WHAT WE'RE FIGHTING FOR

By Alan Dowd - April 19, 2011

 U.S. Army 1st Lt. Daniel Chaves leads his team while conducting a supply delivery mission and counterinsurgency operation in Angory village just outside of Kandahar, Afghanistan. U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Kenny Holston

The war in Afghanistan has gone on for nearly 10 years now, claiming some 1,460 American lives. It's no wonder the American people have tired of the war and turned against it. In fact, a recent CNN poll reveals that 58 percent of Americans oppose the war, and 54 percent think the United States should no longer be involved in Afghanistan. To be sure, Americans have a right to say that they have done enough for Afghanistan. A decade is a long time to sacrifice for a faraway land. But given the nature of the enemy in Afghanistan - not to mention what Afghanistan spawned 10 Septembers ago - there are few places on earth more deserving of the American people's help, and the American military's attention.

Much of what the Taliban did while in power, and continue to do while trying to reclaim power, is too gruesome to describe here. The Taliban employed beheadings, mutilations, summary executions and the like to control the Afghan people in the 1990s. But a brief overview of the group's inhumanity may help to explain why some of us continue to support the U.S. military's herculean efforts in Afghanistan.

First, we must never forget that it was the Taliban that provided sanctuary to al-Qaida, which used Afghanistan to plan and launch the 9/11 attacks. Depriving the enemy of this safe haven is the reason the War on Terror began in Afghanistan, and continues in Afghanistan, especially through efforts to build and strengthen the institutions of a post-Taliban government.

Second, the Taliban may claim religious piety, but the reality is that they are bereft of any religious enlightenment. This enemy is as brutal and barbaric as anything Americans have faced in the past. For example:

- The Taliban have launched poison-gas attacks against schools for girls, using substances found in insecticides, herbicides, sarin and VX, to terrify, sicken and murder people for the crime of wanting to learn.
 

- When they're not poisoning schools, they're burning them. The Taliban set fire to 60 schools in 2010.
 

- Taliban field regulations, obtained by NATO, forbid working as a teacher "under the current puppet regime." Any teacher who refuses to quit his or her job, according to Taliban rules, "must be beaten." If someone teaches "contrary to the principles of Islam, the district commander or a group leader must kill him."
 

- The Taliban are using children as human shields and time bombs, some as young as 5. As the London Telegraph reports, children as young as 14 have carried out suicide-bomb attacks. The Taliban use children to carry weapons, identify allied commanding officers for Taliban snipers, and plant IEDs. 1 in 5 roadside bombs in the city of Sangin, for instance, is planted by children, according to the British military. "They know that we won't engage the kids," said one British commando.

The U.N. reports that Afghan civilian casualties were up 31 percent in 2010, and places the blame squarely on "tactics of the Taliban and other anti-government elements (AGEs)." The Taliban's toll is falling heaviest on children, according to the U.N. "Among those killed or injured by the Taliban and other AGEs were 55 percent more children than in 2009."

Given this barbarity, it's no surprise that the Afghan people support the U.S.-led NATO effort to fight the Taliban and create a viable post-Taliban Afghanistan. According to polling conducted by ABC, 62 percent of Afghans support NATO forces, 75 percent say attacks against NATO forces are not justified, and only 6 percent of the country supports a return of the Taliban government.

"For Afghanistan to be able to survive," defense minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said during a recent meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, "it will need your help beyond 2014."

Speaking to U.S. commanders in late 2009, Wardak explained why the war-weary Afghan people have not turned against the NATO mission: "Afghans have never seen you as occupiers, even though this has been the major focus of the enemy's propaganda campaign. Unlike the Russians, who imposed a government with an alien ideology, you enabled us to write a democratic constitution and choose our own government. Unlike the Russians, who destroyed our country, you came to rebuild."

Indeed, not only did the U.S. military liberate 26 million Afghans by closing the book on the medieval Taliban; it has also has laid the foundation for something better.

Backed by the muscle of the U.S. military, American relief agencies have built or renovated 640 health clinics, 680 schools and 4,000 miles of road to connect the fragmented country of Afghanistan. USAID reports that some 6 million Afghan children are now in school, about 2 million of them girls, and more than 4.6 million Afghan refugees have returned home since 2001.
 

In other words, the American people and their military are offering Afghanistan the very opposite of what the Taliban promises. Let's hope the Afghan people seize the opportunity - and soon, because America is growing impatient.

CALL FOR SOCKS

SOCKS FOR AFGHANISTAN

Hi Gerianne, 

Pat forwarded your email address to us in the hopes that you can help us get our nephew's Marine unit some socks over in Afghanistan. He's told us that the troops are cutting up t-shirts to wrap around their feet to keep them warm. He's requested "cushy socks in brown, black or grey" and we are trying our best here and in his hometown in New York to help them out. We've shipped out a couple of dozen already, but we know they need more. He has not able to give us the names of other soldiers due to security, so we send all our packages to him and he acts as mailman. His address is: 

LCPL Casey J. Congilosi 
3/5 MARINES H&S CO ENG PLT 
UNIT 40380 
FPO/AP 96427-0380 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give us and thanks for your service. 

Joe & Sue DiPasqua 
sdjd@sccoast.net



Just got this from the department office in Albany. 

They need socks over in Afghanistan and are seeking help in getting some over there.

C'mon Legionnaires and Auxiliary members, let's get these Marines some warm socks for their feet. It's the least we can do. Let's show them we are thinking of them at this Christmas season. 

Thanks for anything you can contribute.

'BROTHERS AT WAR'

Emily's Post (politicsdaily.com)
March 11, 2010

'Brothers At War' Documentary

Explores Iraq's Impact On A Family
By Emily Miller, Columnist

The D.C. screening of "Brothers at War" Wednesday night brought the mostly military crowd to thunderous applause and to tears.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey introduced the movie as "a story about a great American family . . . a great Army family. It portrays not only the sacrifices that the men and women in our armed forces make, but it also ties into the impact on the families, and that is less well known."

In the documentary film, director Jake Rademacher follows the lives of his brothers Isaac and Joe, who have served repeated tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rademacher made two trips to Iraq, a total of almost six months, to record what Isaac did on a daily basis at the forward operating base.

Rademacher records life inside a Humvee in the 120-degree Iraqi desert. He also takes his cameras on patrols and captures a sniper shooting as well as a horrific ambush of an Iraqi military patrol. The Iraqi soldiers suffered severe wounds, but back at the base, a U.S. military adviser delivered a moving speech to them about how bravely and professionally they performed, and many in the audience found it hard to keep from welling up.

The movie is about the bonds of brothers – blood brothers, and the brotherhood of soldiers in war – as well as sacrifice. As one young soldier in the middle of the desert tells Rademacher: "I'd give my life for America any day. Wouldn't think twice."

The film also documents the impact of the brothers' service on their families. "All I want is to do is hug my daughter, but the reality is she might not let me because she doesn't remember me," Isaac says on a plane returning to the United States for more training. "I need to reacquaint myself with my daughter."

Gen. Casey told the audience: "It's clear to us that our families are increasingly the ones that are sacrificing so that the men and women of armed forces can do what it is they are doing to keep this country great."

Cindy McCain, wife of Vietnam veteran and former POW Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), co-hosted the event with the USO. When I asked her why she supported this movie so strongly, she said: "I met Jake when my son [Jimmy] was in Iraq the first time. As a mom, I had no idea what he was doing, and I saw the movie and I could understand."

McCain also said she's a "blue star mom," and the film helps the public understand what it's like "to be a mom with a son deployed."

Mrs. McCain introduced her husband, who told the crowd: "It is my wish that every American family would have the opportunity to see this film."


The film's message is not anti-war, which some speculated was the reason Rademacher initially could not find any Hollywood bigwigs to finance it. Eventually, actor Gary Sinese and producer Norman Powell signed on. Looking at Jake Rademacher, Cindy McCain said, "Now we have someone in Hollywood who gets it." In remarks after the screening, Rademacher said that the film's success -- "In four weeks' release, it's already outsold all the other war docs from the last four years" -- is a way to "change Hollywood, to wake them up to the type of movies you want to see.

View trailer - just click here

The Rademachers have served seven tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, Gen. Casey told the audience. "That's a huge sacrifice and commitment for one family to make. And I just found out tonight that the youngest daughter Hanna has just enlisted in the Army and reports for basic training in April."

Afghanistan

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your generous, thoughtful, and caring gifts that you sent to our Soldiers during our deployment this past year to Afghanistan. We received hundreds of boxes from all over the state: From Ogdensburg to Plattsburgh, from Albany to Duchess County, from Cortland to New York City, from Buffalo to Rochester, Oswego to my dear friends in Alexandria Bay; literally from across the entire state.

As a native New Yorker, I was especially proud of the support we received from you, and I thank you all for you incredible generosity and thoughtfulness. I wish it were possible to thank each of you in person or even with a personal letter, unfortunately it was just not possible. Please accept this message with all the
sincerity and gratefulness as though I was there in person. If your organization, friends, and/or family had a hand in sending us a package this year, please thank them for us.

It was a difficult year for us. It was not all victories and progress. We are now in the process of returning our forces. We have left the souls of 29 of our brothers in arms here. Their losses are felt by many. They were husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, grandsons… their losses are real, and painful. We also rejoice in the return of over 250 others who, although bearing the scars of war for the rest of their lives are alive to rejoin their families.

It was an enlightening and challenging year. Many of our Soldiers departed around Christmas time last year. I loaded a bus shortly after our Christmas dinner. We deployed to an area of Afghanistan with significant strategic importance, an area just south of Kabul that had seen a dramatic increase in violence over the previous 9 months, despite the lack of presence of US Soldiers. A common argument given by those opposed to a surge is that our mere presence causes a rise in violence. Wardak and Logar have proven the fallacy of such a theory.

TF Spartan, a force of over 3,000 US Soldiers from Fort Drum, replaced an element about 1/10th its size. TF Spartan was the first of the forces to surge under President Bush’s plan last year, changing in the months leading up
from a deployment to Iraq to a deployment to Afghanistan. Most of our lead up training had been on preparation for Iraq.

TF Spartan was in fact involved in more “significant activities” over the past year
compared to the forces it replaced, however that is not the salient metric to use. Over the past year, the Wardak and Logar provinces have seen dramatic improvements in housing starts, economic recovery, governmental reform, indigenous security, and overall quality of life to name but a few areas.

Surging forces in a counterinsurgency works because it overwhelms the enemy and provides locals with the sense of security that empowers them to stand up against the insurgents. While it is not a popular notion to put more of our best and brightest in harm’s way, I believe it is the only way to achieve victory in an extremely complex and difficult environment. The fight Americans need to be
fighting right now is in ensuring that Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines have everything they need at their disposal to be successful in this fight. Currently, they do not.

Our first priority should be in transferring usable materials, equipment and technologies from Iraq to Afghanistan. This is no small task and will require significant logistical assets to accomplish. Next, we need to ensure that Soldiers have what they need to train at their home stations prior to departing for Afghanistan. Currently, the Army is woefully short in this area, shuttling equipment from post to post just prior to the departure of units in an effort to get them trained. It is too little, and comes too late to have a significant impact.

Next, the Army needs to relook its deployment planning, commonly referred to as
the “patch chart.” The fight in Afghanistan is about relationships. Units should redeploy routinely to the exact same areas, where they can leverage their past experiences and relationships. Additionally, providing Soldiers more stability by allowing them to stay longer with the same unit and do multiple deployments with the same unit, to the same location, would allow units to leverage incredibly valuable experience and institutional knowledge. Currently, about 60% of our unit is slated to change out within 6 months of our return. Many of those Soldiers will move to a new duty station and deploy again within 6-9 months of their arrival with the new unit. This is costly, hard on families, and not the way to
set our Soldiers or their units up for success.

Finally, in order to support the incredible surge currently planned, significant improvements to infrastructure in Afghanistan, particularly in places like Bagram Air Base will have to be completed. There is limited capacity to support the current planned timeline, let alone the assets to transport all these forces and equipment.

The mission we have is important. Having experienced all the frustrations of this war during the last year, I can confidently tell you that this incredibly complex and difficult conflict is winnable. It will not be easy, nor will it come quick. The American service members are committed to seeing this through, they and their families are the ones who have borne the great majority if not all of the burden of this fight. It is my hope that Americans will rally around us and help us see it through. We don’t want to be pulled out, we want the support to be victorious and return home with the knowledge that we have completed our mission.

As a thank you to the posts that supported us this past year, I am offering to come and address your membership personally. We have put together a short slide presentation about our year here and how we are in fact making a difference. I welcome the opportunity to share these experiences and victories with you and your membership.

Sincerely,
George I. Corbari
Major, US Army
Chief of Plans
TF Spartan

NOTE: Major Corbari is due home from Afghanistan on or about January 15, 2010 and has been invited to attend the Mid-Winter Conference and speak at the Town Hall Meeting on Sunday January 24, 2010.