I'm glad I never worked for the CIA.

Never as far as I know.

I do have to admit that I like reading foreign language newspapers. It would have been super to have a job where they sent me to exotic places to meet people and get them to provide us with sensitive information.

On the other hand, I have been saying that it is idiotic to ignore Islamic Fundamentalism for a long time: especially before the fall of the Shah. I remember the Iranian Protesters who camped out in front of Foyles in London showing pictures of SAVAK brutality. I always wanted to ask them if they were sorry the Shah Fell, but never did.

Charlie Wilson's War was a recipe for failure, yet no one had the balls to come out and say it. Well, other than me, but I have never been in that much of a position of power to do that much. I can write things, but they have about as much of an effect on policy as my blog posts.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are happy they didn't get (re)elected president. I know I am happy I never made it with the CIA since they have shown what clowns they are.

I am amazed that anyone would admit to working for them these days because what happened was pretty obvious. It has been obvious it was coming for a long time.

Unfortunately, it's like the joke about the World Famous French lover who was on a game show as a lifeline. The punch line is that he wouldn't have done anything the contestant suggested.

Maybe they need to go and find some experts.

It was going to be a failure.

Take a country which went "Socialist" and then was "invaded" by the Soviet Union during the cold war. Forget that the country in question is next door to an Islamic Fundamentalist state (Iran), or at least one that had a problem with Islamic Fundamentalists. Toss in Cold War blindness that the Soviet Union is "the Evil Empire". Then fund Islamist warriors, the Mujahideen, to fight in that country.

And you have a recipe for disaster.

Especially since the Mujahideen dislike the United States as much as they hated the Soviet Union. To them, the "West" was the "Evil Empire", which included the idiots who were funding their battle in Afghanistan.

This was the confrontation of Realpolitik and Idealism. Which is worse, communism or Islamic Fundamentalism which has the goal of destroying the west?

The blowback happened on 9-11 and 7/7 along with other Islamic Attacks in London and France. The Zastava AKSU used at the Bataclan was bought legally from Florida.

The Taliban doing their impression of US Militia Members on 6 Jan 2021

Not that gun control will totally disarm the Islamic fighters since they have the technology to keep cranking out guns. Sort of like the AR15 underground can keep cranking out AR15s for as long as the 80% receivers are lying about. Unfortunately, like the problem with Islamic Fundamentalism, the US gun problem was allowed to fester due to the same mistakes in judgement which allowed Islamic Fundamentalism to get out of hand.

I look at the pictures of the Taliban with their assault rifles and beards and it reminds me of the current state of US politics. What will the outcome of the mess that the world finds itself in?

Twice as Many

On ABC News last night I heard that twice as many soldiers died in Afghanistan (57) as died in February 2009. I thought, "Wow, let's hype the deaths, shall we?" I felt this way because it is not at all surprising there have been more casualties in Afghanistan given we've begun a long, and long overdue campaign to try to re-establish stability and the rule of the Afghan government throughout the balance of Afghanistan.

Yet, I saw this same headline on CBS News. I thought, perhaps it's not just a pretty openly pro-conservative news organization like ABC News - perhaps it's just what we get when our news stories are so frequently wire copy. Perhaps the complaints of bias in fact, swing both ways.

Afghanistan is a dangerous place. It is a place with more division, and a greater population than Iraq. In Iraq we had at least the Kurds on our side, 20% of the population (roughly). In Afghanistan we have a country fully engulfed in corruption, with few consistent allies. We ignored the problem for 7 years after we initially toppled the Taliban. We kept too few places safe, we allowed the government to become exactly what it had been prior to the Taliban. In short, we allowed it to become EXACTLY what the native Afghans hated MORE than they hated the Taliban.

President Obama vowed to make a difference, he promised to provide more truth in direct opposition to the desires of the anti(any) war/pacifist element of the Democratic party. He promised to try to retake areas which have been under Taliban control for more than four years, he promised to retake the 80% of the country we gave up on under Bush. Consequently, he sent more troops and engaged in trying to win "Bush's (forgotten) War."

I served for 12 years in the Army Reserves, I knew and know many people who've served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I would be beyond heartbroken if one of them were killed, yet, it IS what we know is the risk. We agree to be agents of policy, and benign and agnostic to politics in uniform. We knew Afghanistan was going south, and IF, big IF, we are going to do anything to retrench Afghanistan, then it would take sweat, hard work, and unfortunately, heartbreakingly, it will take blood.

I have to ask the press, were they asleep? Were they unaware that Obama is trying to take the fight to the enemy, and with it, greater risk exists? I have no idea (nor will I go look to find out), if the right-wing press is trumpeting up the deaths, which I would find utterly hypocritical considering the months where our deaths in Iraq routinely topped 100 yet they said nothing.

Instead, to them (and their unread blogs) and to the press, I suggest you all consider that we either must TRY to take Afghanistan back, or leave. Doing the middle ground thing, in short, being present but taking little action, does nothing but spend our money, and our blood, more slowly, but surely longer. So whether this month is twice as many, will the overall cost be twice as much as acting with conviction? I pray and hope it is not. What I mean is, it may be twice as much in the short run, but I hope and pray and believe that it will therefore be less than half as much in the long run.

Leaving Afghanistan

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome a new contributing author to Penigma, one that you may recognize from his regular comments - "ttucker".
Here is the first of what I hope will be many posts to come. Ttucker - welcome!

"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."
- General George Patton Jr

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”
- George Santayana

When the US sent our military into Afghanistan most of the country supported it wholeheartedly. The Taliban ran the country and had helped and motivated the people who attacked us on Sept 11, 2001. They gave them sanctuary and a place to train and celebrated with them when the twin towers fell in New York. We went over there with a clear mission, remove the Taliban from power, kill as many members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda as possible, destroy their training camps, and deny them a safe haven in Afghanistan.

For the most part we accomplished a large part of this within a couple of years and were busy hunting down small groups of them and capturing or killing them. After 4-5 yrs of focusing on Iraq and sustaining little to no casualties in Afghanistan the mission creep started. Now we needed to rebuild their government, train their troops, and win over the hearts and minds of the people. The last war we tried to win over the "hearts and minds" of the people was Vietnam and we all know how that turned out. I am now fairly certain that this war will turn out no better. I have not ever been in the military but I read a lot of military history and have friends and family who have served or are currently serving. Reading some of the military blogs and seeing news of Afghanistan it seems to me that we are no longer fighting to win.

When we pulled our ground troops out of Vietnam the South Vietnamese were still winning battles with the help of US air and naval support, as soon as the funding for that was cut the entire South fell in less than a month. When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in the 80's they were winning until we supplied the Taliban with stinger missiles to take away the Russian air support. The key to beating a guerrilla force that knows the area is air and artillery. We have now almost neutralized our own air and artillery support in Afghanistan. The new rules of engagement have caused us to be so cautious of civilians that our troops are required to retreat if it is possible that engaging the enemy could endanger civilians. Some have said the rules are not that strict and are being misinterpreted but either way the rules of engagement are putting US soldiers in more danger than they were in before.

Another problem occurs when the US conducts joint operations with the Afghan forces. There are a higher percentage of ambushes in joint operations than there is when US forces go on missions with only US forces. Maybe the Afghan troops are just not as alert about spotting an ambush, maybe someone in the Afghan HQ is still loyal to the Taliban, who knows, but US soldiers are dying because of it.

One of the military blogs I read spoke of a discussion with a former marine who was commandant of “The Corps” when LBJ took office. LBJ called him in and asked what to do about Vietnam. The commandant told him that Vietnam was like a snake in the grass and your first and best option was to leave it the hell alone. If you just cannot live with a snake in the grass then you get the biggest stick you can find and you beat it to a bloody pulp. The one thing you do not want to do is go in the grass with a small stick and play with the snake. Of course LBJ chose the last option and it looks like we have again in Afghanistan. It is time to get out of the grass and leave the snake alone.