The Lay of the Land: The human face of the Afghani front

20100313 (Time Now)

Kandahar (second largest city after kabul): multiple EXP's & SAF (Taliban attack in progress)

PHASE I MARJAH (spring 2010)(operation moshtarak)

PHASE II KANDAHAR (summer 2010)

PHASE III HIMALAYAS (near Pakistan/China borders with Afghanistan)

MARCH 01-13 (((12 x U.S. KIA)))

3-11-2010	Gamble, Garrett W.	Lance Corporal	20	2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force	U.S. Marine	Texas	Sugarland	Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack	Helmand	Afghanistan
3-09-2010	Kropat, Jason M.	Private 1st Class	25	1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)	U.S. Army	New York	White Lake	Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire, RPG	Khowst	Afghanistan
3-09-2010	Richardson, Jonathan J.	Sergeant	24	1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)	U.S. Army	Arkansas	Bald Knob	Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire, RPG	Khowst	Afghanistan
3-07-2010	Cook, Nicholas S.	Private	19	2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team	U.S. Army	Montana	Hungry Horse	Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire	Kunar	Afghanistan
3-05-2010	Dikcis, Alan N.	Specialist	21	630th Engineer Company (Clearance), 7th Engineer Battalion (Combat Effects), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) (Airborne)	U.S. Army	New York	Niagara Falls	Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack	Kandahar	Afghanistan
3-04-2010	Paci, Anthony A.	Specialist	30	1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division	U.S. Army	Maryland	Rockville	Non-hostile - vehicle accident (rollover)	Gereshk	Afghanistan
3-04-2010	Olsen, Nigel K.	Lance Corporal	21	4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve	U.S. Marine	Nevada	Orem	Hostile - hostile fire	Helmand	Afghanistan
3-01-2010	Owens, Vincent L.C.	Sergent	21	3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)	U.S. Army	Arkansas	Fort Smith	Hostile - hostile fire	Yosuf Khel (died at FOB Sharana)	Afghanistan
3-01-2010	Aragon, Carlos A.	Lance Corporal	19	4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve	U.S. Marine Reserve	Utah	Orem	Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack	Helmand	Afghanistan
3-01-2010	Gelig, Ian T.D.	Specialist	25	782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division	U.S. Army	California	Stevenson Ranch	Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire	Kandahar	Afghanistan
3-01-2010	Huston, Matthew D.	Specialist	24	1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division	U.S. Army	Georgia	Athens	Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire, RPG	Bala Murghab	Afghanistan
3-01-2010	Crumpler, Josiah D.	Specialist	27	1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division	U.S. Army	North Carolina	Hillsborough	Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire, RPG	Bala Murghab	Afghanistan

The 7 CIA KIAs in Afghanistan: When revenge really means reprisal

Occupied Afghanistan--Remember all those WWII movies where the Nazis are being attacked by partisans and members of the resistance? This is what's happening in Afghanistan.
This doesn't mean the Afghans are "good guys," they're just reacting naturally, and they have their own issues. We're worse in our behavior at this historical moment.

The CIA are calling for "revenge" in an illegal war and remembering that this is an illegal occupation is the key (wars of aggression are illegal under international law): they're already kidnapping, torturing, and even slaughtering Afghan nationals, and now, someone they thought was going to be their "snitch" (informant) got into a military facility knowing seven of them were going to be there and blew himself and them up with a bomb strapped to his torso. That's desperation under a bloody occupation, not some arbitrary act for the hell of it, and it's not even necessarily extreme. It's what happens under bloody occupations.

What the CIA should have used was the term "reprisal," the one that the Nazis and their victims frequently used when they retaliated for deaths within their own ranks. The problem in their logic at Langley--and our own if we accept such arguments--is obvious. We're the wrong side, and we're the aggressors, not the Afghans. This kind of wrong-headed thinking is only going to keep us digging our own hole, and eventually, we're probably going to get our own Stalingrad in some form or another. This "revenge" is really reprisal, don't kid yourself. We're the bad guys. We're the wrong side. The Afghan that did this killed people who might have been there to torture in his mind, and certainly came as bringers of death.

Chimpy McFlightsuit (TM) almost speaks: "Iraq is straining the nation's psyche."

"These are challenging times, and they're difficult times, and they're straining the psyche of our country. I understand that. You know, nobody likes to see innocent people die. Nobody wants to turn on their TV on a daily basis and see havoc wrought by terrorists," stated the Chimp in Chief to the White House Press Stenographers. Does he really understand?

Just a few years ago, we were all told Bush never reads-newspapers, never watches the news, and even recently has stated he isn't affected by the polls. YET, he makes comments like the above, so it's clear that he has recently taken these factors into account.

Right, we know Cheney never watches any other news except on Fox(http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0322061cheney1.html ). He's really the President, after all, and who wants to watch bad news that relates to oneself? Anyway, Bush keeps insisting that if we leave, then a disaster will become a "disaster" and it "would provide a safe haven for terrorists and extremists and give them revenue from oil sales."

Oh, instead of oil revenues to our own terrorists at the White House and the oil-sectors of the "global economy". And what happened to that $9 Billion that simply vanished when Paul Bremer left Iraq?( http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.audit/ And funny, no accountability whatsoever. Did it happen under Bill Clinton's watch? Of course, the right wishes they could blame it on him, but no-dice. The whole thing is just another resource war, and 2/3rd's of the American public aren't going-along anymore. They're too lazy to do anything, including going-along. The Preznent's angry, which is tough-shit, the people have spoken: "We're too lazy, and besides, American Idol is on." Sometimes, apathy is a double-edged sword. Soon, they'll probably be speaking-loudly when gasoline is $5-6 dollars-a-gallon, and their atrophied-buttocks can get some circulation.

Like Joseph Goebbels during Stalingrad, the neocons and their supporters think if they keep spinning, lying and obfuscating the truth, that reality will conform to their propaganda on the ground. History has never worked this way, and it never will.

Before the invasion: Iraq was not a haven for terrorists, though it became one once we invaded. It's also becoming a combat training-ground for terrorist groups, where it had never been one before. Having been created by the British as an artificical nationstate with artificial borders, Iraq has been a hodge-podge of rival ethnic-groups, and it really isn't worth-saving. There have been many experts in geopolitics who have said splitting the "failed nation" into three-parts is likely the best route for Middle Eastern stability. Ah, and then there is the influence of Iran in Iraq nowadays, something that was impossible under Saddam Hussein. I think it's time--we need to invade our own country, but how will we justify it? Who knows, but we'll find one.

Speaking of justifications, the last pillar of "Why we went into Iraq" fell last week--with no reaction in the press whatsoever. The Bush administration, and the State Department are thinking seriously of "alternatives to democracy", because they have finally realized that the hodge-podge was only governable with an iron-fist (almost there!). We created this mess and we cannot avert a Civil War once it has begun, and it began long ago. The bill is coming due, much of it from People's Republic of China. We could build a bunch of escape pods and do a collective dine-n'-dash, but that would be communist.

Eventually, they're going to want Taiwan in the package too. Oil might not be based on the US dollar anymore. While morons talk about antiwar activists and the Left "appeasing" (who? North Korea?) "Islamofascists" (an oxymoron for oxymorons), the reality on the ground is going to make it clear what is really going on. We illegally invaded Iraq, and we are being repelled by attrition like any imperial power. Just like France in Indochina, just like Great Britain in North America and just like Spain and America from Cuba. Bye-bye empire, the gambit failed. We'll be better off for it in the end. But then, I believe everything I see on CNN and Fox. Oh, and I'll have fries with that too.