Meet The Enemy: No.1 - The Taliban
Meet The Enemy: No. 1 - The Taliban
If you happened to be watching "Meet The Press" on NBC, this Sunday, you may have been co-opted by the smooth sequence of questions asked by host, David Gregory as he conducted an in depth interview with General David H. Petraeus, Commmander of all ground forces in Afghanistan. The Q and A went from A to Z - but as has happened before with the General, there was one glaring omission. There was no single hard question along the lines of "...Imagine for a moment, General, that the Taliban are gone. Wiped out, given up, joined the Afrgan Government, you name it - no more Taliban. What then?" In fact, the word 'Taliban' hardly made the air remaining in cyber space. So, since host David, deliberately, or otherwise, chose not to bring up the topic - ViewPoint asks the question.
"General, the American people, which includes myself, are under the impression that the nine year war in Afghanistan has been under the guise of finding, and executing Osama Bin Laden, his Al Qaeda terror troop, and any other smart alecs who dare to threaten us with obliteration - yet here you are putting the finishing touches on a 30,000 'surge' in troop presence in Afghanistan - and from what you are telling me, their presence is largely devoted to fighting the Taliban. Is that correct?"
"Let me put it another way, General. Is the so called war in Afghanistan, a battle between the USA and the Taliban - or are really fighting the remnants of the Afghan army?"
"OK. Clearly, you hesitate to respond to my questions, General, which may leave the public, watching and listening, that I touched a most sensitive spot - and, in turn, that creates a belief that we are, indeed, up to our proverbial necks in a war never intended, with an armed force rarely discussed or barely understood in America, and as the dominos fall, how and why did the powers that be in Washington ever permit a switch from hunting terrorists, to killing and 'outing' a ragtag army of great ability with incredible hidden resources in the dark depths of Afghanistan's famed mountains - an enemy capable of killing and maiming Americans as long as they stay in their territory, an enemy never mentioned as such by the media, although scarsely a day goes by that the word "Taliban" is not in the news. General, I am aware that you do not make policy, you carry out the orders of your Commander In Chief - and I wonder if you have ever even mentioned some of the concerns I am setting forth here today? Surely, he knows, as you do, that the current policy is deceptive because at no time is it ever brought home to the American public that we are in Afghanistan to tame, or destroy theTaliban."
Finally, ViewPoint brought a similar challenge to General Petraeus two years ago when he was being quizzed by Congress on the Iraq situation because of his commmand post in that country, and Congress's concern that all the General could discuss was the 'surge' and the plan to end fighting in Iraq. The one question then, as now, was a 'what if?' question - like "General, your plans are remarkably thorough - but what is you 'Plan B' in the event all that you have presented to us should fail?" The question was never asked!
ViewPoint has gone to Afghanistan in print five (5) time so far, and we are as convinced now, as we have been all along, that there was one reason, only one, for USA involvement in Afghanistan - and that was Bin Laden and Al Qadea. The day that primary concern is revisited is the day we can begin a countdown for withdrawal - and we will wish the Afghan government great success in carrying out a challenge devoutly supported by much of the civilized world.
Richard Carlton
August 15, 2010
Issue No. 16
If you happened to be watching "Meet The Press" on NBC, this Sunday, you may have been co-opted by the smooth sequence of questions asked by host, David Gregory as he conducted an in depth interview with General David H. Petraeus, Commmander of all ground forces in Afghanistan. The Q and A went from A to Z - but as has happened before with the General, there was one glaring omission. There was no single hard question along the lines of "...Imagine for a moment, General, that the Taliban are gone. Wiped out, given up, joined the Afrgan Government, you name it - no more Taliban. What then?" In fact, the word 'Taliban' hardly made the air remaining in cyber space. So, since host David, deliberately, or otherwise, chose not to bring up the topic - ViewPoint asks the question.
"General, the American people, which includes myself, are under the impression that the nine year war in Afghanistan has been under the guise of finding, and executing Osama Bin Laden, his Al Qaeda terror troop, and any other smart alecs who dare to threaten us with obliteration - yet here you are putting the finishing touches on a 30,000 'surge' in troop presence in Afghanistan - and from what you are telling me, their presence is largely devoted to fighting the Taliban. Is that correct?"
"Let me put it another way, General. Is the so called war in Afghanistan, a battle between the USA and the Taliban - or are really fighting the remnants of the Afghan army?"
"OK. Clearly, you hesitate to respond to my questions, General, which may leave the public, watching and listening, that I touched a most sensitive spot - and, in turn, that creates a belief that we are, indeed, up to our proverbial necks in a war never intended, with an armed force rarely discussed or barely understood in America, and as the dominos fall, how and why did the powers that be in Washington ever permit a switch from hunting terrorists, to killing and 'outing' a ragtag army of great ability with incredible hidden resources in the dark depths of Afghanistan's famed mountains - an enemy capable of killing and maiming Americans as long as they stay in their territory, an enemy never mentioned as such by the media, although scarsely a day goes by that the word "Taliban" is not in the news. General, I am aware that you do not make policy, you carry out the orders of your Commander In Chief - and I wonder if you have ever even mentioned some of the concerns I am setting forth here today? Surely, he knows, as you do, that the current policy is deceptive because at no time is it ever brought home to the American public that we are in Afghanistan to tame, or destroy theTaliban."
Finally, ViewPoint brought a similar challenge to General Petraeus two years ago when he was being quizzed by Congress on the Iraq situation because of his commmand post in that country, and Congress's concern that all the General could discuss was the 'surge' and the plan to end fighting in Iraq. The one question then, as now, was a 'what if?' question - like "General, your plans are remarkably thorough - but what is you 'Plan B' in the event all that you have presented to us should fail?" The question was never asked!
ViewPoint has gone to Afghanistan in print five (5) time so far, and we are as convinced now, as we have been all along, that there was one reason, only one, for USA involvement in Afghanistan - and that was Bin Laden and Al Qadea. The day that primary concern is revisited is the day we can begin a countdown for withdrawal - and we will wish the Afghan government great success in carrying out a challenge devoutly supported by much of the civilized world.
Richard Carlton
August 15, 2010
Issue No. 16
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