Still There, Still A Mess
The Bush administration has rediscovered Afghanistan, now that the Taliban is resurgent, Pakistan is in tatters and the misbegotten war in Iraq is far from over. Remember Afghanistan? The war we could have won? Where we could have doomed the Taliban? Bush and his handlers had decided Afghanistan had no good bombing targets and besides, Iraq was home to the guy who wanted to kill Bush's Daddy.
So the U.S. military largely put Afghanistan on the back burner. Now, with our allies in Afghanistan bristling, Bush decides it's time to put 3,200 more Marines into Afghanistan.
Canadian, British and Dutch troops are carrying the heavy load in the most dangerous front in that war. The Canadians said that in 2007 their casualties were proportionately larger than the Americans' losses.
So now, we deploy extra Marines. At the same time, the Army chief of staff says combat tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq will be shortened. So how can we come up with the needed combat troops and simultaneously feed the "surge" in Iraq and simultaneously give our over- burdened troops shorter tours?
The Pentagon says it is difficult at best to find the troops for existing and anticipated deployments. We all remember the national anxiety to find out that the National Guard did not have enough remain- ing strength Stateside to handle its disaster duties.
It is good that Bush has decided to pay some attention to Af- ghanistan, but "too little, too late" comes to mind. Afghanistan is not so cut and dried as Bush's early disdain would signal. Remember the Sovi- ets' misadventure in Afghanistan. Consider the supreme irony that "Char- lie Wilson's War," while it humiliated the Soviets, also armed combat- ants with weapons that now are turned against us in George Bush's war.
----Veritas
