Afghanistan: Patriotic Dissent

There are no easy answers in the Afghanistan Debate

"I'm not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love," Hoh said.

"There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed," he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys."

Matthew Poh, a former Marine Captain and combat vet, resigned his position heading up reconstruction for the State Department in Afghanistan.  He says he can no longer support the war.  

You don't have to agree with his conclusions, but we'd be foolish to ignore the observations of a man with so much in-country experience as we contemplate the way forward.  


Patriotic Americans should hear well-reasoned arguments from all sides

Here's an excerpt from a reader Q & A hosted by WaPo. 

This isn't WWII and there shouldn't be a comparison. No one can kill better in this world than the US military, however, if killing was the means to victory we would have "won" this years ago. This is primarily a political fight.

For more reasoned dissent, see TNR - Bacevich and NY Post - Ralph Peters

Strategic Drift
Poh, Bacevich and Peters, patriots all, point to a strategic drift that started in the Bush administration.  We went in to kill bad guys.  Now what?  Obama exaggerated that drift by appointing a man of action, General McChrystal, and then criticizing him when he took action.  The President's scholarly and leisurely pace isn't helping matters any.  

What is the Mission?
I have faith in General McChrystal.  What I want is to hear a stated goal from our elected officials.  Where will be be in 10 years?  What's the end game?  What does "success" look like?  

Freeing Pashtun women from their shackles sounds nice, but is it in our national interest?

I am not against the Afghan war.  I was there (in a non-combat role) and I believe our efforts have been heroic and noble.  It is important that our government clearly spell out the mission, embrace it, and explain it to the American people.  They owe it to the good men and women who are giving it all they've got over there.
 
WaPo - Matthew Poh
WaPo - Poh Q & A
NY Post - Ralph Peters
David Shribman
TNR - Bacevich