The Afghan Sinkhole

I went to a book reading by Dahr Jamail last night and was reminded that the US is still engaged in two major wars which are draining our country of resources we could better use in addressing both healthcare reform and our financial crisis. Some folks would argue (including me) that the wars are one of the causes of our current financial crisis. It’s hard to argue that a record budget deficit has no impact on the country’s current struggle to emerge from the recession. While the Bush tax cuts for the rich helped make that budget deficit, the wars have had an equal impact.

Jamail didn’t really talk about those issues; the event was being held as fundraiser for the GI coffeehouse Coffee Strong, located near the Fort Lewis military reservation. So Jamail mostly discussed the fact that US military personnel are suffering from explosive rates of post-traumatic stress syndrome, inadequate healthcare, and the looming menace of “stop-loss” (the Pentagon program that allows the US military to void contracts with troops—in other words, just when a soldier thinks he or she has reached the end of their four-year commitment, the US Army can say, “sorry, but we’re invoking Stop Loss, which means we’re extending your contract indefinitely and sending you back to Afghanistan for another tour.”). He stressed that the US military is on the verge of collapse. This is the subject of his latest book, which is a collection of interviews with US military personnel who are resisting the wars in various ways.

I was deeply shocked by the high rates of sexual assault and rape within the military units based in Iraq and Afghanistan. While most of the victims are assumed to be women, they’re not exclusively so, unsurprising, given that the US military is now actively recruiting felons and gang members to fill out its ranks. What’s deeply shocking is the refusal of the US military brass to find and prosecute the perpetrators, as if the upper leadership at the Pentagon want to punish women for having won the right to serve in the armed forces.

So I wasn’t surprised to read this morning that the US government has given Hamid Karzai an assurance that we'll support him as the winner of the recent Afghan elections. Never mind the fact that the New York Times recently reviewed the results released by Karzai’s government and determined that approximately one in four votes should be subject to a recount because of the high number of ballots turned in by “nonexistent” polling stations. Yes, that's right: Karzai was so desperate to win, and so certain that he wouldn't, that his backers not only printed up massive numbers of fake ballots to stuff in ballot boxes, they also invented hundreds of polling stations with nonexistent ballot boxes to hold those fake ballots.

A 25% fraud figure would almost certainly invalidate Karzai’s self-declared 54% majority of the vote; in fact, in a better world where the US government truly stood for democracy, such overt cheating would invalidate the entire election.

But the Obama foreign policy, as run by a Defense director and a cadre of generals held over from the Bush administration, finds more value in supporting a corrupt narco-state that only control one-third of the county than it does in ensuring a fair election. General Stanley McCrystal, the head of US forces in Afghanistan, is expected to ask Obama for an additional 45,000 troops this week, and it’s not clear where those troops will come from.

According to Jamail’s interviews, “search and avoid missions” (wherein US troops pretend to patrol but instead find various ways to park their humvees, hide out, and avoid danger) are becoming more common in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This partly explains why those wars—particularly Afghanistan—are unwinnable. Now, more than ever, the US population needs to ask the same question that large numbers of US troops ask themselves every day: “What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan anyway?” Because once we ask that question, the notion of “stay the course” becomes patently absurd.

Special note: GI coffeehouse Coffee Strong provides essential support services, from counseling to legal help, for troops based at Fort Lewis. Coffee Strong is one of only two GI coffeehouses currently operating in the US. Because of a convergence of the ailing economy and the overseas deployment of about 60% of the forces at Fort Lewis (depriving Coffee Strong of much of their customer base), Coffee Strong is in dire need of financial support. Also, they are always in need of volunteers. To get in touch with them, visit their website at http://www.givevoice.org/coffeestrong or call them at 253-581-1565 or visit them at 15109 Union Avenue SW, Lakewood, WA 98499.

More Private Contractors in Afghanistan?

The War in Afghanistan is heating up and becoming more deadly for US troops, with a higher number of casualties in August than in any other month since the war started eight years ago.

The head of US command in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, wants more troops shipped to Afghanistan, but the US public would rather see troops come home.

President Obama, on the other hand, is more concerned about a record federal budget deficit. He has proposed saving money on the War in Afghanistan by bringing home noncombat troops and replacing them with private contractors, while shifting combat troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.

But there’s peril in that plan. For one thing, the use of private contractors has done a great deal of harm in Iraq, where the government has driven the largest private contracting company, Blackwater, out of Iraq in disgrace. And another, similar scandal is developing in Afghanistan.

According to a report by the Project On Government Oversight, private contractors working for ArmorGroup North America, have been accused by their own coworkers of engaging in lewd and deviant behavior, illegal hazing, and activities that imperil the security of the personnel they’re supposed to be guarding. ArmorGroup has a $180 million contract from the State Department to guard the US embassy in Kabul.

Where have we heard such charges before? Abu Ghraib comes to mind—in particular, the charges made by military guards that civilian contractors employed by the CIA to oversee interrogations encouraged their subordinates to engage in lewd behavior and outright torture.

In March, the Congressional Research Service reported that that, while there were 52,300 US military troops in Afghanistan, there were also 68,200 private contractors—the highest percentage of private contractor ever used in any war in US history.

President Obama needs to stand back and ask himself if that’s a good thing, or if he should extend his promise to "bring the troops home" to the US troops fighting right now to support a narco-state in Afghanistan.

Besides, shifting troops from Iraq to Afghanistan is not “bringing them home,” as their families would be quick to point out.


Sources: “General Seeks Shift in Afghan Strategy,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/1/09; “U.S. to beef up combat force in Aghanistan,” Julian E. Barnes, The Seattle Times, 9/2/09; and “Security guards for U.S. accused of deviant acts,” Ann Scott Tyson, The Seattle Times, 9/2/09.