Using the same deceitful tactics they pioneered in Vietnam, U.S. political and military officials repeatedly misled the country about the prospects for success in Afghanistan.
In my deployments to Afghanistan, the uselessness of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) was broadly known - it was an in the open secret. The ANA were buffoonish, more closely identified with Keystone Cops then as a classic military organization. Organizing them was like herding cats. Posting them on perimeter would have them watching out for about three minutes before they’d look inside to see what we were doing. And the ANP were corrupt as well, possibly more useless, if it’s possible, then the ANA. The one organization that performed were the ANSF. Those guys were serious. But so few.
Bottom line, everyone, right down to privates in the army knew that what we’re seeing now was inevitable, 10, 20, 50 or 100 years of occupation and training didn’t matter. It was and has always been a playground for up and coming generals to earn their bones and their next position. I mean, what sort of officer hasn’t commanded men in combat, right? Can’t be the next Patton if you don’t have a war.
They all knew. Miley knew for sure because he’s detestable, more so then most generals, a very small minority of which are actually dedicated to the art of war instead of self aggrandizement.
It’s all coming to head now. The Talibans super fast takeover is surprising, but not by that much. The house of cards that the elites have built are all falling down. Trump, was elected and even if you rightly claim he was a turd, his administration looks as well run as FDRs in WWII compared to eight months of Biden’s dream team of heavily credentialed morons. Didn’t Miley say that our biggest threat was climate change? Good thing that asshat had his eye on the ball, right?
COVID, Climate Change, Afghanistan, the border, have all exposed our pedigreed elites as likely the most incompetent boobs on this great earth. Dare I say we could randomly pick from the whole of the adult population regular folks that would do much better.
But you wouldn’t know it because the media is acting as the arm of government and SM ensures that the Tik Tok generation stays focused on practicing those tomorrow’s dance moves - as someone said here on Substack - LARPING their way through life.
When ole Ike Eisenhower left office he read a speech to the poker and warned us all about the power the government was about to create to fight the Soviets. He warned us then, in 1961, that there was a good chance the bureaucracy, science, and private industries would grow so powerful as to supplant civilian control of government.
The war has been a smashing success for war profiteers who made countless billions and intelligence agencies who have accrued vast new powers and kept their opium trafficking operation intact. As long as the powerful continue to benefit from our global military empire we should all expect more of the same.
Both the US government AND the US media lied for my entire adult life about Afghanistan and just about everything else. I wasn't old enough to legally buy a beer on 9/11/2001. What I find incredibly hard to understand is why anyone my age would believe these people??
All we have know for our entire adult lives is a lying MSM..... From WMD's that weren't to the insanity of pee tapes that were never remotely plausible. With Covid they don't even care if they get caught as they are telling the lies and completely destroying young kids to not actually save people from an endemic respiratory virus. Why would anyone believe ANY mainstream source? They are what Orwell tried to warn us about.
Rather than tell the truth to give women in Afghanistan a voice in the last 20 years, the MSM is more focused on covering for the military industrial complex. At the same time they convince hapless gullible people my age and younger that obliterating freedoms and women's rights is "progressive" even as all the real world outcomes from these policies are terribly regressive.
The people covering for the military industrial complex are the same ones insisting that US men should have access to little girls in all the places little girls are naked. The media and the woke seek to emulate authoritarian tyranny and push women and children in this country back into hiding.
The woke use progressive terminology to do it, but do you really expect the people who work for the MSM to be honest about the Taliban and all that comes with the Taliban, particularly for women and children? These are the exact same people who call moms like me a "transphobe" for thinking my young daughter's right to like bodied private spaces should matter more than a grown man's feelings, no matter what delusions go along with those feelings. The same media actually insists that the feelings of men are so sacred that those feelings are legally more important than the bodily safety of little girls. They want to sexualize 5 year old's in public school kindergarten. Truth about outcomes is not virtue to the US media - its an annoyance to be censored and suppressed.
Do you think these same people ACTUALLY care about what happens to poor women and children in a far away land??? They don't care what happens to little girls and women right here in the US. The media has never cared how much the military industrial complex kills innocent people....... or abandons allies to literally lose their heads...... all they care about is advancing narratives................... outcomes simply don't matter to our evil and useless media.
The Washington Post, which I think is safe to categorize as a mainstream media outlet, did an extensive article about the inspector general report on Afghanistan. It should have been a bombshell report that caused the people of the US to be in the streets. It plainly stated that every element of the Federal government involved in the war in Afghanistan, lied about it, it prospects, and the unspeakable crime of using war as a means to funnel money to many places within the government and its contractors. It’s even worse but I won’t go on.
So this is absolutely nothing new. What it shows is the shameful apathy of the American people, the total lack of principles of both government and the people, and the downright rogue state of the military, intel, and contractors involved.
1. The Afghanistan Papers merely confirmed what anyone even sort of paying attention already knew.
2. For at least ten years now, I have been saying to anyone that would listen that the puppet regime in Kabul would survive no more than ten minutes after the last American airplane left Kabul.
This was obviously wrong, and I apologize if my words misled anyone. The puppet regime didn't even last long enough for the last America airplane to leave.
3. As the United States prioritizes the evacuation of military dogs over the evacuation of people from Kabul, American allies should note carefully: the United States cares more about its dogs than it cares about you. (speaking as a cat myself, this set or priorities makes perfect sense, but you humans ought to be aware just where you rank on the totem pole here....)
No transgender or women of color in that picture. What is wrong with these Taliban people? Can we send a diversity, equity and inclusion expert to have a chat with them?
"U.S. political and military officials repeatedly misled the country about the prospects for success"
For success as defined in their war marketing campaigns, sure. But as above, the marketing slogans were never the real reasons, and the marketing campaign objectives were never the real objectives.
For success as defined by the architects of the wars, the destruction of Afghanistan for fun and profit was much MUCH more successful that Vietnam; it lasted longer and it transferred far more funds to the politically connected pillars of empire; the congress, the "security intelligence" services, the military suppliers, the generals (politicians in uniform), and the contractors (mercenaries).
As Orwell observed (or advised, if you're of that bent); the war isn't meant to be won, it's meant to be continuous. The USA has been in a continuous state of war for nearly a century. For the previous century it was about 50% war, 50% peace, iirc. A warm-up period, if you like.
And that's only counting military conflicts. Throwing in clandestine conflicts and socio-political conflicts like the War on Drugs, the War on Poverty, and the War on Crime (and not forgetting the new but equally obviously intended to be forever war, the War on Flu) it's probably closer to 300% or 400% war. The history of the American Empire is like a 24 hour cable tv war channel; it's all war, all the time.
"Truth is the first casualty of war" might well be a trite truism; it is also a true one. The truth casualties start long before the conflict goes kinetic and continue long after. So, our political rulers are not trying to:
-rebuild (or save) Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, or anywhere else
-eliminate poverty
-end (or even reduce) crime
-stop drug abuse/dependency/trafficking etc
-save us from the Wu Flu.
None of those claims are true, they are all marketing campaigns for massive upward transfers of wealth.
The only thing missed in this article is the fact that the US Government funded and armed Islamic militants in Afghanistan during the Cold War, based on the idea that "the enemy of our enemy is our friend" and the fact that the militants despised the Soviet Union and their atheism.
In retrospect it seems that trusting the military industrial complex to bring peace, democracy, love and joy to the rest of the world (by bombing it) was a mistake. Who knew. The uniparty keeps making that mistake because its a profitable to corporations.
I guess it's the CCP's turn to see who can successfully occupy Afghanistan now. Good luck!
I remember, with perfect clarity, being pilloried at work for being the lone voice of opposition to this and the Iraq nonsense. One coworker, a woman whose boy had recently joined the Army, even called me a "traitor". When I asked her why I was a traitor she said, "you're hoping my son will die just to prove you're right". You can't make this shit up.
But forget all that stuff, and let's keep our eyes on the prize here, kids, and remember the most important thing: Halliburton, Blackwater, et al, made a lot of money.
I don't know what's more frightening: the duplicity and incompetence of the White House or the duplicity and incompetence of the military and intelligence complex.
They both make me livid. I very much wanted us out of this war, but you'd think these "brilliant" folks could figure out a way to withdraw without creating Saigon, the Sequel. Why wasn't the withdrawal organized to protect the rear while systematically evacuating civilians then military units in an orderly manner? And why did we withdraw without destroying war material and bases as we went, instead of providing the Taliban with billions of dollars in equipment? Doesn't seem like rocket science to me. A lot of very high paid heads need to roll.
At what point do Americans accept responding for their own government?
We can all point at to all these corrupt and bad politicians, and some will point to the cronies in the private sector with whom they form a coalition, the the fact remains: the majority of Americans are either complicit or at a minimum apathetic
In my deployments to Afghanistan, the uselessness of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) was broadly known - it was an in the open secret. The ANA were buffoonish, more closely identified with Keystone Cops then as a classic military organization. Organizing them was like herding cats. Posting them on perimeter would have them watching out for about three minutes before they’d look inside to see what we were doing. And the ANP were corrupt as well, possibly more useless, if it’s possible, then the ANA. The one organization that performed were the ANSF. Those guys were serious. But so few.
Bottom line, everyone, right down to privates in the army knew that what we’re seeing now was inevitable, 10, 20, 50 or 100 years of occupation and training didn’t matter. It was and has always been a playground for up and coming generals to earn their bones and their next position. I mean, what sort of officer hasn’t commanded men in combat, right? Can’t be the next Patton if you don’t have a war.
They all knew. Miley knew for sure because he’s detestable, more so then most generals, a very small minority of which are actually dedicated to the art of war instead of self aggrandizement.
It’s all coming to head now. The Talibans super fast takeover is surprising, but not by that much. The house of cards that the elites have built are all falling down. Trump, was elected and even if you rightly claim he was a turd, his administration looks as well run as FDRs in WWII compared to eight months of Biden’s dream team of heavily credentialed morons. Didn’t Miley say that our biggest threat was climate change? Good thing that asshat had his eye on the ball, right?
COVID, Climate Change, Afghanistan, the border, have all exposed our pedigreed elites as likely the most incompetent boobs on this great earth. Dare I say we could randomly pick from the whole of the adult population regular folks that would do much better.
But you wouldn’t know it because the media is acting as the arm of government and SM ensures that the Tik Tok generation stays focused on practicing those tomorrow’s dance moves - as someone said here on Substack - LARPING their way through life.
When ole Ike Eisenhower left office he read a speech to the poker and warned us all about the power the government was about to create to fight the Soviets. He warned us then, in 1961, that there was a good chance the bureaucracy, science, and private industries would grow so powerful as to supplant civilian control of government.
Indeed, Ike. Indeed.
Maybe Twitter and Facebook will now block Biden, the Military and Biden’s Administration for disinformation and lying to the American People.
The war has been a smashing success for war profiteers who made countless billions and intelligence agencies who have accrued vast new powers and kept their opium trafficking operation intact. As long as the powerful continue to benefit from our global military empire we should all expect more of the same.
Both the US government AND the US media lied for my entire adult life about Afghanistan and just about everything else. I wasn't old enough to legally buy a beer on 9/11/2001. What I find incredibly hard to understand is why anyone my age would believe these people??
All we have know for our entire adult lives is a lying MSM..... From WMD's that weren't to the insanity of pee tapes that were never remotely plausible. With Covid they don't even care if they get caught as they are telling the lies and completely destroying young kids to not actually save people from an endemic respiratory virus. Why would anyone believe ANY mainstream source? They are what Orwell tried to warn us about.
Rather than tell the truth to give women in Afghanistan a voice in the last 20 years, the MSM is more focused on covering for the military industrial complex. At the same time they convince hapless gullible people my age and younger that obliterating freedoms and women's rights is "progressive" even as all the real world outcomes from these policies are terribly regressive.
The people covering for the military industrial complex are the same ones insisting that US men should have access to little girls in all the places little girls are naked. The media and the woke seek to emulate authoritarian tyranny and push women and children in this country back into hiding.
The woke use progressive terminology to do it, but do you really expect the people who work for the MSM to be honest about the Taliban and all that comes with the Taliban, particularly for women and children? These are the exact same people who call moms like me a "transphobe" for thinking my young daughter's right to like bodied private spaces should matter more than a grown man's feelings, no matter what delusions go along with those feelings. The same media actually insists that the feelings of men are so sacred that those feelings are legally more important than the bodily safety of little girls. They want to sexualize 5 year old's in public school kindergarten. Truth about outcomes is not virtue to the US media - its an annoyance to be censored and suppressed.
Do you think these same people ACTUALLY care about what happens to poor women and children in a far away land??? They don't care what happens to little girls and women right here in the US. The media has never cared how much the military industrial complex kills innocent people....... or abandons allies to literally lose their heads...... all they care about is advancing narratives................... outcomes simply don't matter to our evil and useless media.
The Washington Post, which I think is safe to categorize as a mainstream media outlet, did an extensive article about the inspector general report on Afghanistan. It should have been a bombshell report that caused the people of the US to be in the streets. It plainly stated that every element of the Federal government involved in the war in Afghanistan, lied about it, it prospects, and the unspeakable crime of using war as a means to funnel money to many places within the government and its contractors. It’s even worse but I won’t go on.
So this is absolutely nothing new. What it shows is the shameful apathy of the American people, the total lack of principles of both government and the people, and the downright rogue state of the military, intel, and contractors involved.
1. The Afghanistan Papers merely confirmed what anyone even sort of paying attention already knew.
2. For at least ten years now, I have been saying to anyone that would listen that the puppet regime in Kabul would survive no more than ten minutes after the last American airplane left Kabul.
This was obviously wrong, and I apologize if my words misled anyone. The puppet regime didn't even last long enough for the last America airplane to leave.
3. As the United States prioritizes the evacuation of military dogs over the evacuation of people from Kabul, American allies should note carefully: the United States cares more about its dogs than it cares about you. (speaking as a cat myself, this set or priorities makes perfect sense, but you humans ought to be aware just where you rank on the totem pole here....)
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/afghanistan-we-never-learn
No transgender or women of color in that picture. What is wrong with these Taliban people? Can we send a diversity, equity and inclusion expert to have a chat with them?
"U.S. political and military officials repeatedly misled the country about the prospects for success"
For success as defined in their war marketing campaigns, sure. But as above, the marketing slogans were never the real reasons, and the marketing campaign objectives were never the real objectives.
For success as defined by the architects of the wars, the destruction of Afghanistan for fun and profit was much MUCH more successful that Vietnam; it lasted longer and it transferred far more funds to the politically connected pillars of empire; the congress, the "security intelligence" services, the military suppliers, the generals (politicians in uniform), and the contractors (mercenaries).
As Orwell observed (or advised, if you're of that bent); the war isn't meant to be won, it's meant to be continuous. The USA has been in a continuous state of war for nearly a century. For the previous century it was about 50% war, 50% peace, iirc. A warm-up period, if you like.
And that's only counting military conflicts. Throwing in clandestine conflicts and socio-political conflicts like the War on Drugs, the War on Poverty, and the War on Crime (and not forgetting the new but equally obviously intended to be forever war, the War on Flu) it's probably closer to 300% or 400% war. The history of the American Empire is like a 24 hour cable tv war channel; it's all war, all the time.
"Truth is the first casualty of war" might well be a trite truism; it is also a true one. The truth casualties start long before the conflict goes kinetic and continue long after. So, our political rulers are not trying to:
-rebuild (or save) Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, or anywhere else
-eliminate poverty
-end (or even reduce) crime
-stop drug abuse/dependency/trafficking etc
-save us from the Wu Flu.
None of those claims are true, they are all marketing campaigns for massive upward transfers of wealth.
Amazing how the American public never tires of taking it up the ass by the U.S. Government and its corporate sponsors.
The only thing missed in this article is the fact that the US Government funded and armed Islamic militants in Afghanistan during the Cold War, based on the idea that "the enemy of our enemy is our friend" and the fact that the militants despised the Soviet Union and their atheism.
From wokeist rainbow and BLM Inc. flags flying over the US Embassy to this in a matter of weeks. Breathtakingly nonsensical.
In retrospect it seems that trusting the military industrial complex to bring peace, democracy, love and joy to the rest of the world (by bombing it) was a mistake. Who knew. The uniparty keeps making that mistake because its a profitable to corporations.
So Biden was relying on Gen. Mark Miley - there's your explanation right there.
I guess it's the CCP's turn to see who can successfully occupy Afghanistan now. Good luck!
I remember, with perfect clarity, being pilloried at work for being the lone voice of opposition to this and the Iraq nonsense. One coworker, a woman whose boy had recently joined the Army, even called me a "traitor". When I asked her why I was a traitor she said, "you're hoping my son will die just to prove you're right". You can't make this shit up.
But forget all that stuff, and let's keep our eyes on the prize here, kids, and remember the most important thing: Halliburton, Blackwater, et al, made a lot of money.
A toast: TO OUR FAILING EMPIRE!
I don't know what's more frightening: the duplicity and incompetence of the White House or the duplicity and incompetence of the military and intelligence complex.
They both make me livid. I very much wanted us out of this war, but you'd think these "brilliant" folks could figure out a way to withdraw without creating Saigon, the Sequel. Why wasn't the withdrawal organized to protect the rear while systematically evacuating civilians then military units in an orderly manner? And why did we withdraw without destroying war material and bases as we went, instead of providing the Taliban with billions of dollars in equipment? Doesn't seem like rocket science to me. A lot of very high paid heads need to roll.
At what point do Americans accept responding for their own government?
We can all point at to all these corrupt and bad politicians, and some will point to the cronies in the private sector with whom they form a coalition, the the fact remains: the majority of Americans are either complicit or at a minimum apathetic