Learn from History - or repeat it ad nauseum?

[Mo_Gearhead]

U.S. Official Resigns over Afghan War
-Washington Post-

When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.

A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department's head of personnel. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."
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Vietnam - exit the French …enter the U.S.A.

Afghanistan - exit the U.S.S.R. ...enter the U.S.A.

How many more of our young men and women will have to die before we finally come to the conclusion that the U.S.A. has to STOP being the Worlds police force? How many more Presidents will have those surrounding them whispering in their ear, “Nation building is good - we are smarter - we can do it.”

Iraq - enter the U.S.A.

We need a standing military to DEFEND us against all foes. I admire all those that have stepped up, raised their right hand and sworn to defend this country. But there is a sub-set. The term we used for them was “Lifers”. These are the ‘gung-ho mentality’ individuals that become career soldiers. That, by itself, is commendable. No matter what your career, if you enjoy it, thrive on it, relish in its activities, you probably endorse it and sing its praises to others. Military ‘lifers’ have a career. It’s based on …WAR. If you have never been in the military and never rubbed shoulders with 'lifers', this may be difficult to comprehend. But war is their business. Many of them …desire it.

As a nineteen year old kid I stood in front of our Gunnery Sergeant in boot camp as we trained for war and soaked up the never ending rhetoric of death and killing. He once stated: “Most of you are going to Viet Nam. It’s a ****ty little war ...but by God - it’s the only one we have!” To the seventy or so ‘raw’ Marines, that brought forth our ‘normal’ macho reply, “Aaaoooooooah!” Only in my later years of reflecting on that one statement did I begin to really realize the mindset of such men.

For many at the top echelons of power, war is just another story of battle to tell, it’s another campaign ribbon for their chest, it’s another chance at their perceived ‘glory’, it’s their …career. For the average soldier, it’s stepping up to serve when asked, then once done, quietly (if they survive) going back to home and family.

When Generals ask for “more troops”, a President had best be cautious about the motives of those whispering in his ear.

[Deschodt]

Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires...

[craigster59]

PARF, the forum of politics...