Link: http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php/ ... 476.0.htmlI've had enough. Consider this my rant against ignorance; my protest against agendas, half-truths, and lies. For almost two years I have been closely following the news from and about Afghanistan and it has been demoralizing to say the least. I spent a year in Kabul with the Strategic Advisory Team and watched the media only report the deaths our Forces suffered rather than the successes we (not just the SAT) achieved. I have watched "experts", editorialists, politicians, protesters, activists and pundits mangle facts, misread situations and push agendas. Most of what I have read and seen has been flawed to one degree or another. As a result many Canadians I have spoken to are wholly unaware of what we are doing there and why we are doing it. The debate has been so muddied by poor reporting and incomplete information that most people are stunned when they hear of our successes.
At the same time I have heard only reactive, ineffective whimpers from our establishment. Our government and DND in particular has done a poor job of getting the message out. Granted things are improving but you only have to look at the News Room on the DND website to see that the majority of news releases concerning Afghanistan concern the deaths and injuries we have suffered in Kandahar. In other words we are playing into the media's "if it bleeds, it leads" approach to coverage.
Here is my attempt to right some wrongs and dispel some of the misinformation out there:
1) "We cannot win in Afghanistan because insurgencies are impossible to win" I swear that if I hear one more "expert" or politician with no military experience say this I will reach through the TV and choke someone. I have spent the last three years of my life reading everything I can find on insurgencies as part of my work towards a Masters and I can tell you this - insurgencies can and have been defeated many times in the past. There are ways to defeat an insurgency and I can tell you from my study of this topic and my year of experience working at the strategic level in Afghanistan that we are doing far more right than we are wrong. Furthermore, the insurgency we face is hardly one of the most daunting ever faced. The Taliban are unlikely to ever get past Mao's first stage of insurgency and, more importantly, they lack support from much of the population. To reference Mao again, the Taliban are "fish" swimming in a very small "sea" as their support is mainly limited to one Pashtun tribe in an ethnically diverse country. NATO can defeat the Taliban and with every passing year, Kabul extends its influence and the lives of Afghans improve. This insurgency will be defeated by stability, prosperity and justice and we can see that all are improving gradually.
2) "No one has ever won in Afghanistan so we will never win" Not only does this statement display a gross ignorance of Afghan history, it also represents a laughable logical fallacy. It's akin to saying: "the Ottawa Senators didn't win the Cup last year, therefore no one will ever be able to win the Cup!" Comparing the conscript Soviet Army to ISAF defies comprehension - every conceivable aspect of the Soviet experience differs fundamentally from our experience there. Goals, tactics, training, equipment, popular support, international legitimacy are all vastly different, to name but a few.
3) Attention editors/politicians/protesters: Afghanistan is not Iraq! Rather than displaying your incredible ignorance of geography, history and international relations, how about you nail down this one fundamental difference? You can disagree with what's happening in Iraq while agreeing with our mission in Afghanistan and vice versa. But, you cannot use your opposition to Iraq as a basis for your opposition to Afghanistan - that's a non sequitur. Here's a little game you can play: read articles by columnists, in on-line forums or even in the "comments" section following on-line G&M articles and you'll see something very telling. Most people opposed to our mission in Afghanistan make reference to Iraq or George W. Bush at least once when explaining why they are opposed to Afghanistan. I don't get it. Are we really that mad with conspiracy theories that we think that our mission in Afghanistan is in some significant way related to US policy towards Iraq? A more likely explanation is that the crushing ignorance that drowns the debate on Afghanistan is the cause. People are too lazy and too poorly informed to understand the differences between Iraq and Afghanistan and those with agendas encourage this ignorance to reinforce their own arguments.
4) "All that's happening in Afghanistan is combat" Ruxted has countered this one in detail but no one seems to want to listen. What really riles me is that DND (or Foreign Affairs, or CIDA) is not just inundating the media with facts and stories about how this is simply not true. 83% of Afghans have access to medical care now where fewer than 9% did before 2001. GDP per capita has doubled and Afghanistan has the fastest growing economy in Asia. Etc., etc. These facts are all out there and available to editors and politicians and yet no one reports these facts. Why? Are they so intent on vilifying Harper that they can't report the facts? I just don't get it.
So what?
Please, all of you who know these facts and more - talk to people. Tell friends, family, strangers. Write letters to the editor if you can or write your MP to tell them you think these points need to be discussed. Ruxted and similar organizations are doing a great job but we all need to back them up and do our part. Consider it a grassroots effort to counter the one-sided stories in the media.
MG
This is what we are dying in Afghanistan for!
Moderators: lilfssister, North Shore, sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako
Expat, how do you square with what ‘Mortar Guy’ has to say?
I think he is right on a few points, especially about media coverage. I always said that the media were controlled. Freedom of press does not exist here.
When the US troops hit a road side bomb, panicked and started firing in the innocent, injured by-standers, some local newspaper filmed the event.
What happened next is hard to believe. US soldiers confiscated all media material and threatened the reporters.
Progress is small in the south. this guy probably never left Kabul, and therefore I do not think he knows anything about southern districts.
If he was really working in SAT, he would know that while the US was making deals with the Talibs, our troops were ambushed be them.
He does not seem to know why the Russians left. They were not defeated by the same enemy that we see now.
They left because the US and the UK assisted in the supplying of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Mujahedins. The Russians quickly lost a bucn of airplanes, and without air support you cannot do anything in this country.
If the Russkies decided to return the change now, we would be out in a week!
Why are the Talibs not firing missiles at US planes???
They could have them tomorrow if they wanted.
I think the poor guy does not understand what the big game is.
We all know that AQ and the Talibs are a bunch of disorganized and untrained soldiers that could be bombed into oblivion in a week.
Half of their attacks are just wet peterds. They often only kill themselves with a premature explosion.
The secret game is to make them look menacing, so that the US electorate will boost defence spending, etc...
Like I said the pipeline is one of the strategic goal taking place here.
To understand, you have to know the political situation in Central Asia.
That comes next...
Good night.
When the US troops hit a road side bomb, panicked and started firing in the innocent, injured by-standers, some local newspaper filmed the event.
What happened next is hard to believe. US soldiers confiscated all media material and threatened the reporters.
Progress is small in the south. this guy probably never left Kabul, and therefore I do not think he knows anything about southern districts.
If he was really working in SAT, he would know that while the US was making deals with the Talibs, our troops were ambushed be them.
He does not seem to know why the Russians left. They were not defeated by the same enemy that we see now.
They left because the US and the UK assisted in the supplying of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Mujahedins. The Russians quickly lost a bucn of airplanes, and without air support you cannot do anything in this country.
If the Russkies decided to return the change now, we would be out in a week!
Why are the Talibs not firing missiles at US planes???
They could have them tomorrow if they wanted.
I think the poor guy does not understand what the big game is.
We all know that AQ and the Talibs are a bunch of disorganized and untrained soldiers that could be bombed into oblivion in a week.
Half of their attacks are just wet peterds. They often only kill themselves with a premature explosion.
The secret game is to make them look menacing, so that the US electorate will boost defence spending, etc...
Like I said the pipeline is one of the strategic goal taking place here.
To understand, you have to know the political situation in Central Asia.
That comes next...
Good night.
Success in life is when the cognac that you drink is older than the women you drink it with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Khashoggi
It was rumoured that he was the middleman in some of the sales of the stingers supplied for the mujahadin .Of the 1200 supplied some 400 went missing for a while in Beruit and sent the CIA into a mad panic to find them before they got Stateside.A lot of independent dealers went missing that week and were never seen again.A good reson not to get involved in that kind of business.
Khashoggi is Dodi Fayeds uncle what a coincidence eh ???
It was rumoured that he was the middleman in some of the sales of the stingers supplied for the mujahadin .Of the 1200 supplied some 400 went missing for a while in Beruit and sent the CIA into a mad panic to find them before they got Stateside.A lot of independent dealers went missing that week and were never seen again.A good reson not to get involved in that kind of business.
Khashoggi is Dodi Fayeds uncle what a coincidence eh ???
It would certainly make it more entertaining .
Also educational as we could find out how the new toys work and at what stage of development the next generation of Russian anti -aircraft stuff is at and develop countermeasures and test those .Just like the old cold war proxy wars for R&D .
Also educational as we could find out how the new toys work and at what stage of development the next generation of Russian anti -aircraft stuff is at and develop countermeasures and test those .Just like the old cold war proxy wars for R&D .
He flies into our local airport on a regular basis in either VP-BAA or VP-BAB.2R wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Khashoggi
It was rumoured that he was the middleman in some of the sales of the stingers supplied for the mujahadin .Of the 1200 supplied some 400 went missing for a while in Beruit and sent the CIA into a mad panic to find them before they got Stateside.A lot of independent dealers went missing that week and were never seen again.A good reson not to get involved in that kind of business.
Khashoggi is Dodi Fayeds uncle what a coincidence eh ???
bmc
