Richard WarnickAfghanistan: “We landed in a hornet’s nest when we got here”
Last night, “60 Minutes” reported on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. One soldier explained, “I thought it was gonna be a little bit quieter here. But we landed in a hornet’s nest when we got here.” Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schlosser said bluntly, “I need more resources, more soldiers, and more assets.”
Lara Logan’s 13-minute report is a must-see. She took some major risks to get this story, going out on patrol with a 101st Airborne Division unit that has been ambushed 20 times. Warning: some gruesome images.
Note: there’s a 30-second ad before the video.
UPDATE: Nir Rosen, one of the most enterprising and insightful reporters ever, rode shotgun with the Taliban and offers some hard truths: How We Lost the War We Won: A journey into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am
But doesn’t Obama support the Afghanistan war and plans to divert troops from Iraq to fight in Afghanistan? I thought Afghanistan was the “good war”?
October 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
How often is it that you hear an officer or NCO say that they could do just fine with less resources and fewer personnel and assets?
Just curious.
Good news, though. If Obama is elected, that General will be allowed to operate freely in Pakistan. Barack said so himself. Live. On TV. During a debate.
Wheee!
October 20th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Sarah– We’re losing in Afghanistan, and even if you support the current strategy you need to know that.
jd– Funny you should mention reinforcements. Did you know that General Casey, the Iraq commander, General Abizaid, the CENTCOM commander, and the Pentagon brass all opposed President Bush’s “surge”? Their advice was that they didn’t want reinforcements sent to Iraq.
On November 15, 2006 General Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he “met with every divisional commander, General Casey, the corps commander, General Dempsey” and asked them if bringing “in more American troops now, [would] add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq and they all said ‘no.’”
October 20th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
And what? They were wrong, weren’t they, Richard?
Generals aren’t always right, Richard. Are they?
Was MacArthur right? Was he always right? Ambrose Burnside? Braxton Bragg? McClellan? Sir Douglas Haig? Sir Ian Hamilton? Goering? Wes Clark?
And that’s only a couple of hundred years back.
Pick and choose at your peril.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Generals may not be right, but you can lay money that if Bush was, he made a mistake!
October 20th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
jd– Reductio ad absurdum, just like Bob S. Nobody said generals are always right. In opposing the so-called “surge” in Iraq, the generals were exactly right.
It was bad strategy, it kept Afghanistan from receiving reinforcements at a crucial moment when they might have done some good, it exhausted our ground forces, and, oh yeah, accomplished NOTHING except to ratchet up the level of violence in Iraq.
The year 2007 was the bloodiest of the entire occupation, millions of people were driven from their homes, and no progress was made on political reconciliation, reconstruction, democracy, or anything else. The Iraqis didn’t even hand over control of the oil– Bush’s number one goal of the “surge.”
October 20th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Richard. You need to retake your logic course. I’ve been watching you employ the “reduced to the absurd” defense for a while, and you continually misuse it.
I addition to the above, I disagree with everything you last posted.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I’m trying to garner the logic behind jdb. So, because von Brauchitz erred in operation Barbarrosa, we cannot take seriously Gen. Casey, Abizaid, etal. Their logic should be able to stand on their own without their status as Generals. But ultimately, many military decisions are made for political reasons (i.e., prioritizing going after Hitler’s Germany first, over the Japanese Empire). Clearly, the decisions regarding Iraq were made based upon the relative importance weighed by civilian leaders. Generals can talk about the troops needed, but civilians prioritize where to send the available troops.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
What’s your problem? You got it just fine (with the exception of your omitted second statement re Barbarrosa).
October 20th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
jd must be a “Monty Python fan.” …And now, for something completely different!
Let’s talk about World War II. What about World War I and the American Civil War? Napoleon at Waterloo? You know, I always thought he should have committed the Old Guard earlier in the battle.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:19 am
C’mon RIchard. You held up the statements of two Generals as proof of your assertion that the “surge” was a bad idea. And you gleefully quote another saying he needs more troops/supplies, etc.
And I point out that Generals aren’t always right and give some examples.
And even Obi wan gets it -
And you…what? What the hell are you talking about?
The “surge” was effective.
Afghanistan is more difficult than originally thought (though, if you look at the pre-war commentary that referenced the Soviets, Khyber Pass, the Brits, Alexander and all the other “invaders” we’re having an easy time of it). But so what? Where’s your mettle? Where’s your perseverence? Do you run to Mommy everytime you skin your knee or bloody your knuckles?
This sure isn’t the America of our grandparents. You, RIchard, are a shining example of how soft we’ve become.
This is how Rome fell.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:02 am
jd — The so-called “surge” was an unmitigated disaster. You provide no evidence of its alleged effectiveness because there is none. The media and politicians are buying into a fairy-tale version of what happened.
Afghanistan strategy went off the rails after the strike against al-Qaeda wasn’t carried out to completion. Just fighting on without a plan is a waste of lives and resources, yet that’s what you support.
You, Bush and McCain all seem to think that boneheadedness is the greatest American virtue. I know enough to tell you boneheads usually lose wars.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:29 am
Hmmm….it looks like you (and some of your partisan buddies) are the only ones who think the “surge’ was an “unmitigated disaster”.
Since you’re so critical, what do you think the strategy in Afghanistan SHOULD be? What should the ultimate military goals be?
You do know that Al Qaeda is tertiary to our goals there, don’t you?
October 21st, 2008 at 11:49 am
jd– I’ve posted here on One Utah about Afghanistan quite a few times. Read my posts if you want to know what I think the strategy ought to be.
According to you, what are “our” goals in Afghanistan?
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:43 am
Retreat, contrition and war crime tribunals.
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Killing bad guys. Tying them down. Enabling trust in the rule of law. Bringing them law, democracy, McDonalds, Levis and syndicated network television.
No country with both Baywatch and McDonalds has ever attacked the US.
There you have it.
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
jd– Looks to me like the enemy has our guys tied down in Afghanistan. As for the rule of law and democracy, do you know anything about that part of the world? You aren’t going to find a McDonald’s in Kabul anytime soon, unless we build one behind a series of blast walls like they do in Iraq.
I think you need to understand that Afghanistan never attacked the USA. Al-Qaeda did, while they were based in Afghanistan. This war is supposed to be about putting al-Qaeda out of business, and making millions of new enemies among the people of Afghanistan (resulting in an endless supply of bad guys) is not helping that objective.
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Please post the entire text of the McCain military quote you truncated in the other thread, Richard.
What you did was dishonest and despicable.
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