After reading Arianna Huffington's piece on why Vice President Biden should resign, it got me to thinking about the Vietnam War again.
Much like Vietnam, Afghanistan is also a "war of attrition." General McChrystal, just like General Westmoreland, wants more Troops. Nothing wrong with that. That's what generals do. Tell us we need more troops.
What gets them into trouble. Well not them really. But the poor Troops that have to go to battle for them and us, is that Vietnam, like Afghanistan, have been in wars of attrition since time immemorial. Like it or not, nobody is going to wait them out. No matter how many Troops are there.
The Soviets took cruelty to as an extreme level as possible in their war with Afghanistan. Cruelty didn't win either. They had to leave.
Our Forces have been there nearly eight years and we're no closer to a stable, democratic Afghanistan than before we invaded. If anything, the situation is worse and now Pakistan is on the edge instability and God knows what else.
One could say the Cold War was a war of attrition and that we won. The truth is, it's still going on. There might have been a brief hiatus during Yeltsin's time as Russia's president. But the guy in charge now, although he isn't president in name, Vladimir Putin, is a former KGB officer. The proxy war with Russia continues to this day. They don't have to build bombs to compete with us anymore. They've wised up. Just create instability. Or fight and obstruct any efforts to stabilize problem areas. They have tricked our leaders into focusing precious time and money on futile efforts. Each billion dollars we pour into Iraq is a billion less we have to rebuild New Orleans. To stabilize our markets and build and rebuild infrastructure. To invest in energy that comes from sources other than oil. Yes my friends. The Iranians are on the side of the Russians in this. As are the Saudis and Venezuelans and others.
We cannot win wars of attrition with bullets. We have more bullets than anyone. They have more oil. Replace oil, we win. Keep fighting with bullets. The war will last forever.
16 comments:
Here's the link to the Huffington article: Why Joe Biden Should Resign.
President Obama should listen to his VP. We are not going to "win" this war. Obama needs to pull the plug on this debacle now.
BTW I wouldn't say we "won" the cold war. Surely you don't mean to reinforce the Republican myth that Saint Reagan ended the cold war single-handedly?
I say the cold war is stil going on. Too many refuse to acknowlege it WD. We're losing this one also.
We win the big battles in these wars. When the Soviet Union collapsed of course it was a glorious victory. But the cold war only went dormant. Now it's in full, if undercover, swing. Instead of East Germany, Cuba and Soviet sattelite nations fighting the proxy war, it is Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and a few other countries fighting the proxy war for the Russians. We're being duped into sending our soldiers and money and energies tothese places while Russia and OPEC contininue to bleed us and others for our dependence on oil.
The Russians are winning this round without firing a shot.
Well, TRUTH 101 this is not correct. The War of Genocide and Mass Migration into the Americas was a tremendous war of attrition against the Original Inhabitants which the US won by the late 1800s / early 1900s.
So if we were willing to transplant a few million settlers and a 1/2 million troops into Afghanistan boom we'd win!
I don't know Grung-e. The Native Americans are also fight back economically. Putting casinos in to take us paleface's money is working out well for some of them.
But I see what you're saying. Defeat attrition with a 21st century version of Kit Carson, Settlers, John Wayne and the Colin Powell Doctrine.
down town....
Anytime Jane Fonda is added to the discussion makes for a good discussion Ghost Danser. Good job scary one.
I figured more righties would be here to praise Reagan and Westmoreland but they're all over at Pamela's Oracular Opinion telling Pamela on us nasty lefties.
Cowardly finks. All of them!
How soon before one of them posts that at Pamela's site?
i was just over there.... seems a little sleepy right now. but hey! come on, let's go to where it's fun!
I agree with Ghost Danser. Kill their buffalo and put the survivors on reservations.
I checked it out GD. As long as I was there I listened to The Beatles Let it Be concert on the roof while playing Hearts. That was fun. I played along with "One After 909" on my kids guitar. That song makes my fingers hurt. That wasn't fun. I do think John Lennon was overlooked as a good rhythm guitar player.
To "It Just Doesn't Make Any Sense:"
You've placed your blog name beside your "photo" on your blog and here in TRUTH's comments.
Perfect.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
OMG, I just have come to understand how what happens to Rush Limbaugh will effect me....
So, when I am making 400 million a contract then I won't be able to buy a sports team if I made the money being a smart ass on the radio....
That really has me in fear for MY Freedoms!
Rush is just as free to spout his silliness as the NFL owners and the group that dropped Limbaugh are to drop him. There was freedom all around Senseless Guy. Rejoice and be glad we live in America!
Truth, you are right that democracies are at a disadvantage in a war of attrition. And indeed our current strategy in Afghanistan puts us in the position of waging one. We are neither winning or losing, and as such our position is untenable.
What McChrystal proposes is an Afghani version of the 2007 surge in Iraq. As such, it has two parts:
One - 5 or 6 additional brigades
Two - adoption of a true counterinsurgency strategy. Long story short, counterinsurgency is about a lot more than shooting bullets and dropping bombs. While bullets and bombs are part of it, counterinsurgency recognizes that in the end victory can only be had through political and economic progress.
The history of our involvement in Afghanistan is more complicated than it's made out to be here. Actually, we were a lot closer to having Afghanistan stable a few years ago than most of you seem to realize.
In 2005 and 2006 we lost more troops in a month in Iraq than we lost all year in Afghanistan. Afghanistan was actually relatively stable. Then we won in Iraq, and the jihadists moved to Afghanistan. That's why it's heated up.
So we need to get away for the notion that the situation in Afghanistan has been on a linear track since we invaded in Oct of 2001.
More, we should recognize that few wars move in a linear fashion. The American Revolution went back and forth many times, and it wasn't clear until the last year or so that the Brits were going to lose. The North was losing the Civil War in late 1863 and the situation was dicey into 1864. The Korean War took a number of dramatic twists and turns.
As for Russia, they can and will create trouble in the short run. This is why we need a strong American president. But Russia is in steep demographic decline, with a birth rate of only 1.1 or maybe 1.2 births per woman. What this means is that their population will decline by 50% with every generation (25-27 years). By mid-century large parts of Russian cities will be ghost towns. Russia is literally disappearing as a nation.
In conclusion, Truth has written a valuable post. He expresses a concern that all Americans should hold; that we don't get bogged down in wars of attrition. His concerns are serious and valid.
As such, President Obama needs to communicate the stakes in Afghanistan to Americans, and he needs to tell us how adopting McChrystal's strategy is not adopting a war of attrition. President Bush did't do this, and it has cost us as a nation dearly.
I am, of course, assuming that the president does what I think is the right thing by adopting McChrystal's recommendations. I hope he does so, and if he does I will congratulate him.
I admit that this, as well as the last administration is media and poll driven. I sense that because of Biden's reluctance to escalate the Troop numbers that General McChrystal's recommendations will be rejected. Or, I hope this isn't the case, scaled back in an atempt to please everyone. I'd much rather leave Iraq and Afghanistan, but if our Nation is going to stay, raise the taxes to fund it and do it correctly. That means generations of occupation and administration of both countries. We still have forces in and around Japan.
We are still in the cold war and "Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and a few other countries fighting the proxy war for the Russians"?
No way. Ever heard of the Russia/Chechnya conflict? How about when the Russians sent troops to support the Serbia's in the fight against the muslim KLA? Russia may be using Iran, but they are no Islamist backers. And they are no longer world players. Go to the border between Russia and China, you will see who won the cold war: the capitalists. China is a raging capitalist country, run by fake communists who are really the captians of industry that all their stupid sayings pretend to decry.
Post a Comment