Afghanistan Alteration

July 19, 2008 at 7:10 am · Filed under Uncategorized

The New York times recently published two stories on military troubles in Afghanistan. Suddenly, according to the Times sources, we are short of troops to adequately handle Afghanistan, unless we reduce troop levels in Iraq. This is not “sudden”, it is not even a new problem.
Immediately after 9-11 American citizens lined up at recruiting stations for all services. Thousands of veterans of previous conflicts petitioned the military to allow them to return to active duty. Most of these volunteers were turned away. The U.S. government claimed that we did not need a larger force. Poor planning, too few troops, bad strategy, and leaders too proud to listen have finally brought us to this avoidable juncture.
I remember, shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan, the US Army Chief of Staff was pushed aside because his superiors didn’t like the answers he gave to congressional hearings. The General said we needed more than twice the number of troops we had. To his superiors, especially Donald Rumsfeld, this was a bad answer because the Department of Defense did not wish to expand troop levels.

 

The situation was clear during the first six months of the Iraq war. With our superior military technology and outstanding fighting force the United States military conquered Iraq in just a few weeks. So, yes the military was large enough to defeat the Iraqi military. That, however, was never the real point.

Our nations history demonstrated after WWI and WWII that defeating the enemy force is only the first step. When we conquer a nation, we usually destroy most of their infrastructure. After the battles the conquered foe must repair the government, rebuild their industry and utilities, and reorient their society. The winning military then reverts to an occupation force to provide the security of the new country while they rebuild. Many military experts estimated that to secure the borders of Iraq, protect the many miles of oil pipeline, and keep the peace while retraining the indigenous police and military forces, would require at least an additional fifty thousand troops.

It appears that our government finally, after five years of war, may be discovering the “correct” way. It is a shame that our leaders refused to listen before the invasion of Iraq. It is outrageous that they continued to chart a failing course during five years of war. Shame on them.

 

 

 

 

 

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