Neocons Applying Pressure

The average Democrat doesn’t like fighting wars. They don’t like using military force. They don’t just dislike collateral damage and civilian casualties and flag-draped coffins; they cringe at the concept of combat with citizens of another country, even when the president has declared:

Al Qaeda and its allies — the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks — are in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan. And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban — or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged — that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can.

That’s not the last president; that’s the current president, an entire six months ago.

Six months ago, I meant it. now, my mind has changed.

Exhibit A:

Some U.S. special forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan may be at higher risk than usual of injury and death because the Pentagon has not equipped their units with enough helicopters to transport them safely around the countries, say six current and former military officials. Two of those officials, all of whom asked for anonymity fearing retaliation by Pentagon brass, tell NEWSWEEK that the roughly 800 Green Berets in the Afghanistan-Pakistan theater engaged in what are known as “white” missions—recruiting and training local antiterrorist militias—have only three Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to move them around combat zones infested with snipers and roadside improvised explosive devices. By contrast, Green Berets assigned to “black” ops commando units hunting high-value terrorist targets are much more generously equipped. The white forces, assigned to vital but unglamorous counterinsurgency missions, are the Pentagon’s “bastard stepchildren,” says one of the officials. The helicopter shortage is so acute, say three of the officials, that requests for helicopters for white Green Beret airlift are rejected 80 percent of the time; some commanders no longer bother asking. (Link) (Emphasis mine)

Exhibit B:

Keep in mind: Afghan recruits come from a world of desperate poverty. They are almost uniformly malnourished and underweight. Many are no bigger than I am (5’4″ and thin) — and some probably not much stronger. Like me, many sag under the weight of a standard-issue flack jacket.

[...]

American trainers recognize that recruits regularly wear all their gear at once for fear somebody will steal anything left behind in the barracks, but they take this overdressing as a sign of how much Afghans love the military. My own reading, based on my observations of Afghan life during the years I’ve spent in that country, is this: It’s a sign of how little they trust one another, or the Americans who gave them the snazzy suits. I think it also indicates the obvious: that these impoverished men in a country without work have joined the Afghan National Army for what they can get out of it (and keep or sell) — and that doesn’t include democracy or glory. (Link) (Emphasis mine)

Exhibit C:

(AP) Afghan army recruit Shahidullah Ahmadi can’t read – and neither can nine out of 10 soldiers in the Afghan National Army.

[...]

“I face difficulties. If someone calls me and tells me to go somewhere, I can’t read the street signs,” Ahmadi, 27, a member of a logistics battalion, said while walking through downtown Kabul. “In our basic training, we learned a lot. Some of my colleagues who can read and write can take notes, but I’ve forgotten a lot of things, the types of things that might be able to save my life.” (Link) (Emphasis mine)

Exhibit D:

Private security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul were pressured to participate in naked pool parties and perform sex acts to gain promotions or assignment to preferable shifts, according to one of 12 guards who have gone public with their complaints.

In an interview with ABC News for broadcast tonight on the “World News with Charles Gibson,” the guard, a U.S. military veteran, said top supervisors of the ArmorGroup were not only aware of the “deviant sexual acts” but helped to organize them.

[...]

In June 2007, the State Department warned “the security of the US embassy in Kabul is in jeopardy” because of “deficiencies” on the part of ArmorGroup. (Link) (Emphasis added)

Exhibit E:

Exhibit F:

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission on Tuesday ordered a partial recount of the ballots in the August 20 presidential election.

The complaints commission called on Afghanistan’s Independent Elections Commission (IEC) to conduct the audit and recount because of “clear and convincing evidence of fraud in a number of polling stations.” (Link)

Exhibit G:

PARIS — Afghan President Hamid Karzai says in an interview published in France that the United States is attacking him because it wants to him to be more “docile.”

[...]

He says Americans who are “attacking Karzai secretly” are wrong to do so – and it’s in no one’s interest for the Afghan president to be a U.S. puppet. (Link) (Emphasis added)

Exhibit H:

The US special envoy to Afghanistan has held an “explosive” meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the country’s election, the BBC has learnt.

Richard Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-stuffing and fraud, by a number of candidates’ teams, sources say.

The US envoy also said a second-round run-off could make the election process more credible, the sources said.

Concerns have already been raised about Afghanistan’s election, although final results are not due until September.

A number of senior sources have confirmed the details of a meeting between Mr Holbrooke and Mr Karzai held on 21 August, one day after the election.

The meeting was described as “explosive” and “a dramatic bust-up”.

Mr Holbrooke is said to have twice raised the idea of holding a second round run-off because of concerns about the voting process. (Link) (Emphasis mine)

Exhibit H: Bagram.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban are not the same thing, and there was no way for any one man to really know all of this until he’s been in office a while and his people have had time to find it out for him. Now that we’ve found out “success” in Afghanistan requires 45,000 troops, neocons like Geraghty want Obama to agree to McCrystal’s plan without reading it.

This whole pressure campaign is going to look really stupid by Thanksgiving. By then, the UN will have called foul — or not — and this whole thing will come down to the depth of Hamid Kharzai’s paranoia.

At that point, the neocons could be asking Obama to support a tinpot Ahmadinejad.

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