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On Woodward's Book: A (Very Minor) Clarification
I arrived back in the office this morning to discover a copy of Bob Woodward's new book
That having been said, and since Marc Ambinder is already giving me credit for having convinced Stan McChrystal to institute strict new traffic guidelines for ISAF vehicles*, I need to make one minor correction -- a clarification, really -- to the section of the book in which I appear:
The Toyotas raced around Kabul. The drivers honked their horns rather than step on the brakes, madly changing lanes, swerving through traffic and accelerating at every opportunity. The theory was that erratic driving reduced the chances of a roadside attack. Afghans who didn't jump out of the way could be plowed down. After one of the SUVs ran a bicyclist off the road, Andrew Exum, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a former U.S. Army Ranger, asked the driver, "What are you doing, man?"
"You can't be too careful. Could've been a bomb, sir," was the response. But this kind of commute left Afghans on the street visibly angry. The team could see how an emphasis on force protection was causing the coalition to lose the Afghan people. Exum wrote a one-pager for McChrystal about aggressive driving and armored vehicles entitled "Touring Afghanistan by Submarine."
All of that is true. But the title of that one-pager actually referred back to another dynamic -- one that Woodward writes about a page earlier. The way in which I saw NATO/ISAF vehicles travel around Afghanistan bothered me in two ways. The first way is mentioned above: I saw NATO/ISAF vehicles driving around Afghanistan as if we were the sovereign authority and not in Afghanistan on behalf of the sovereign authority, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. We needed to behave as if we were the invited guests of the Afghans rather than some occupying power. But more than that, the experience of traveling around Mazar-e-Sharif -- a largely secure city in northern Afghanistan -- in an armored German vehicle, whereby I could only observe Mazar and the Afghans themselves through a narrow two inch by four inch slit of bullet-proof glass, really bothered me. It was, as Woodward writes, as if I was seeing Afghanistan through a periscope. And if this was how most German soldiers were seeing Afghanistan, I had no confidence that any of them really understood what was going on in northern Afghanistan at a time when the provinces under German responsibility were noticeably worsening. (And it wasn't just the Germans. In Wardak Province, for example, a U.S. commander insisted on us travelling in an MRAP ... 200 meters.)
I have said before that as someone who makes no claim to being an expert on Afghan culture, I spent much of my time on Gen. McChrystal's review team examining our culture -- and how an operational culture defined by "force protection über alles" hinders our ability to learn about and understand the local dynamics of the conflict. That, in addition to running people of their own roads, was what led to that paper.
On another note, readers of this blog will either be pleased or dismayed to discover that the same black humor and blunt informality you see on this blog are also characteristics of my interactions with four-star generals. For better or for worse, I suppose.
*I was but one of many people complaining to Gen. McChrystal about the way in which ISAF vehicles were racing around Kabul, driving Afghans off the roads and p***ing people off.
Update: Case in point, here is Steve Biddle making pretty much the points I made in an op-ed in the IHT earlier this year. Steve's op-ed is worth reading. The comments section, aside from the usual silliness, is filling up with guys making the valid points that sometimes armored vehicle travel and additional force protection measures are necessary. Absolutely! But officers get paid to take and manage risks in order to accomplish the mission they are given. Between the men and the mission, the mission gets priority. Always. My experience has been that officers and enlisted men understand when reasonable risks are taken to accomplish the mission. They only get bent out of shape when they feel their superior officers are playing too free and loose with their personal safety or that the risks don't make sense in terms of what is necessary to accomplish the mission. I am hardly the first person to note that the U.S. Army, Marine Corps and their allied militaries are especially risk averse, often to the detriment of mission accomplishment. And I would never advise a U.S. military officer to take risks that I would not take myself. But simply buttoning up and doing whatever it takes to avoid casualties is not an option if you're still trying to win. That leads to what I've heard Israeli officers memorably call the "Beaufort Syndrome" after what happened to the IDF in the last years of the occupation of southern Lebanon. Good combat leaders will understand that sometimes you need to do your business in full battle rattle and moving in MRAPs and that sometimes you will need to do your business in nothing more than your ACUs, sitting on the floor of someone's house, drinking tea. You can respond by calling me a pencil-necked think tank geek, which, heh, is very much true, but that doesn't make what I just wrote any less true as well.
You should've slap the
You should've slap the driver on the back of his head, pulled him out and show him how PC-COIN experts drive.
Do PC-COIN experts drive
Do PC-COIN experts drive like grandmas in a combat zone?
How exactly are you suppose to drive VIPs, such as Exum, in a combat zone?
If you're so bad ass, AM,
If you're so bad ass, AM, why don't you backpack through Afghanistan? Go have three cups of tea with everyone over there and blog about it, as you travel solo through.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it. I prefer you said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!
No more homophobic comments,
No more homophobic comments, gang, or I'm going to have to shut down the comments section. I can't spend all day policing this stuff. The comments policy is listed above.Oh, and Cav Guy, I served on
Oh, and Cav Guy, I served on two deployments to Afghanistan, and never once traveled in an armored vehicle. Not until I went to Kabul as a civilian adviser did I travel in an armored vehicle. And yes, by the end of my time there last summer, I was simply taking civilian taxis when I needed to go somewhere.Dear Mr. Exum, Could you
Dear Mr. Exum,
Could you please visit VDOT and use your talents to discuss the parking lot/demolition derby of I-95/I-495 with them?
TIA,
Boondoggle
Yeah, civilian taxis in the
Yeah, civilian taxis in the Green Zone. Big wow.
Face it you are CNAS VIP, you guys are like royalty right now. You had to be put in an armoured car to protect your little noggin--the secrets of winning in Afghanistan are in there for chrissakes.
AM: What's wrong with
AM:
What's wrong with driving (normally) when driving, and dismounting and engaging when appropriate (to get the sentiments of the "human terrain"?). Driving seems dangerous. So is human terrain work, but I'm just saying, why not drive when you have to drive (again, drive politely), and engage in human terrain work when you dismount (to repeat myself).
ADTS
If in 2009 US intelligence
If in 2009 US intelligence had 0 information about the situation in Kandahar (as you claimed on C-SPAN) I would hold out little hope for the command being able to carry out basic tasks of co-existence with the populace.
No, I walked all around
No, I walked all around Kabul outside the so-called Green Zone. And I took civilian taxis all over Kabul outside the Green Zone.Nothing, ADTS. That is
Nothing, ADTS. That is exactly what *should* happen. Sometimes mission-appropriate force protection is nothing more than ACUs. Sometimes, by contrast, mission-appropriate force protection is full battle rattle and armored vehicles. Knowing when to switch between the two (and others) is the key.Did you take those taxis all
Did you take those taxis all the way to Wardak? Nuff said, you and I live in two totally different worlds. I have to keep my boys safe, you can afford to have 3 cups of fucking tea with these nuts, and give us fighting men the finger. Why don't you re-up and serve again?
AM, what is this Human
AM, what is this Human Centipede, and why do you keep on deleting it?
Xe, the Human Centipede is a
Xe, the Human Centipede is a movie. It is only a movie, not porn, nothing else. Kinda like 'Saw'. It is just a movie, get over it guys.
YOU ever driven into an IED,
YOU ever driven into an IED, Andrew?
I suggest until you have, you have absolutely no business telling our boys in the Arena how to drive. You're just a critic now. Please remember, Pres. T. Roosevelt's speech about the critic and the men in the Arena.
Why does Ex think the Human
Why does Ex think the Human Centipede is related to homosexuality?
Oh my oh my. You're so f-ing
Oh my oh my. You're so f-ing cool, Exum. I don't want to exaggerate, but you could well possibly be the coolest person on the planet.
"Shoot at the enemy nicely" seems to be your contribution to the war effort. Well done, Super Cool Exum Man!
America's problem in
America's problem in Afghanistan, right here in a nutshell:
The first way is mentioned above: I saw NATO/ISAF vehicles driving around Afghanistan as if we were the sovereign authority and not in Afghanistan on behalf of the sovereign authority, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. We needed to behave as if we were the invited guests of the Afghans rather than some occupying power.
Here's the problem: this is a lie. "GIRoA" is a lie. Americans, right now, are fighting for a lie.
You could hire the best liars in the world. Heck, the best liars of all time. You could get Goebbels, Vyshinsky, Edward R. Murrow, all on the same team at once. You could teach them all Pashtoon, like they learned it from their mothers. And they could convince the entire population of Afghanistan, not excepting a single stoned Hazara goatherd, that "we were the invited guests of the Afghans rather than some occupying power." And the Americans would believe it, too - if you can fool the wily Pathan, the tea partiers are no problem. And love and peace would prevail everywhere.
And it wouldn't matter, because it would still be a damned lie. If a single honest historian exists in the year 2410, he will not tell you: "USG was the invited guest of the sovereign authority, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan." No, he will tell you that USG invaded Afghanistan and set up a native puppet state, just like everyone from Pharaoh to Joe Stalin. History never changes, it just always thinks it does.
And frankly, once upon a time, this country was so teh shit, it could get away with this. The State Department could announce a lie, and the lie would shimmer and settle and congeal into reality, solid ground you could actually walk on, and after a while it would be true and no one would think twice about it. It had the Jedi powers. But now - it's just sad. Our strategy for victory in Afghanistan is persuading the entire country to believe a lie - a lie that wouldn't fool an eight-year-old.
Now, is it prudent for soldiers of the occupying sovereign power to protect themselves by driving around like Egyptian cabbies, even if occasionally they run over a native or his goat? Or should they go grandma, and accept the occasional RPG with stoic military fortitude? I can't speak to this question. But if the main argument for grandma driving is that, if American forces drive like grandma, the natives are more likely to believe our lie - give it up. Because outside the PowerPoint world, you ain't fooled nobody, and you ain't gonna fool them neither.
Free books, a paragraph or
Free books, a paragraph or two in Woodward's new book, I'm sure Foust can make some game changing 'Glee' analogy that won't be deemed "homophobic".
Our troops should just pack up and leave and let you win the war by yourself, since you seem to possess the secret formula. All our troops should wear peace signs and carry flowers to give out to the locals. What a bunch of bull.
Here's what some of my
Here's what some of my fellow domestic extremists think about this whole business: http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/017454.html. Excerpts:
"This is ATM (American Technocratic Madness), which is most fully developed in the middle and upper officer ranks of the U.S. armed services. The military is given some mission to accomplish. So it applies its formidable brains to the task and comes up with an incredibly involved and expensive multi-step plan (e.g., training commissioned and non-commissioned officers how to socialize with and win the trust of Afghan village elders), all laid out in PowerPoint, in order to carry out that mission. The more complex and absorbing this intermediate plan toward the accomplishment of the mission becomes, the less the plan has to do with the actual mission. The Army becomes fascinated by the intermediate steps. When the intermediate steps seem to be going well, Army officers get all excited about the great progress they are making, and tell newspapers and their friends and family back home about the great faith they have in their mission and about how fulfilling they find their job, and the "conservative" U.S. media pick up on these encouraging reports and say, "See, things are going great!" Meanwhile the Army officers and their conservative cheerleaders have lost sight of the overall picture, in which no progress is being made at all."
"Thus, during all those years in Iraq, almost every time you opened a newspaper, you saw a story profiling an intelligent, competent, and devoted U.S. Army captain or lieutenant colonel talking about his great faith in the ultimate success of our mission, based on his personal success in establishing rapport with a local Iraqi chieftain with whose aid he was building a school or a fixing a sewage plant. Meanwhile the overall situation in Iraq was steadily deteriorating, which the gung-ho captain or lieutenant colonel didn't realize at all, because his gaze was fixed on his immediate assignment and his personal experiences. This delusionary process, with the conservative journalists participating in it and cheering it every inch of the way (at least well into 2006 when some of them started to voice anguished doubts and to back away from President Bush), went on from March 2003 to January 2007, when, facing the prospect of the imminent collapse of Iraq into sectarian mass murder, the U.S. finally adopted a radically different policy aimed at suppressing, not just managing, the insurgency. And now every mainstream conservative pundit blocks out that 1,408-day period of self-delusion, drift, and disaster, 62 days longer than America's engagement in the greatest war in history, and calls our Iraq involvement a marvelous success, and urges us to repeat the experience in Afghanistan, where our forces have already been engaged for a period more than twice the length of our involvement in World War II."
"In Afghanistan and Iraq, as in Vietnam and Korea before them, the politicians assign the military a fundamentally impossible mission to accomplish. The military is told that they cannot defeat the enemy decisively, but must concede to the enemy an inviolable strategic sanctuary from which the enemy controls the tempo of combat. Moreover, the politicians place absurd restrictions on how the military must conduct operations even in the non-sanctuary areas where it is allowed to fight. Rather than resign or resist, the top brass accepts a strategy and operational restrictions that guarantee failure. This leaves the mid-level officers in the unenviable position of executing the impossible strategy under the ridiculous restrictions. Coming from a "can do" culture, the mid-level officers come up with incredibly involved and expensive multi-step plans to carry out the impossible mission. Mid-level officers who try to do the impossible are decorated and promoted; they know that if they salute, make no waves, and do their time overseas, their careers will stay on track. The few officers who realize they are executing a strategy that guarantees defeat either resign in disgust or are forced out. It is simply not in the Army's institutional interest to lift its eyes above the level of the "intermediate steps" to the strategic level--among other things, this would bring about a profound crisis in civil-military relations, as the Army would have to refuse or resist political instructions that made no sense. As a result, the Army as an institution prospers even as it is defeated and even as the nation wastes vast amounts of money and lives trying to do the impossible."
I think we need those
I think we need those COEXIST stickers on every single vehicle in Iraq and Afghanistan to demonstrate our commitment to interfaith dialogue. Otherwise the terrorists will surely win.
If the average Mahmoud sees NATO/ISAF vehicles driving around Afghanistan like pussies... I mean, as if they were not the sovereign authority, then he will conclude that someone else (hint: not Karzai) is the sovereign authority. The Strong Horse does not drive as if he were driving Miss Daisy.
Instead of armoured
Instead of armoured vehicles, we should deploy in parade floats, covered with roses and balloons, make sure there are no weapons because those scare the local population. Instead of muti-cam fatigues, we should send our troops out in Disney costumes so we don't scare the local population. We should drive really slow so we can throw party beads from our floats like Mardi Gras, so we don't scare the local population.
While we are at it, we should all get castrated, this will lower our collective testosterone levels, which are scaring the local population.
Only then can we sit and have three cups of tea with the local population and pick our noses with them and check out little boys with them.
I'm sure Bob Woodward
I'm sure Bob Woodward inserted a picture of his dick in the book for you to use as a bookmark. Flip thru the pages some more, I'm sure it'll be there.
Mencius: "Here's the
Mencius:
"Here's the problem: this is a lie. "GIRoA" is a lie. Americans, right now, are fighting for a lie."
GIRoA is not a lie per se, but it does not have the basis to stay in power unless someone supports them, be that the Americans, the Taliban or the ISI in Pakistan. If we leave, they'll cut whatever deal they can to stay atop the government. The point of the American mission is to be able to leave with the GIRoA strong enough that they only have to cut deals with corrupt warlords, not radical Islamic elements who are more antithetical to our interests.
Unfortunately, our entire Middle East/Islamic policy is shaped by the powerful Slovakia lobby, which wants to keep us at war indefinitely to make sure their unions keep getting cushy defense manufacturing jobs, just like they did in Vietnam. We'll be lucky to get out by 2016.
duuuudes chill. every day
duuuudes chill.
every day that i'm back stateside, i see a driver that makes me wish i a TOW launcher on my car. i'm sure the afghanis are equally frustrated by what they percieve to be americans making dick moves (aka defensive driving) while behind the wheel of that 1168. everyone hates bad drivers. it's universal...
Obviously, a Coexist sticker
Obviously, a Coexist sticker on an MRAP or even a Toyota SUV would be jarring to the local sensibilities. In order to convince them that we are true Rainbow People, dedicated to the cause of Peace and Democracy, we should put everybody in green Subaru Outbacks. Also, I've been thinking, perhaps we could institute some recycling programs and maybe open up a chain of Whole Foods throughout the country. Do the Taliban have Whole Foods? They do not! Hearts, check! Minds, check!
I don't know if GEN Petraeus is as vulnerable to fashionable ideas as his predecessor, but certainly CNAS could try to pitch these to him. If he fails to listen and the war goes poorly, you can always say, duh, you didn't listen; if he listens and the war goes poorly, well, I'm sure there will have been some part of his execution that you can say, in retrospect, he didn't go far enough on. Either way, you come out smelling like roses. Of course, since the function of CNAS is to be part of the DC random noise generation process, it's a sure thing that nobody will come along and take you to task.
On the most basic level, driving like assholes is just another symptom of the mindset the Army inculcates in its troops from day one of Basic Training: "you're gonna die! You're gonna get your buddy killed! The enemy is always watching with their superhuman powers, and if you're not constantly pinging, it's because you're complacent, which is GONNA MAKE YOU DIE!!!" The idea that the enemy is a small subset of incompetent goat rapists in a sea of incompetent goat rapists, who all drive like they're late to their goat date, and so you need to modulate the level of your aggression and domination isn't really brought up. The SOF guys mostly drive like psychos (I remember when the warning shots ban came out, turret gunners would pack a case of Rip-Its and peg cars which didn't move over quickly enough with them. It was funny, but not to the drivers, or their families, I'm sure,) the CF guys mostly drive like pussies (catching a ride with one of their convoys once, I remember sitting in on a convoy brief that went something like this: "our safety measures against IEDs include not going over 30 mph on the highway, so that we can spot them; turret gunners will stay ducked down below the turret, so as to minimize exposure." As a result, you get these guys crawling down the local version of the interstate, the gunners looking like those duck-goose things from Super Mario once you jump on them.) Nobody is driving like, "hey guys, we're your benevolent dictators-we're not constantly pinging, because we're not scared of you, because we have full control of the situation. We're not hunkered down, terrified, and we're not being dicks-we run shit wherever we go. We don't want your love, we don't want your fear, but we DEMAND respect." And this attitude extends to all interactions-we're constantly either sucking the cocks of the local sheikhs and population, handing out water bottles and candy and mattresses (I've never been in an Iraqi residence which showed any signs of mattress shortage,) and going "please, please love us!" or going the full monty with hyper-aggressive tactics like we're in World War Z. We never just demand respect by our behavior, so we don't get it.
Obviously, a Coexist sticker
Obviously, a Coexist sticker on an MRAP or even a Toyota SUV would be jarring to the local sensibilities. In order to convince them that we are true Rainbow People, dedicated to the cause of Peace and Democracy, we should put everybody in green Subaru Outbacks. Also, I've been thinking, perhaps we could institute some recycling programs and maybe open up a chain of Whole Foods throughout the country. Do the Taliban have Whole Foods? They do not! Hearts, check! Minds, check!
I don't know if GEN Petraeus is as vulnerable to fashionable ideas as his predecessor, but certainly CNAS could try to pitch these to him. If he fails to listen and the war goes poorly, you can always say, duh, you didn't listen; if he listens and the war goes poorly, well, I'm sure there will have been some part of his execution that you can say, in retrospect, he didn't go far enough on. Either way, you come out smelling like roses. Of course, since the function of CNAS is to be part of the DC random noise generation process, it's a sure thing that nobody will come along and take you to task.
On the most basic level, driving like assholes is just another symptom of the mindset the Army inculcates in its troops from day one of Basic Training: "you're gonna die! You're gonna get your buddy killed! The enemy is always watching with their superhuman powers, and if you're not constantly pinging, it's because you're complacent, which is GONNA MAKE YOU DIE!!!" The idea that the enemy is a small subset of incompetent goat rapists in a sea of incompetent goat rapists, who all drive like they're late to their goat date, and so you need to modulate the level of your aggression and domination isn't really brought up. The SOF guys mostly drive like psychos (I remember when the warning shots ban came out, turret gunners would pack a case of Rip-Its and peg cars which didn't move over quickly enough with them. It was funny, but not to the drivers, or their families, I'm sure,) the CF guys mostly drive like pussies (catching a ride with one of their convoys once, I remember sitting in on a convoy brief that went something like this: "our safety measures against IEDs include not going over 30 mph on the highway, so that we can spot them; turret gunners will stay ducked down below the turret, so as to minimize exposure." As a result, you get these guys crawling down the local version of the interstate, the gunners looking like those duck-goose things from Super Mario once you jump on them.) Nobody is driving like, "hey guys, we're your benevolent dictators-we're not constantly pinging, because we're not scared of you, because we have full control of the situation. We're not hunkered down, terrified, and we're not being dicks-we run shit wherever we go. We don't want your love, we don't want your fear, but we DEMAND respect." And this attitude extends to all interactions-we're constantly either sucking the cocks of the local sheikhs and population, handing out water bottles and candy and mattresses (I've never been in an Iraqi residence which showed any signs of mattress shortage,) and going "please, please love us!" or going the full monty with hyper-aggressive tactics like we're in World War Z. We never just demand respect by our behavior, so we don't get it.
Was reading KABOOM. Only
Was reading KABOOM. Only one person's view on life. Have to read a bunch of these to get an average.
Looked at today's news about this, and this.
Now we are talking about Traffic Restrictions?
Then I started to think about KABOOM again and the FOBBETS....Larry.....Moe......Curly.
I know what COIN is about and there is truth in the approach. What consideration is given to the people paying for this? At times it looks like the script was written for Keystone Kops......
Where I am going with this is that COIN is not quick, this one has been going on for what eight years now. Think we are seeing this conflict out pace Vietnam (but they did not include the early years...I know an advisor that was in the 'nam in 59...Gulf of Tokin was '64 there abouts..not sure were time zero is). If a war goes on for a long time there is more opprotunity for screw-ups and the American public changes their minds about every two years. This war has it all....USA gone broke while we are paying the Sons of Iraq and stick millions in Karzai's family pockets and the list is too long to list here.
When is too much "good guy" too much. Is this the type of war that America should even get involve with? Do they have to smile and wave while they drive in Afaghanistan? Pay traffic tickets? Ask for a VISA/permission to enter the country? (Have I bent over far enough to make the enemy happy today? Tuck them in at night?)
Makes me wonder what types of movies will be made after this war? For WW2 John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and all the good guys won the day. For Korea we had Pork Chop hill then MASH ran for ever while public opinion and our lives changed with it. Vietnam gave us "Deer Hunter", "Apocalypse Now", "Platoon", and "Full Metal Jacket". Took a long time for America to shake off the nutty Vietnam Vet syndrome. Think Vietnam guys finally got their parade.
When are we going to consider the 18 year old that gets thrown in to this mess and has to live with it for the rest of their lives in the shadow of the movies that are made ? We remember things by the stories we tell...MOVIES are just a techno twist, each culture has its own version.
It might be time to walk out of this one before the plot gets too dark. Are we going to be proud when we walk out of the theater? Go through 10-20 years avoiding the nuts that took part?
Just wanted to ensure that
Just wanted to ensure that "Cav Guy" isn't mistaken for myself (that's my SWJ handle).
Best,
Niel Smith
There's already been a movie
There's already been a movie made of the US/Afghan war. They made it back in 1988, "Rambo III"--just use a little imagination and place John Rambo with the NATO troops. Switcheroooooooooo and you got your movie.
GIRoA is not a lie per se,
GIRoA is not a lie per se, but it does not have the basis to stay in power unless someone supports them, be that the Americans, the Taliban or the ISI in Pakistan.
Ie, GIRoA is not actually sovereign. Rather, it is a puppet state. I didn't say it didn't exist.
Words do have meanings. When you call a dog a cat, that's a lie. If you say "by cat, I really meant any mammal of the order Carnivora," or you say "yes, I know it's a dog, but I'm hoping to exchange it for a cat," or you say "of course it's a dog, it's just a dog named Cat," or you say "it's a dog now, but when it's older I hope it will change into a cat," you're... lying. You may think you're doing something much more grand and important and sophisticated. But you're really just lying.
Having power, being "in the loop," is like being wasted. Really, really wasted. When you're really wasted, everything is so much fun that, when you take a piss in the closet, it feels like you've just been anointed Pope. A good test is: tomorrow morning, when you wake up, do you have a Pope hat on? And does the closet smell like piss? I feel USG's adventure in Afghanistan does not do particularly well by this test.
What on earth is going on
What on earth is going on here?
I thought it was my role around here to berate Mr. Exum, periodically?
Why are some of you usurping my traditional Abu Muqawama "crazy right-of-center temperamental troll" duties?
The anecdote - almost poignantly, really - highlights the difficulties of counterinsurgency, doesn't it? You feel for the Afghan, but you feel for the driver too. You really do. How can it be easy in that environment? The restraint and discipline required to do all of this well seems pretty amazing to me.
Did you question the driver as to his previous experiences, how he had been instructed, and why he did what he did? Maybe he had a good reason in that circumstance?
@ Mencius: I have some sympathy for all of that, but come on, even the Right is starting to break ranks on the whole "nation building" thing. National Review had some skeptical articles recently and George Will and Tony Blankley are not exactly writing pieces suitable for The Weekly Standard. Lots of grumbling on the Right, too. Mostly about appropriate end states and the will to achieve said end state.
@ Soap McTavish: LOL
Ahhhhh, did someone's
Ahhhhh, did someone's feelings get a boo-boo?
Serves you right, you're so enamored of incestuous DC glamor that you've forgotten how idiotic some things Washington takes to be clever sound to the rest of the country.
Oh wow, a mention in a Woodward book! You've made it, man! That's the DC equivalent of starring in a Woody Allen movie. Except no one cares about creepy, neurotic 70s washed-up icons any more. And there are real things happening out there, like wars, and really mean people out to kill Americans, not just bad-mouth you on the comments section. Boo-hoo-hoo. Get a grip on reality, kid, and check yourself.
Although some of these
Although some of these quotes sure are mean, they are terribly hilarious
Andrew, For the Nth time,
Andrew,
For the Nth time, this comments section resembles nothing so much as an open sewer. Either disable it entirely, have someone at CNAS actively review each comment, or switch over to Disqus or another registration system. Your standards are entirely too low. Critical posts are fine, if they advance the conversation. But a post doesn't have to sink to the level of hate speech or obscenity to be utterly worthless. Use what I think of as the bar test - if the words were spoken aloud to you at a bar, how would you react? Why should your blog be different?
Your blog once attracted an audience of experts, interested amateurs, and actively engaged troops. It hosted real and important discussions in its comments section. The utility of those discussion has declined dramatically. I rarely click through any more to see what commenters have said, because there's so much dross through which I much sift in search of the occasional worthwhile nugget. That's a shame, and a real loss. But it's easily remedied. Simply hold commenters accountable for the things they write. Set high standards, and you'll cultivate a community interested in meeting them.
AM, we are Mad Max. Mad Max
AM, we are Mad Max. Mad Max doesn't drive like a homo (yes, he hates homos and Jews in real life, but he doesn't drive like one). When you're in a dusty dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, you don't drive like a homo, you drive like you're in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world and you own the road (which we do, we paid for it).
I am particularly offended
I am particularly offended by the reference to Bob Woodward's photo of his penis. I am holding Mr. Exum personally responsible for this offense, for allowing such comments in his own blog's comments section.
Prof. Englebert Ph.D.
Middle Eastern Cultures
I gotta feeling Col
I gotta feeling Col Gentile's writing half these comments incognito, probably jumping from different Wi-Fi spots. Sneaky mofo'.
Actually sometimes I think
Actually sometimes I think Exum is just playing his PC act to attract the world's finest right-wing trolls. Like "B":
Nobody is driving like, "hey guys, we're your benevolent dictators-we're not constantly pinging, because we're not scared of you, because we have full control of the situation. We're not hunkered down, terrified, and we're not being dicks-we run shit wherever we go. We don't want your love, we don't want your fear, but we DEMAND respect." And this attitude extends to all interactions-we're constantly either sucking the cocks of the local sheikhs and population, handing out water bottles and candy and mattresses (I've never been in an Iraqi residence which showed any signs of mattress shortage,) and going "please, please love us!" or going the full monty with hyper-aggressive tactics like we're in World War Z. We never just demand respect by our behavior, so we don't get it.
Dear Washington: can you find this "B" nigga? By his IP address, if necessary? And put him in charge? Or at least, someone like him? Because as a student of history, I can tell you, this is one motherfucker who gets it.
Mad Max-You're not Mad Max.
Mad Max-You're not Mad Max. The reason that the world you're pushing your MRAP through seems dystopian and postapocalyptic to you is that you need to get off your giant Walmart FOB and adjust your concept of "normal." The people you're running off the road and pissing off for no good reason on a daily basis live in that world 24-7, not just in minor excursions for a KLE or a presence patrol. Whether we paid for the road or not is irrelevant to whether you have the moral right to endanger the lives of the civilians going about their daily business on it, or to whether this behavior is good for the mission overall. I've been in a place where a CF unit took an Iraqi policeman's head off with their MRAP by blasting through a checkpoint at 40 mph. They thought they were Mad Max, too. While I despise the Iraqi police overall, vehicular manslaughter is probably not the ideal mode of fixing them. Ironically, those CF fuckasses were on their way to a key leader engagement, where their leadership were going to blow some sheikh over kebabs. People don't respect bullies any more than they respect obsequious cocksuckers; we can't seem to find any medium.
Mad Max-You're not Mad Max.
Mad Max-You're not Mad Max. The reason that the world you're pushing your MRAP through seems dystopian and postapocalyptic to you is that you need to get off your giant Walmart FOB and adjust your concept of "normal." The people you're running off the road and pissing off for no good reason on a daily basis live in that world 24-7, not just in minor excursions for a KLE or a presence patrol. Whether we paid for the road or not is irrelevant to whether you have the moral right to endanger the lives of the civilians going about their daily business on it, or to whether this behavior is good for the mission overall. I've been in a place where a CF unit took an Iraqi policeman's head off with their MRAP by blasting through a checkpoint at 40 mph. They thought they were Mad Max, too. While I despise the Iraqi police overall, vehicular manslaughter is probably not the ideal mode of fixing them. Ironically, those CF fuckasses were on their way to a key leader engagement, where their leadership were going to blow some sheikh over kebabs. People don't respect bullies any more than they respect obsequious cocksuckers; we can't seem to find any medium.
Yes, I too am offended by
Yes, I too am offended by the mention of Mr. Woodward's penis. Can you please delete it. Thank you, Dr. Exum.
Prof. Gerald Lambeau PhD
Mathematics MIT
Exum, Could you please
Exum,
Could you please explain and not ignore the passages in Woodward's book that talk about how the Generals that you are linked to were the ones that were most adament about pressuring Obama to expand the war mission in Afghanistan? During the debate over Afghanistan war policy you were the one that kept saying there were no other options but to expand and fight COIN. Is it just a coincidence that you were a mouthpiece for the preffered Petraes/McChrsytal policy, advocating exactly what they wanted to do?
The only place I'd have 3
The only place I'd have 3 cups of tea is the Starbucks down the street, because of the hot blonde barista who works there. She has big tits and looks like Naomi Watts.
Who ever mentioned the Human
Who ever mentioned the Human Centipede, you are a sick fuck! No wonder AM keeps deleting them. Whatever you do, do not google the Human Centipede. I did and now have nightmares.
Why do American forces have
Why do American forces have to drive around Afghanistan? Why is the car necessary for movement? Questions follow:
1) Is the actual tactical mobility conferred by vehicles a military advantage in Afghanistan?
2) Does the use of vehicles make soldiers more or less identifiable, and thus subject to attack?
3) Reading through casualty statistics, it seems that IEDs against vehicles cause over 50% of US losses. Why do we play the enemy's game.
4) How do the Taliban move? Do they move on foot from a vehicle laager point?
5) If our movement is critical, why do we not drive around in Toyota Hi-Lux with blackened windows?
These comments are
These comments are hilarious. I especially like the offended professors. Are they real people or is someone just posting those to be funny?
That's not me, that pic in
That's not me, that pic in the book was photoshopped. I apologize to my colleagues who were offended.
Respectfully,
Richard Penis
Liberal Arts, Woodward's Nethers.
hey, at least we norwegians
hey, at least we norwegians have the right attitude that you non-pc guys love.
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10033166
I mean, dressing up as vikings, wearing death-heads and spraypainting them across the areas of control sure as shit aint coin....
Sigh. And they disobeyed orders for a year to remove them freaking patches inorder not to look like sissies to the americand next door. Hooray for the stupidest war in history.
Fnord, That article was
Fnord,
That article was hysterical. As in histrionics. There's nothing wrong with inculcating warrior culture in warriors.
It actually gives me hope for you. For goodness sake you want to deny the Norse their Viking heritage?
Or the Press freaks over facebook gag photos? In this day and age? Of course the Press has to sell it's stories, so everything gets hyped.
This does not rise to the level of crisis or scandal.
As to the adrenaline rush of battle being more exciting than sex: I guess it would depend on the sex, or the battle.
Human nature is not going to change. It's better to accept it.
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