Armchair generals and La-Z-Boy internet commandos are needed to defend us from the terrorists in Afghanistan...by actually doing something that matches up with their valor in the blogoshpere.
READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Since the Pentagon is saying it will take ten years or more (you heard that too?) to straighten out the mess in Afghanistan, which stretches our mission to more than triple the time it took to win WWII, Uncle Sam needs able-bodied citizen soldiers for this worthwhile fight.
PART ONE Boot camp rehab for citizen-slackers
Yep, and do you think Bama's current ramp-up is the last we'll have? Pshaw, dude. So, let's put the country on a war footing, since we're less than halfway through with the longest fight this country has ever had.
The single best thing any citizen-slacker can do to help the war effort is to become a citizen-soldier by visiting an Army or Marine Corps recruiter and signing up. After all, if you're FOR this fight, it makes sense to do some of the fightin' yerself, si?
As was well put by Tom Tomorrow w-a-a-a-y back in 2003, but just as appropriate right now.
And for reference purposes, here's a photo of REAL soldiers in Afghanistan.
So, what if for some reason the Army or Marines won't take a particular citizen-slacker? such as for being too old, or 4-F, or something? No problem. You can talk up military service with your kidlings, nieces, nephews, grandkidlets, whoever. (Just think about how nice they'll look in uniform!) Tell 'em the nation is at war, and needs their help to, uh....protect us from the terrorists. (Try to say that without giggling, please.) Tell 'em you're sure that if they enlist, then their service is, uh....certain to make us safer, especially if they serve in a remote base in Kandahar province or in the Korengal Valley. Tell 'em that nothing bad will probably happen to them, but if it does, the VA, uh....will make sure they're well taken care of, no sweat! (unless they die).
But don't think for a second this is going to be enough. Try as hard as you will, but some of these youngsters might have "other things to do", and won't enlist despite your reasoning, or maybe they think your reasoning is full of horse dung. Then lobby your Congress Critters and the White House for instituting the draft. Share and share alike. We're at war, you're all for it, and the burden shouldn't just be carried by a bunch of poor kids who couldn't find work in a pisspoor economy or get scholarships to Harvard or Yale. I mean, we're ALL American citizens, right? We ALL should carry this weight, not? Shouldn't there be fairness and equity of ownership, here? I knew you'd agree! You're no sunshine soldier or summer patriot.....you're in this for keeps and you want both you and everyone else to pay a fair share.
Which brings us around to, uh....how will we pay for it all? Well, putting it on the Bank of China Mastercharge Card isn't exactly responsible, is it? It offends your better sensibilities, and Americans really need to foot this bill as they go, and in regular installments. So, lobby your Congress Critters and the White House for a payment plan. War bonds, sold by you in movie theaters, just like in WWII? War tax? Tax deductible donations to the DoD? or some other way of paying up for this cause you believe in? And in the meantime, you'll want to start making regular and generous donations to the USO, Adopt-A-Platoon, Paralyzed Veterans of America, or any other soldier or vet support program of your choice. (One good one is TAPS (take a good look!) which among other things, organizes Grief Camps for the children of dead soldiers. Donate here.) Or, you can organize fundraising efforts, bake sales, collect donations at movie theaters or in front of big box stores, etc. Also, you'll want to call your nearest VA facility and make arrangements to visit hospitalized veterans.
Of course, you'll be doing all this because you know war has massive costs, you want to back up your rhetoric with responsible action, and can't stand the thought of being a gutless shirker with a big mouth and a bad case of "zero credibility disorder".
Which brings us to....
PART TWO Premises, premises
Somewhere along this path of ownership and responsibility, I think citizen-slacker will stop and seriously question the premises for occupying Afghanistan.
He or she will start asking questions such as:
-How does occupying Afghanistan, specifically, make us safer, specifically?
-Can't terrorist plots against the west be hatched anywhere on the planet?
-What makes anyone think we're going to have any positive impact on a feudal culture that hasn't changed since Winston Churchill described it as a young journalist over 100 years ago?
-If we stay there for another ten or a hundred years, and we leave, what's to stop this part of the world from going straight down the tubes anyway?
/-Why are we piling up real and certain body bags, war injuries and disabilities against imagined future events?
-We give truckloads of money to Pakistan, then the ISI turns around and gives truckloads to the Taliban. The ISI can be trusted to cut deals with Taliban because they have such deep ties, so why do we want to keep shooting ourselves in the foot like this? Isn't this exactly a big escalating feedback loop of stupidity? Are the Taliban and ISI laughing so hard at us that they're gasping for breath?
-Why do we think that if we stir $#!t in this part of the world, and further militarize it, that we're not just making things worse? Don't we have a track record of meddling in distant parts of the world and screwing it all up even more? If we further militarize this area, aren't we just strenghtening AQ? or creating new AQs?
-As far as Pakistan's nukes go, what's to stop them from handing over some to the Taliban, today? Sure, the Pakistanis aren't about to give nukes to anyone who would then have the potential to use 'em against Pakistan, but sympathy and brotherhood with the Taliban runs pretty deep with the ISI, doesn't it?
-The Taliban's treatment of women is deplorable. Is it more deplorable than how women are treated in Saudi Arabia, or in Sudan, or any of a hundred other places? Are we gonna invade and occupy the whole world? Doesn't it make sense to solve our own domestic violence problems before we go solving it elsewhere? Wouldn't it be a helluva lot more sensible to support the local battered women's program, since women are being beaten to a pulp all the time right here?
Yep, being an armchair warhawk is cheap, but actually owning the war.....PRICELESS! Once you take ownership, you suddenly have a stake in it, and you're motivated to ask questions and take down names.
If anyone wants to see some fine, up close journalism on what the situation is on the ground, good ol' Frontline will sober you right up:
Return of the Taliban
The War Briefing
Conflict Zones: Afghanistan & Pakistan
Excellent piece from the New York Times
And one in Vanity Fair
Which leads to...
PART THREE
Citizen-slacker has gone down the list in Part One, and by his-her follow-through has begun to aquire responsibility. When she or he carries out Part Two, he-she ponders it all again, this time with real and proper ownership.
When she-he starts to question the premises for occupying Afghanistan, s/he'll end up in one of two places. Either he or she will conclude that 1) the premises for occupying Afghanistan stand up enough to continue to justify a long, long deployment and the American deaths, disabilities and expenses which result, and s/he actually and actively shares the ongoing burden, or 2) the premises don't stand up, and it's time to end this misuse and abuse of our Armed Forces, and support our troops by advocating/lobbying vigorously with your legislative and executive branches for redeploying them in a safe, orderly manner, in earnest, and without footdragging. (Do ya think you can't get appointments with politicos? Well, I got two face-to-face appointments with Dick Durbin in the past two years, and I'm no one who's important, just a citizen in Illinois. I also got appointments with Durbin and Bama's senate policy poohbahs in the Hart Senate Office Building.)
Blogosphere support for the Afghan occupation seems to rally around several notions. The famous Pottery Barn theory is one. Problem with that is there were never very many pots in this barn to break, in the first place. Another rallying point is "Well, what's your plan when we withdraw the troops?" I don't have the crystal ball that others seem to have, as to how things will turn out. NGOs will do the best they can do. US aid, and diplomacy, too. It's odd that no one else seems to fret much about it. The Brits and the Rooskies didn't bite off their fingernails with anxiety when they got out, did they? And Bama went to Europe and begged them to send more troops, and they gave him a thimbleful. Since they share the Eurasian land mass, and we don't, how come they don't have such a big desire to send in troops? If we got out, would the Europeans hate us for it? or would they be relieved? hmmm?
Alot of blogosphere support for endless fighting in Afghanistan also seems to center on some mega-calamity, fished out of the old crystal ball, if we don't expend more of our troops' lives there. These are of the "What if blah blah blah happens?" variety, such as "What if India and Pakistan end up in a nukefest? What about the millions who will die?" Ok, what if? It would be terrible, that's what if. What makes anyone think expending our troops lives in this part of the world is gonna prevent it? What if militarizing the area more just pushes India and Pakistan into a major fur ball? And once again, since the Europeans share the land mass, and the potential fallout, how come they're so reluctant to send in more troops?
For a long time I, like many others, didn't think about our occupation of Afghanistan very much. I was guilty of that. I swallowed the "good war" thinking too easily; I assigned a few neurons to that easy excuse, and left it there. Maybe two years ago, I started to rethink this whole thing, and started to pay attention to what is going on in this part of the world. During the campaign, when Bama made it clear he's all for ramping it up there, I had to part company.
Note: Myself, I'm no pacifist. I'm pro-defense, and pro-military, big time! I think our Armed Forces should be honored, and preserved, and conserved for what the preamble calls our common defense, and not misused and abused in lame attempts to build up distant second and third world nations.
So, here's how this will work: I've put aside some time today to reply to comments. I'll do my best to reply to original, sincerely expressed comments directed towards the topics of the diary. In case anyone didn't pick up on these, the themes of this diary are 1) questioning the premises for staying in Afghanistan and for expending our troops' lives there, and 2) providing actual support for our troops and veterans. Actively-serving members and veterans of our Armed Forces get instant street cred with me, as do their parents, spouses, progeny, and siblings. Combat veterans and their family members get extra instant street cred.