Tag Archives: perpetual war

The Semantics of Perpetual War

06 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Afghanistan, Iraq, Obama administration, war on terror

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I can change my name to Buick and sit in the garage—it doesn’t make me a car. Likewise, whether it’s called “combat operations” or “stability operations” in Iraq—it’s still a war. And leaving 50,000 troops there isn’t a “withdrawal.”

“President Obama has set an August deadline for the end of the combat mission in Iraq…The August deadline might be seen back home as a milestone in the fulfillment of President Obama’s promise to end the war in Iraq, but here it is more complex. American soldiers still find and kill enemy fighters, on their own and in partnership with Iraqi security forces, and will continue to do so after the official end of combat operations.

[…]

What soldiers today would call combat operations — hunting insurgents, joint raids between Iraqi security forces and United States Special Forces to kill or arrest militants — will be called “stability operations.” Post-reduction, the United States military says the focus will be on advising and training Iraqi soldiers, providing security for civilian reconstruction teams and joint counterterrorism missions.

“In practical terms, nothing will change,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen R. Lanza, the top American military spokesman in Iraq. “We are already doing stability operations.”

[…]

“I like to say that in Iraq, the only thing Americans know for certain, is that we know nothing for certain,” said Brett H. McGurk, a former National Security Council official in Iraq and current fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

This much IS certain. The end is not in sight for the practice of perpetual war. In Iraq or Afghanistan.

Karzai: Another 10 to 15 Years Should Do It

31 Sunday Jan 2010

Posted by in Afghanistan

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Speaking of a state of perpetual war:

“LONDON – Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned yesterday that foreign troops must stay in his country for another decade, as world powers agreed on an exit map including a plan to persuade Taliban fighters to disarm in exchange for jobs and homes…

“With regard to training and equipping the Afghan security forces, five to 10 years will be enough,” Karzai said. “With regard to sustaining them until Afghanistan is financially able to provide for our forces, the time will be extended to 10 to 15 years.”

…The conference was called to help the United States and its allies find a way out of the grinding Afghan war amid rising U.S. and NATO casualties and falling public support. NATO has agreed to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces and gradually transfer more combat responsibility to them.

Actually, Karzai is being very optimistic. The real time frame as to when “Afghanistan is financially able to provide” for their own forces is a bit longer. Like NEVER. The cost of maintaining the Afghan security forces at the levels being proposed by General McChrystal and the Obama administration is approximately $2 to $3 billion a year. This in a country whose entire annual budget is $600 million, and where the gross national product is the size of Boise Idaho’s.

In other words, it’s never gonna happen.

A Simple Solution to the Army's Suicide Epidemic

31 Sunday Jan 2010

Posted by in Afghanistan, Iraq, war on terror

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McClatchy has the account today (January 31) of Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes and his battle with thoughts of suicide as an example of this ever-increasing problem among active duty soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan:

“It’s been roughly five years since Rhodes came home from his third tour in Iraq, and despite a highly-decorated 29-year career in the Army, a new book, more than a hundred speaking engagements and praise from the likes of Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, for his efforts in suicide prevention, Rhodes still wrestles with his own demons.

…Rhodes is among a small cadre of senior non-commissioned officers and officers who’re opening up about their journeys back from the brink of suicide — efforts that top military commanders applaud as they battle a suicide epidemic.

…This month, the Defense Department reported that there were 160 reported active-duty Army suicides in 2009, up from 140 in 2008. Of these, 114 have been confirmed, while the cause of death in the remaining 46 remains to be determined. The increase in military suicides includes men between the ages of 18-30, mid-career officers and, increasingly, women.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other military leaders have said the increase is likely related to repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the stigma long associated with seeking treatment for mental health problems.

…In response, the Pentagon has poured millions of dollars into new suicide prevention programs and thousands of hours on helping soldiers suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

If I may, the people at the Pentagon are treating the symptoms but not the disease. I can save them those millions of dollars and thousands of hours spent on seeking a solution to this problem with one simple prescription. It’s a great, big dose of  ‘Get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan and put an end to this perpetual state of war.’