Of course I would no doubt think so even if things were going swimmingly from the military point of view – which they are not. The only thing that surprises me about this is that someone other than a leftwing blogger is telling the truth about it all. Meet Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis, US Army:
Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis, a 17-year Army veteran recently returned from a second tour in Afghanistan. According to the Times, the 48-year-old Davis had written an 84-page unclassified report, as well as a classified report, offering his assessment of the decade-long war. That assessment is essentially that the war has been a disaster and the military's top brass has not leveled with the American public about just how badly it’s been going. "How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding?" Davis boldly asks in an article summarizing his views in The Armed Forces Journal.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/...
Here's a link to the actual report, unclassified version:
http://www1.rollingstone.com/...
It's a worthy read IMO and confirms my worst suspicions of Petraeus and McChrystal, et al. Bunch of shameless fuckin' liars those guys.
Dereliction of Duty II:
Senior Military Leaders’ Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort
27 January 2012
Senior ranking US military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the US Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable. This deception has damaged America’s credibility among both our allies and enemies, severely limiting our ability to reach a political solution to the war in Afghanistan. It has likely cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars Congress might not otherwise have appropriated had it known the truth, and our senior leaders’ behavior has almost certainly extended the duration of this war. The single greatest penalty our Nation has suffered, however, has been that we have lost the blood, limbs and lives of tens of thousands of American Service Members with little to no gain to our country as a consequence of this deception.
http://www1.rollingstone.com/...
I'd love to think that this will cause enough of a stink (as it should) to make us shut down these shameless military adventures so that we might start acting like responsible citizens of the world. But I think it more likely that it will be the ruination of Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis. It's a damned shame, but telling the truth doesn't pay in this economy. All the money's in lying.
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
The overarching truth I see in all of this is that we must repurpose our military machine, or it will be the end of us. It is an aberration and a distraction which in these times we can not afford. We have real problems to deal with and they do not have military solutions. What we need is an army of scientists engaged in a battle for our climate and the biosphere. What we need is the full might of our resources brought to bear on the actual challenges we all face, that humanity itself faces: renewable energy, ecological and agricultural sustainability, resource sharing, providing water, food and healthcare for everyone on the planet. We need to all do our part to make this shift in priorities happen. The greatest threats any of us face are not military in nature. Bombs won't help us now.
Thank you Col Davis for doing your bit. Best of luck dude.