Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
Stocks, Bitcoin and Crypto Markets Breaking Bad on Donald Trump Pump - 21st Nov 24
Gold Price To Re-Test $2,700 - 21st Nov 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks: This Is My Strong Warning To You - 21st Nov 24
Financial Crisis 2025 - This is Going to Shock People! - 21st Nov 24
Dubai Deluge - AI Tech Stocks Earnings Correction Opportunities - 18th Nov 24
Why President Trump Has NO Real Power - Deep State Military Industrial Complex - 8th Nov 24
Social Grant Increases and Serge Belamant Amid South Africa's New Political Landscape - 8th Nov 24
Is Forex Worth It? - 8th Nov 24
Nvidia Numero Uno in Count Down to President Donald Pump Election Victory - 5th Nov 24
Trump or Harris - Who Wins US Presidential Election 2024 Forecast Prediction - 5th Nov 24
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Obghanistan, More for the Meat Grinder

Politics / Afghanistan Sep 03, 2009 - 02:10 AM GMT

By: Ron_Shirtz

Politics

Throughout July and August of this year, US forces suffered almost 90 soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Heeding recommendations from military leaders and his advisors, President Obama has approved sending 17,000 troops, which includes a 5,000-member Marine Regimental Combat Team, to support the overextended combat troops in southern Afghanistan. While these numbers may seem impressive, in military terms this is the equivalent of scrounging couch change trying to pay off a balloon mortgage payment.


The desired purpose of the additional troops is twofold: To train pro-US Afghan troops, and help secure territory taken from Taliban forces. Concerning the former, recent events have demonstrated that our Afghan allies have as much enthusiasm to fight as the ARVN did in the Vietnam War. On the latter objective, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has hedged his bets by telling General Stanley McChrystal to be "forthright" in requesting the necessary forces to get the job done, while adding this disclaimer:

"I have expressed some concerns in the past about the size of the American footprint, the size of the foreign military footprint, in Afghanistan, and clearly I want to address those issues," Gates said during a visit to Fort Worth, Texas.

"And we will have to look at the availability of forces, we'll have to look at cost. There are a lot of different things that we'll have to look at once we get his recommendations, before we make any recommendations to the president."

This is a nothing more than a veiled confession that the US military is stretched to the breaking point. Somehow, General Stanley McChrystal must find a way to secure a country twice the size of Vietnam, with only a third of the troops that were employed in that disastrous Southeast Asian war. As a previous secretary of defense once said, "you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want." So much for a change from the previous administration, eh?

This token reinforcement of troops tragically demonstrates the cliché of hope triumphing over experience. It reeks of the same desperation that existed during the Battle of Stalingrad. General Paulus 6th Army, consisting over a quarter of a million men, was bogged down in the rubble and ruins of the city. On November 7, 1942, in a bid to break through the stubborn Russian resistance at the factories, Hitler personally authorized the deployment of five combat pioneer battalions. In a brutal war involving millions under arms, much was riding on these three thousand elite soldiers to break the stalemate. After five days of intensive fighting, these specialized combat engineers suffered one thousand casualties. Though they made considerable gains in pushing back the Russian defense line, in the end they ran out of steam, and could go no further. Twelve days later, on November 19, the Soviets launched a massive counteroffensive, Operation Uranus, that doomed the entire 6th Army.

While US forces cannot be defeated in a climactic conventional battle in Afghanistan, they will lose trying to secure the geography and defeat a people that offer them nothing substantial to grasp as leverage for victory. I sense that our government knows very well this token force is nothing more than a political sop to give the impression that something is being done to gain victory in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, President Obama must being be feeling more akin to LBJ than FDR in attempting to pass a national health care bill while maintaining an expensive military occupation overseas. Attempting to build the Great Society while making the World Safe For Democracy at the same time has as much chance as Hitler’s Germany winning a two-front war. None at all.

Meanwhile, the constant trickle of US soldier’s deaths continues – One here, a few there, day after day, persisting like a constant bloody drip from a leaky faucet. Instead of stopping the leak, our country chooses to be distracted by louder issues such as who will win the next American Idol competition, or the ongoing news marathon on the life and death of Michael Jackson. Every couple of days, somewhere in the US, flags in various parts of the country are set at half-mast to honor those local men and women sacrificed in this winless war. If our government’s goal for an ongoing commitment in Afghanistan (and Iraq) comes to pass, then I humbly suggest leaving all US flags permanently at half-mast, to save time and effort. Better yet, upside down as well.

September 3, 2009

Ron Shirtz [send him mail] is a transplanted Californian teaching Graphic Communications in Northern (Not "Upstate") New York. His hobbies include arranging deck chairs on sinking ships, tilting at windmills, and being fashionably late.

http://www.lewrockwell.com

© 2009 Copyright Ron Shirtz / LewRockwell.com - All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.


© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in