Dogs We Love -- Zhari District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan

From Michael Yon Online:

Every Step Is Your Last

Bombs are planted everywhere. 
The dogs catch some, but the dogs will get blown up, too.



Task Force Spartan, 4-4 Cav
______________________________
Bonus dog words: The Labrador Doctrine.

retlouC ennA

I had to spell that backwards. A couple of my faithful readers' heads explode when they see the shedevil's name.

Obama hasn't ramped up the war in Afghanistan based on a careful calculation of America's strategic objectives. He did it because he was trapped by his own rhetorical game of bashing the Iraq war while pretending to be a hawk on Afghanistan.

At this point, Afghanistan is every bit as much Obama's war as Vietnam was Lyndon Johnson's war. True, President Kennedy was the first to send troops to Vietnam. We had 16,000 troops in Vietnam when JFK was assassinated. Within four years, LBJ had sent 400,000 troops there.

In the entire seven-year course of the Afghanistan war under Bush, from October 2001 to January 2009, 625 American soldiers were killed. In 18 short months, Obama has nearly doubled that number to 1,124 Americans killed.

Republicans used to think seriously about deploying the military. President Eisenhower sent aid to South Vietnam, but said he could not "conceive of a greater tragedy" for America than getting heavily involved there.

As Michael Steele correctly noted, every great power that's tried to stage an all-out war in Afghanistan has gotten its ass handed to it. Everyone knows it's not worth the trouble and resources to take a nation of rocks and brigands.

Based on Obama's rules of engagement for our troops in Afghanistan, we're apparently not even fighting a war. The greatest fighting force in the world is building vocational schools and distributing cheese crackers to children.

There's even talk of giving soldiers medals for NOT shooting people, which I gather will be awarded posthumously. Naomi Campbell is rougher with her assistants than our troops are allowed to be with Taliban fighters.

Read all of Miss Coulter here.

Drilling For Water in Afghanistan -- Michael Yon

More from Yon with the real men in Afghanistan.
Yet more of Yon's great great photography.
Some American soldiers don't have a shower for more than six months.
Think about that with your Sunday brunch, and think about adding one more prayer to your daily ritual, a prayer for these guys on the drilling rigs.
One more chance to support Yon with your own cash dollars.
More from the article:

This crew’s deepest well in Afghanistan was 1,260 feet at FOB Wolverine.  TSgt. Laidlaw said they worked 45 days straight and finally got the water...

This team is stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida.  Laidlaw said that in Florida they can drill a 120’ well in maybe a couple hours, but in Afghanistan that could take many days...

Laidlaw said there are many aquifers but RED HORSE doesn’t take from the shallow water because the Afghans tap shallow.   Nevertheless, Afghan wells can be hundreds of feet deep and are hand-dug wells that can look like shafts to Hell.

I asked Nathan if he ever struck black gold like in the Beverly Hillbillies, and Laidlaw said no, but they did find copper in RC-East.  Chinese are already here for the copper.

Read the must read water story here: Red Horse: In the Desert of Death

Michael Yon's Online Magazine here.

Real Men Doing What Men Do -- USMC, Marja, Afghanistan

"This isn't all that different from the way our fathers and grandfathers fought," said Cpl. Blake Burkhart, 22, of Oviedo, Fla.

In Marja, it's war the old-fashioned way
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 20, 2010; A01

MARJA, AFGHANISTAN

"Hygiening" in the morning means a quick scrubbing with a baby wipe. Full ablutions are weeks away. In the meantime, everyone smells equally rank.

The lack of hot water hasn't kept the Marines from shaving. The Corps' style -- high-and-tight haircuts and cleanshaven faces -- is enforced out here, no matter how rough the conditions.

The one edict most openly flouted is with regards to the possession of pets. Every patrol base, no matter how small, seems to have attracted at least one stray dog in search of food, water or just companionship. The outpost that was attacked has a tiny puppy, dubbed Furball, who is fed a generous daily allotment of packaged tuna and chicken found in some ration bags.

The rations, which are called MREs -- for Meals Ready to Eat -- are pretty much all anyone has to eat, other than the last bits of Corn Nuts or beef jerky squirreled away in a rucksack. The choices range from a boneless pork rib to a beef enchilada to vegetable lasagna. Regular meals, which require a base with a kitchen, a dining hall and contract labor, may never come to Marja. The Marines here have been told to get used to meals in a bag for months.
...
After Thursday's attack, which lasted 90 minutes before a volley of mortar shells and rockets presumably wiped out the insurgents who had been shooting, the Marines returned to their designated corners of the base in the darkness. Dinner was cold, and the cards were scattered. But nobody cared. All they wanted to do was talk about the fighting, and the one Marine who had been wounded by a Taliban sniper.

"This is better than 'Call of Duty,' " said Lance Cpl. Paul Stephens, 20, of Corona, Calif., referring to a series of shoot-'em-up video games.

"This is what it's all about," Cpl. Mina Mechreki added. "We didn't join the Corps to sit around. This is what we came out here to do."

Thanks, Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Read the whole thing.
It might remind us not to be stupid and petty today.
Via Max Boot, again. In Contentions.

Carpet Bombing -- Derbyshire

John Derbyshire:

What are we doing in Afghanistan?

If Afghanistan-the-nation is a threat to our vital interests, let's carpet-bomb their cities, hang the leaders, impose a constitution, plant a couple of big fat military bases in strategic locations, and settle in for a 20-year occupation.

It's not long. Read it. Afghanistan: A Skeptic Vents
Not saying I'm agreeing here. Not saying I'm disagreeing. I'm just saying.
Though, generally, I do agree with the carpet bombing approach to conflict resolution.
Could work domestically too. Dunno.

Nor am I the big fan of democracy. Or, democracy for democracy's sake.
Democracy, it seems to me, always, is not an end in itself.
It is a means to an end.
Voting is sweet, but: Safety, security, stability -- beer and grub -- that's my five-point plan. A good undemocratic king could provide all that.
They have a king. Living in exile. Italy? Bring him back.
Just saying.
Shut up with the democracy stuff. Kill the bad guys and move on.
Without forgetting that when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan it was against the law -- illegal -- thank you Sharia -- for a female to feel the sun on her face.
Uh huh. You could look it up.
Thanks for the sun, President Bush.

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