Bill Moyers: The Pitbull Strikes Again

Lord knows what we will do when Bill Moyers retires. Moyers is one of the few progressive journalists left who does his homework and tackles complicated issues thoroughly, along with Amy Goodman and Tom Robbins (New York issues). The following is a link to his interview with McClatchy's Penatagon correspondent, Nancy Youssef, who has done several stints in Afghanistan:
Moyers interviews Nancy Youssef

The interview is remarkable for a number of reasons. First, Moyers has clearly reached the point where he finds no distinction between Vietnam and Afghanistan. Youssef tries to push back on this meme, but is consistently overmatched. I love this exchange:

NANCY YOUSSEF: Yeah, the good news is that the United States is committed to it. The good news is that the world thinks that this is a priority. The good news is that there's now a renewed effort and that the best minds are on this and trying to come up with a solution. And that--

BILL MOYERS: The best and the brightest?

Youssef is an interesting interviewee; in contrast to the usual Moyers guest, who plays along with his story line, Youssef seems torn between the horrific news she brings back from the ground, and a creeping loyalty to the U.S military operation. Observe this rambling, which could have come from a Pentagon press release:

NANCY YOUSSEF: But, you know, we talk about Afghanistan as an eight year war. But the truth is it's been eight separate individual years of war... Because we've never gone after this in a real way. There was a strategy 2001 to 2003. And then we tried something else 2003 to 2005. And then it escalated and we tried something else. So, I think if we-- to me, I think what General McChrystal's really saying is if we're going to do, let's do it. Let's really do it. And I think that's the disparity that from the military perspective they'll tell you we haven't really been given the chance, because we were too busy in Iraq. So it's a true argument. It's a fair argument.

I'm sorry, but eight years of war is eight years of war. As Moyers points out, that is longer than our commitment to World War I and World War II combined. That constitutes "a chance". The fact that multiple military strategies have failed is hardly a ringing endorsement to try a new one.

In any case, I'm riding Youssef a little too hard. The interview is worth watching or listening to because of a number of astute observations she makes about conditions on the ground. Youssef agrees that the war in Afghanistan, as well as the war in Iraq, have been too sanitized, leaving the public misinformed and apathetic to the hardships soldiers are facing on a daily basis.

Youssef also breaks down a major problem in our reconstruction efforts. She claims that because 101,000 NATO troops simply cannot protect more than a third of the countryside, if that, there is little incentive to build hospitals and schools- you know, the good stuff we should be doing abroad, because Taliban forces quickly take them over for their own purposes or blow them up. Brutal times...

You can download the interview by going to Bill Moyers' podcast directory on iTunes, or go to the PBS host page:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09112009/watch.html

Casualty Update

The following American soldiers have recently been killed in Afghanistan, according to reports from the Washington Post. Our sincere condolences go out to their families.

September 3rd
Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin P. Castiglione, 21, of Howell, Mich.; 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Battalion, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Killed in Helmand province.

September 5th
Capt. Joshua S. Meadows, 30, of Bastrop, Tex.; 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Killed in Farah province.

September 8
Gunnery Sgt. Edwin W. Johnson Jr., 31, of Columbus, Ga.; 3rd Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan, killed in Konar province.

1st Lt. Michael E. Johnson, 25, of Virginia Beach; 7th Communications Battalion, 3rd Marine Headquarters Group, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan, killed in Konar province.

Staff Sgt. Aaron M. Kenefick, 30, of Roswell, Ga.; 3rd Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan, killed in Konar province.

Petty Officer 3rd Class James R. Layton, 22, of Riverbank, Calif.; embedded with Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan, killed in Konar province.

Former Mayor Ed Koch: "The Afghanistan ground war cannot be won. Let's get out now."

Former three-term mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, has actually been opposed to the Bush/Obama approach to the war in Afghanistan for quite some time now, maybe a year. In his most recent column, published in the Yonkers Tribune, and sent to his email listserv, Koch compares the intractable war to Vietnam in its lack of discernible purpose:

"The British and the Russians gave up on Afghanistan, as probably did Alexander the Great of ancient Macedonia. Even if we were to win, what would we have won? The government of Afghanistan is described by most knowledgeable observers as one of the most corrupt in the world. Indeed, the Afghan government does not have the backing of many, if not most, Afghans who are part of a tribal society run by different war lords financed by the sale of heroin and opium."

I would go a half-step further and ask Obama and his chickenhawk boosters to explain what they would define as a "win" in the first place. The reason I find Koch's continued opposition to the war interesting is that Koch, throughout his career, has been a brilliant bellwhether politician. Early in his career he was known as a civil rights progressive, and opponent of the Vietnam War. As the country moved rightward, he turned on minorities and welfare, became a Reagan booster, and was eventually driven out of office in a Democratic primary (against David Dinkins). Since then he has endorsed both Democrats and Republicans, almost all of whom seem to win.

I say this not to tout his principles, but to suggest that he is not the kind of politician who goes out on limbs. His opposition to the war is part of the recent mainstreaming of dissent against a message machine that has long labled this the "just war".

You can read the full article here:
http://yonkerstribune.typepad.com/yonkers_tribune/2009/09/ed-koch-commentary-the-afghanistan-ground-war-cannot-be-won-lets-get-out-now-by-edward-i-koch.html

Introducing Out of Afghanistan

This will be a blog with one goal: to end the misguided U.S occupation of Afghanistan. This site will bring you stories from around the world on ground conditions our soldiers face, perspectives from around the world, and political developments at home. If you come across a good article, be it news, op-ed or a blog, please email me at rovingstorm@gmail.com . Now, let's end this war.