-loving people and organizations of Afghanistan and around the world, will work to push the war criminals into a court of justice and reclaim billions of dollars worth of national assets from them. Only then the eyes of our grief-stricken people may no longer burn endlessly for justice and democracy. www.rawa.org/events/dec10-07_e.htm About RAWA AWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, was established in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977 as an independent political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice in Afghanistan. The founders were a number of Afghan woman intellectuals under the sagacious leadership of Meena who in 1987 was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan, by Afghan agents of the then KGB in connivance with fundamentalist band of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar . RAWA’s objective was to involve an increasing number of Afghan women in social and political activities aimed at acquiring women’s human rights and contributing to the struggle for the establishment of a government based on democratic and secular values in Afghanistan. Despite the suffocating political atmosphere, RAWA very soon became involved in widespread activities in different socio-political arenas including education, health and income generation as well as political agitation. Before the Moscow-directed coup d’état of April 1978 in Afghanistan, RAWA’s activities were confined to agitation for women’s rights and democracy, but after the coup and particularly after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in December 1979, RAWA became directly involved in the war of resistance. In contradistinction to the absolute majority of the vaunted Islamic fundamentalist "freedom fighters" of the anti-Soviet war of resistance, RAWA from the outset advocated democracy and secularism. Despite the horrors and the political oppression, RAWA’s appeal and influence grew in the years of the Soviet occupation and a growing number of RAWA activists were sent to work among refugee women in Pakistan. For the purpose of addressing the immediate needs of refugee women and children, RAWA established schools with hostels for boys and girls, a hospital for refugee Afghan women and children in Quetta, Pakistan with mobile teams. In addition, it conducted nursing courses, literacy courses and vocational training courses for women. Demonstrations against the Soviet invaders and their stooges and later on against the fundamentalists, and unrelenting exposure of their treason and heinous crimes has been a hallmark of RAWA’s political activities. It was in consequence of its anti-Soviet occupationist struggle and agitation that RAWA was marked for annihilation by the Soviets and their cronies, while the Islamic fundamentalists vented their wrath on our organisation for our pro-democracy, pro-secularist and anti-fundamentalist stance. Our uncompromising attitude against these two enemies of our people has cost us dear, as witnessed by the martyrdom of our founding leader and a large number of our key activists, but we have unswervingly stood, and continue to stand, by our principles despite the deadly blows that we have been dealt. For the purpose of propagating our views, aims and objectives, and to give Afghan women social and political awareness in regard to their rights and potentialities, RAWA launched a bilingual (Persian/Pashtu) magazine, Payam-e-Zan (Woman's Message) in 1981. Publication of this magazine is on-going and by-issues in Urdu and English for non-Persian/Pashtu speakers. Since the overthrow of the Soviet-installed puppet regime in 1992 the focus of RAWA’s political struggle has been against the fundamentalists’ and the ultra-fundamentalist Taliban’s criminal policies and atrocities against the people of Afghanistan in general and their incredibly ultra-male-chauvinistic and anti-woman orientation in particular. Apart from the political challenges facing RAWA, tremendous social and relief work amongst unimaginably traumatised women and children lie ahead of us, but unfortunately we do not at the moment enjoy any support from international NGOs or governments, therefore we can't run our humanitarian projects as effective as we wish due to lack of funds.. The US "War on terrorism" removed the Taliban regime in October 2001, but it has not removed religious fundamentalism which is the main cause of all our miseries. In fact, by reinstalling the warlords in power in Afghanistan, the US administration is replacing one fundamentalist regime with another. The US government and Mr.Karzai mostly rely on Northern Alliance criminal leaders who are as brutal and misogynist as the Taliban. RAWA believes that freedom and democracy can’t be donated; it is the duty of the people of a country to fight and achieve these values. Under the US-supported government, the sworn enemies of human rights, democracy and secularism have gripped their claws over our country and attempt to restore their religious fascism on our people. Whenever fundamentalists exist as a military and political force in our injured land, the problem of Afghanistan will not be solved. Today RAWA's mission for women's rights is far from over and we have to work hard for establishment of an independent, free, democratic and secular Afghanistan. We need the solidarity and support of all people around the world. Afghan women burn in the inferno of fundamentalists and invaders Today on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the International Women’s Day, women in the developed countries celebrate it with joy, but we still have to voice the miseries, problems and cruelties that our people and particularly women are going through in Afghanistan. After the US and allies invaded Afghanistan around seven years ago, they misleadingly claimed of bringing peace and democracy and liberating Afghan women from the bleeding fetters of the Taliban. But in reality Afghan women are still burning voraciously in the inferno of fundamentalism. Women are exchanged with dogs, girls are gang-raped, men in the Jehadi-dominated society kill their wives viciously and violently, burn them by throwing hot water, cut off their nose and toes, innocent women are stoned to death and other heinous crimes are being committed. But the mafia government of Mr. Karzai is tirelessly trying to conciliate with the criminals and award medals to those who should be prosecuted for their crimes and lootings. Unaware of the realities, some people considered the presence of tens of women in the parliament as a symbol of democracy, development, freedom and women’s rights. But it is clear now that these women are related to intelligence agencies or fundamentalist bands, are like dolls in the hands of Jehadi warlords who are calmly watching the adversity of our misfortunate women and instead of revealing and protesting against the horrible condition of women, are busy in corruption and collaboration with the sworn enemies of women’s rights and keeping their position in the parliament. If these women were truly representatives of Afghan women, they should have stood firmly beside Malalai Joya to fulfill their obligation towards our people and country with honesty and sincerity. Saddam’s execution shook the Afghan Saddams to death as they tried hard to prevent their own similar destiny. By passing the dirty National Reconciliation bill in the parliament and formation of National Front, the fundamentalist leaders joined hands with their common-trait Khalqi and Parchami brothers to protect themselves from being brought to justice by Afghan people. Besides National Front, with the help of their so-called intellectual flunkeys they have formed a Cultural United Front against our people. These intellectuals are trying hard to whitewash and sugar-coat the criminals and through their strong propaganda machine in the media so as to portray them as democrat, progressive and freedom-loving. If on one hand the Information Minister, Karim Khuram of Gulbuddin terrorist party, indulged in a criminal and chauvinistic act against some journalists, on the other hand the criminal “cultural” figures started a war on a few words whether to name the university in Pashto or Persian language in order to please their Iranian bosses. But both sides never speak a word about the current burning issues like insecurity, poverty, unemployment, lack of shelter, kidnappings, killing of innocent men and women by Jehadis and Taliban, death of people due to bitter cold and thousands other miseries of our people. While they are engaged in such priceless debates, they never dare to expose those responsible for the disastrous conditions of our people. The true nature of the US “war on terror” drama has been exposed today and we witness that they are killing thousands of our innocent people under the name of “fighting terrorists” while on the other hand they are busy in dealing with the barbaric fascist Taliban trying to gloss some of them as “moderates” in order to share power with them. These treacherous acts of demagogy have revealed it once again to our people and to the world that the US government and its allies were just pursuing their strategic, economic and political gains in Afghanistan and pushing our people to increasing destitution and disasters. Installing the “Northern Alliance” brutal warlords on power and changing Afghanistan into the center of the world drug mafia, have been the first and foremost objectives of their wrong policies. RAWA from the very first days stated that no country will grant freedom and democracy to another country and today this reality is evident to all. The US disguised the dead rats of yesterday with suits and ties thus released them like wild wolves on our people and are doing nothing about the current crimes, violation of human rights, looting of millions dollars of aid by warlords and corrupt NGOs. If the billions of dollars of aid directed in the name of reconstruction were not poured in the pockets of criminals in the parliament and cabinet, natural hazards like freezing winter would have not taken so many lives today. Even if a small portion of that money was spent for the relief of people, the life conditions of our miserable people, particularly women would have not been so tragic. Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) once again proclaims that all gloomy days and miseries of our country have roots in the existence of fundamentalist forces be it Jehadi or Taliban styles and as long as this filthy virus is not removed from the body of our country, our nation and country will never see the light of happiness and development. We again state that although Mr. Karzai has declared that he is not in a position to bring the criminals around him to justice, but we are determined that despite many limitations and being besieged by warlords and their foreign masters, with the support of Afghan people and democratic-minded individuals and groups, we will drag the warlords and criminals of last three decades to law courts and punish them regardless of their religion and ethnic backgrounds. Considering the above points, the celebration of the International Women’s Day has a different meaning for our women till the auspicious day of emancipation of Afghan women. For us, the 8th March means the day to express horrifying miseries and the burning pains our women are passing through and the exposure of the criminals responsible for this catastrophe. For us, the 8th March means the day to covenant upon the blood of the martyred women who lost their lives for the cause of freedom, women’s rights and human dignity. 8th March means the day of solidarity and standing up against fundamentalism of any kind either Jehadi or Taliban. Finally 8th March is the day to renew our pact for establishment of freedom; democracy and justice in an Afghanistan free of fundamentalists and their foreign guardians.
#11. To: Elliott Jackalope (#9)
Elliott jackalope: You must be kidding, right? This is America. America is ALL about war. Endless, continual non-stop war. This is why we are always either preparing for a war, fighting a war, or winding down from a war while preparing for the next war. Lather, rinse, repeat. America LOVES war. America LIVES for war. America is ONLY about war, all the time, always. America IS war. And now that we have the "War on Terror", we now have the basis of endless, infinite, permanent war forever. For America to forsake war for war's sake would be like any other living creature to forsake breathing. Can't be done. Excellent rant, Elliott Jackalope!!!! So true!
Jethro Tull: Good holy Lord.........ENOUGH WAR ALREADY
#12. To: Elliott Jackalope (#9)
Sad, but true.
America is ALL about war. Endless, continual non-stop war.
#13. To: TwentyTwelve (#0)
...the Americans have heavier weapons and can call in air and artillery support, if needed. Does The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ring a bell with American brass? The Viet Minh actually muscled howitzers up the steep mountains and from hidden positions in the thick jungle pounded the ever luvin' dooky out of the French below, and when the French aircraft responded they were unable to locate and knock out the big guns in the thick foliage. It was another Waterloo for the French who got their asses handed to them by a determined enemy fighting for their homeland. And, you can bet that if The Afghan National Army (which probably leaks intel like a sieve) and the Americans frequently take this type of bait then it's just a matter of time before they meet an enemy who knows their history, and young American short timers will also find cleverly hidden howitzers waiting for them in terrain thought impossible to move such heavy weapons. (without helicopters) Or worse.
When the villagers rushed to put it out, they were shot at from the ridges above town....
"Tonight, The Bottle Let Me Down"__Merle Haggard
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