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Mira

(22,380 posts)
Tue Feb 7, 2012, 11:38 AM Feb 2012

Lieutenant Colonel Reports Pentagon Lying about Afghanistan

HOT: Lieutenant Colonel Reports Pentagon Lying about Afghanistan

In the Armed Forces Journal, LT. COL. Daniel Davis writes:
I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.

What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.

Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.

snip

for the source and the rest:
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/02/hot-lieutenant-colonel-reports-pentagon.html
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Lieutenant Colonel Reports Pentagon Lying about Afghanistan (Original Post) Mira Feb 2012 OP
... Lost-in-FL Feb 2012 #1
Yep. And apparently someone forgot to tell Washington. /nt think Feb 2012 #2
A friend of mine's son in law is in the Marines, his daughter also for that matter, and he... Bonhomme Richard Feb 2012 #3
We're out by 2014, and the rest are beating us to the door bhikkhu Feb 2012 #4
I hope he is retired, if not, he soon will be. demosincebirth Feb 2012 #5
Whistleblowers are not held in good odor by this administration. He'll never make general. Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2012 #6

Bonhomme Richard

(9,000 posts)
3. A friend of mine's son in law is in the Marines, his daughter also for that matter, and he...
Tue Feb 7, 2012, 12:14 PM
Feb 2012

returned from Afghanistan a few months ago. Very apolitical guy and all he would say was that we were not being told the truth. He wouldn't elaborate. He is also on his way back for a year, along with his wife. Different theater areas.

bhikkhu

(10,718 posts)
4. We're out by 2014, and the rest are beating us to the door
Tue Feb 7, 2012, 12:22 PM
Feb 2012

I don't imagine anything really good happening in Afghanistan after we go, but then staying hasn't exactly worked either. Long ago, before the wars, it was known as "the friendly country", a place of smiles and welcome...

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