Memo to Obama: Afghanistan is over! We lost!

While Walt was wondering what to make of the swap of one (1) American deserter for five (5) top Taliban commanders, something else happened. This weekend, five American servicemen were killed in Afghanistan...apparently by members of the Afghan armed forces.

An official statement of the so-called "international coalition" called the killings a "friendly fire" incident. Walt takes this to mean that the killers were not the dreaded Taliban or al-Qaeda, but the very people the US occupying forces are there to serve and protect. America's friends, you might say...or not. After all, with friends like that...

This latest demonstration of the folly of leaving American troops in the sandpit even one day longer comes hard on the heels of Obama's Rose Garden "victory lap" in celebration of the 5-for-1 prisoner swap. Woohoo, sez the Prez, we brought home this courageous hero who was "captured on the battlefield" after serving with "honour and distinction". [Actually it was Susan Rice who said that. Ed.]

OK, Susan Rice said it. But Obama told a war-weary nation that even though he was going to leave some 10,000 American soldiers in the line of (friendly) fire for another couple of years, they need not fear being left behind! Unless of course they're dead, in which case they'll be brought home in body bags -- still not left behind!

The controversy surrounding the Bergdahl deal is not about one confused and reluctant soldier. (Bergdahl flitted around with ballet and Buddhism before joining the army, but became disillusioned with the invasion of Afghanistan about 90 seconds after arriving there.) Rather it is about President Hussein Obama, his foreign policy in general and his conduct of the war in particular.

The prisoner swap represents -- or should represent -- a moment of truth for all Americans, including Susan Rice, Chuck Hagel and the Prez himself. The war is over. America lost. Again. In 2016, unless a new president [Hellery Clinton? Ed.] extends the mission again, the Americans will finally leave. Afghanistan will remain as it was -- a benighted wasteland of warring tribes. The expenditure of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives will have been for naught -- a total (and criminal) waste.

Further reading: "White House's Handling of Bergdahl 'a Joke'", by Dr. Charles Krauthammer, in National Review Online. And yes, we do have the video.

Mission accomplished? Taliban, al-Qaeda still blowing up Afghans

As Walt reported in "Afghans mourn departure of Canadian soldiers" -- the Canadian Armed Forces closed their Middle East orifice ["office", surely! Ed.] last week, having done their bit to leave Afghanistan a safer and more civilized place than they found it when they joined the American invasion 12 years ago.

No senior officials of the Canadian government were on hand for the flag-lowering and final playing of "O Canada" (closing with the customary shout of "Drop the puck!"), but the Canadian commanding officer, Lance-Corporal Justin Beaver, assured the Canuck media that Afghanistan had been pacified and developed and would be in good hands with the new Afghan Army. We're satisfied, he said, that everything will be just hotsy-totsy.

Today the BBC reports that a suicide bomb attack in northern Afghanistan has killed at least 15 people, including women and children. Another 27 were wounded in the attack in Maymana, the capital of Faryab province, provincial governor Mohammadullah Batash said. To be fair, this part of the sandpit wasn't in Canada's zone, so the Canucks can hardly be blamed. Must have been the Americans.

The bomber is believed to have detonated his explosives near the entrance to a busy market. No group has so far said it carried out the bombing. However, Taliban insurgents and the al-Qaeda affiliated group the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are active in the volatile region.

The attack comes as Afghans prepare to hold elections on April 5th, to freely and democratically choose a success to corrupt and useless President Krazai. Once the new president and his cronies are ensconced, the Americans will be able to leave, with hearty cries of "Mission accomplished!" and "Infidel go home!" ringing in their ears.

Updated at nigh noon - It has come to Walt's attention that some of you did not get the joke in the last sentence. It would be the TALIBAN who would be yelling "Mission accomplished!", because the foreign infidels had finally been chased out of their (alleged) country. Goddit now?!

Winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan

The Los Angeles Times must be on the side of the Taliban! Why else would they publish pictures like this?


White House spokesthingy Jay Carney says the conduct does not represent the standards of the US military. Mr. Carney couldn't say if President O'bama had seen the pix, since he doesn't read newspapers all that much, but if he did, he would surely believe the situation needs to be investigated and those responsible should be held accountable. Just like that guy that killed all those villagers. Where is he now?

NATO's top commander in Armpitistan said he couldn't agree more, adding "Just as soon as we can figure out who those guys are, we'll bring `em back to the USA. Not the ones with the funny caps though. They're Afghans."

Since allegedly ending their combat role in the sandpit last summer, the Canadian Armed Forces have assumed responsibility for the "training" of the so-called Afghan National Army and police. Obviously they have not yet covered the module on how to stay out of embarrassing photos.

Click here for more of the Times' pix of heroioc Americans in action.

Canada to train Taliban, says Smilin' Jack

Following up yesterday's item about Iraqi soldiers accidentally (???) shooting their American trainers, Walt now poses the question: Who's training the Taliban? Answer: The Canadians will be taking care of that.

So says "Smilin' Jack" Layton, leader of Canada's leftish New* Democractic Party (NDP). Speaking at the University of Ottawa
(U of 0) on Saturday, the Smiling Face of Socialism said switching Canada’s military mission from fighting to training will only mean that Canada will train and equip many who will later join the insurgency.

He was quoted in the Globe and Mail as saying, "Every year, one in five soldiers walks out of the Afghan National Army for good. How many of these become Taliban fighters, taking their training and weapons with them? You think you’re training government officers, but then you’re really training insurgents as well."

At best, Layton added, Canada will be helping to create a military machine for a corrupt and distrusted Afghan President who is "very closely tied to rigged elections and rampant corruption", and discredited with his own people. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he added, is "reluctant to send another dime of aid money directly to Mr. Karzai’s government, but he’ll give him an army."

* Footnote: The NDP will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. When the huzzahs have died away, it will change its name to "the Old Democractic Party".

How training missions work

The Canadian Prime Minister, "Call me Steve" Harper, has gone back on his word -- surprise! surprise! -- by deciding to extend the Canadian mission in Afghanistan until 2014. This came after a solemn promise that all Canadian troops would be out of the mid-east cesspit by July 2011.

But it's OK, quoth he, because the 1000 or so who get to stay will be on a "training mission". That's not the same as a "combat mission". So that's all right then.

Let Walt explain how training missions work.

What you do -- in the finest British military tradition -- is assemble a motley crew of natives and arm them with weapons. (Not the best weapons of course; maybe just some wooden dummies for practice.) Then you drill them, drill them some more, and drill them again. "One... twothree! One... twothree!"

When they have been completely drilled (as opposed to punched or bored) you lead them out into the field to test what they've learned. "A firing line, you idiots! Not a circle!"

While leading your pupils, you stand a pretty good chance of getting shot at. Six American soldiers learned this the hard way on Monday when an Afghan border police officer opened fire on them during a training mission in the east of the armpit ["country", surely. Ed.]

The shooting -- the highest toll for NATO forces since nine Americans died in a helicopter crash in September -- was the latest in a series of shootouts in which Afghan security forces have quite inexplicably turned on their NATO partners.

Walt wonders what makes Steve think the fate of Canadian trainers would be at all dissimilar. Should they pin on big "trainer" badges? Should they paint big red maple leaves on their backs so the Afghans will know they're not Americans? Would it make any difference?

Harper lied, Canadians staying in Afghanistan

Let me try to be dispassionate about this. 152 Canadians have died needlessly in Afghanistan. (I said "dispassionate", not "unopinionated".) Now Prime Minister Harper proposes, off his own bat, to keep about 1000 Canadian soldiers in that wretched cesspit of a country for another three years past the promised withdrawal date of July 2011.

First the timeline. Following 9/11, the Americans -- more accurately, the Bushmen -- decided to take revenge on Al Qaeda by attacking them in their homeland, which they thought was Afghanistan. Once again the profound American ignorance of geography and geopolitics came into play, as it turned out there were no Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, only the Taliban.

No Afghani ever attacked the USA. The perps of the 9/11 horror came from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. But no matter. Afghanistan was in the neighbourhood so...send in the Marines! Unfortunately, even though the UN refused to support the American mission, NATO went along with it, so NATO member countries were asked to participate in the "coalition of the willing".

About this time, the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien felt maybe Canada kind of owed the US one, having bailed out on the invasion of Iraq, so M. Crouton said OK, we'll send some of our guys for a couple of years, maybe until 2003 or 2005.

Well, 2003 came and went. So did 2005. The sound of wheels spinning and a mission going nowhere was loud in the land. So the mission got extended to 2007, then to 2009. By 2008 the mission was not just going nowhere, it was going in reverse.

By this time "Call me Steve" Harper was in charge, but, having only a minority government, didn't want to have to carry the can for a dubious decision to prolong the ill-advised and ill-fated war any further. So he did what Canadian governments always do, and appointed a commission.

Setting up a commission or an enquiry is a lot like hiring a consultant: you usually get the answer you want. Sure enough, the advice of John "The Man from Glad" Manley -- who conveniently had been a member of the Chrétien government -- was to give it another two years, max.

Harper brought the unManley report before the House of Commons, saying that Parliament must decide. In reality this was a clever ploy to make the Liberals take the blame. Not only had they committed Canada to the mission in the first place, but were going through a vicious internecine fight of their own, so they were hardly in a position to vote "no" and throw the country into yet another election.

Besides, Harper assured everyone, this is the ABF, the Absolutely Bloody Final extension. All the troops would come home in 2011, for sure, except maybe for a handful required to guard the Canadian embassy in Kabul. Really. Scout's Honour.

And so it came to pass...another two years in hell.

Now, with no exit strategy or plans in sight, nor any end to the war, Mr. Harpoon has had a sudden epiphany. It was wrong to promise to withdraw in 2011! We might be needed -- one wonders by whom -- for a little while longer.

On Remembrance Day, the day when we honour our fallen soldiers, Harper announced that, yes, Canada would leave some troops in Afghanistan after all. Say 1000 or so and this time for not two, but three years. On Remembrance Day! The cynicism and hypocrisy boggles the mind! 152 have died so for their sake some more will have to die.

But noooooo... Harper says Canadians will be there only in a training role, not a combat role. They will help the Afghan National Army and the corrupt and discredited Afghan National Police to develop their capacity to bring peace and order to their ravaged country. It will be "strictly inside the wire", in the peaceful and safe confines of Kabul, where explosions are less frequent than in Kandahar. Yeah, right.

Walt is old enough to remember Vietnam. For those who don't, let it be recalled that the Americans first went to Vietnam as advisors, to help the ARVN develop its capacity to defeat the dreaded Vietminh and bring peace and order etc. etc.

Tens of thousands of lives later, the Americans discovered that you can't very well train people to wage war without going into battle with them. What would make a training role in Afghanistan any different?

The fact is that if you are wearing a uniform -- any uniform -- you're fair game for the Taliban. Trainers or combat troops, it makes no difference. They all have targets painted on their backs.

Hell, the Taliban don't even see our soldiers. They just plant IEDs on the roads in the dead of night, then hide behind the nearest hill and wait for the big bang. Any "foren" venturing outside the camp is fair game, trainer or not.

This would be a great point to raise in a debate in Parliament, if there were going to be a debate in Parliament. But there won't be any such debate. Harper calmly announced, with a straight face, that since our troops will be teachers, not fighters, the decision to leave them there is an executive decision, which he, acting alone -- for it appears all this took his Defence Minister by surprise -- is entitled to make. Just like the president of the USA.

So much for the Canadian constitutional monarchy. So much for the supremacy of parliament. And so much for the lives of scores or possibly hundreds of Canadian men and women who will die in the dust on the other side of the world...for nothing.

War ends, war continues

The Bush war is over. The last American troops left Iraq today. "We won," one of the departing soldiers said. So who lost? Perhaps the thousands of Iraqi civilians who were killed were among the losers. So were the 4400 American troops who died there to... to... remind me again.

Meanwhile, the Obama war continues. Crazy Karzai says the "private security forces" -- read "mercenaries" -- must be out of his country within four months. That would leave... let's see... the Afghan National So-called Army, and... and... American troops?

UPDATE: Aug. 21
Walt asked who won and who lost? Patrick Graham, writing in today's Globe and Mail says everybody lost and nobody won. Click here to read his excellent analysis of the confusion, lies, fear and death.

British getting ready to pull out too?

As mentioned yesterday, Canada is scheduled to bring its soldiers -- those who are still alive -- home from Afghanistan in July 2011. Today Associated Press reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron says Her Majesty's troops could start pulling out as soon as 2011, if conditions on the ground allow.

Walt finds it interesting that only yesterday Armpitistan's "democratically elected president" Krazai (crazy name, crazy guy!) said his country's security forces would be ready to take control by 2014. What will happen in the three years in between? If the Canadians are followed through the exit doors by the British, that will leave ... you got it ... good ole U.S. of A., champions of democracy, to protect for the rights of Afghan women not to wear the burqa and all the other good things that "we" are fighting for.

Click here to read the complete AP report.

Two per day

Six (6) American service personnel were killed in Afghanistan today, along with 12 members of the Afghan army. So far this month Americans are dying at the rate of two per day. But don't worry. Obama's "surge" is going to bring the exercise to a successful conclusion. Or not...

Friendly fire

Yesterday I gave you the number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan, and for months now I have been reporting the latest Canadian deaths. But to give credit where credit is due, I should point out that hundreds of Americans are also laying down their lives -- needlessly -- in the most dangerous country in the Middle East.

Yesterday three US soldiers were killed by an IED somewhere in southern Aghanistan. No other details are available.

Afghanistan also has an army (of sorts) of its own, a pretty motley crew of inadequately trained and armed conscripts, led by the "real soldiers" of NATO. They run the risk of dying at the hands of their own countrymen. Anyone with a uniform is fair game.

Associated Press reports that "NATO" mistakenly killed five* of its Afghan army allies in an airstrike this morning. Since the Americans fly most of the gunships in that theatre, we can pretty much assume that some trigger-happy American was responsible. "Hey Joe! You're supposed to shoot at the rag-heads! The ones with the caps are ours!"

It's not like this hasn't happened before. Walt is reminded of the Tarnak Farm incident in 2002, when four Canadian soldiers were killed. Eight others were injured when U.S. Air National Guard Major Harry Schmidt dropped a laser-guided 500-pound bomb from his F-16 jet fighter on the Princess Pats who were conducting a night firing exercise near Kandahar.

Schmidt was charged with negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, and dereliction of duty. He was found guilty of the latter charge, was fined nearly $5,700 in pay and was reprimanded. Today he lives in obscurity in his home in the USA, known locally as "the Schmidt house".

During testimony Schmidt blamed the incident on his use of "go pills" combined with the "fog of war". The Canadian dead received US medals for "bravery", but no apology.

*According to Agence France Presse the number of dead Afghan soldiers is six. Presumably they too will get medals...but no apology. "Collateral damage" happens!