Dont Bite the Hand that Feeds you...........

7 December 2006

But by all means BITE the hand that attacks you!!!!
And starve it too!!!!!If we want to win the war in A'stan that is just what we need to do. We have to attack the WHOLE enemy. The Pentagon has been unhelpful in assisting with the opium problem in Afghanistan. "Military units in Afghanistan largely overlook drug bazaars, rebuff some requests to take U.S. drug agents on raids and do little to counter the organized crime syndicates shipping the drug to Europe, Asia and, increasingly, the United States, according to officials and documents." (Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2006, Pg. 1, Josh Meyer) However, that opium crop is the source of the bullets that kill our troops, the bombs that blow up our convoys, the surface to air weapons that attack our aircraft and the security that the Taliban enjoy, especially in the southern part of the country. It is the profit from the opium fields that provide the cash to secure loyalty, propaganda, intelligence, weapons and 'martyrs'.
During previous combat engagements we have carried out carpet bombing to destroy the infrastructure of the enemy, we have carried out selective target bombing to destroy the logistical resources of the enemy, we have even destroyed the headquarters of the arms dealers supplying our enemy (too bad that building was also the Chinese Embassy).
Now, I know that the purpose of our military is to defend and protect our country and its citizens, lands and interests from attack by enemies of the state, whether foreign or domestic. I, also, know that the method for doing so is to plan, execute and complete a military operation to achieve a military goal. And that our military leaders try to confine these military operations to a narrow scope with well defined goals and procedures. These methods are well suited for conventional warfare, however the GWOT is not conventional in any manner. The unconventional manner of  the war on terror is such that not even the use of guerrilla tactics is enough to ensure mission completion.
Our military leaders have to do something, that for some may be a totally foreign concept to them; they have to think totally outside the box. However, along with thinking outside the box they have to keep in mind that we are fighting the terrorists and not become them. This can create a very complex and disconcerting issue for our leaders. We instill in our military leaders respect for life, morals while engaging the enemy, and conscience in planning, executing and completing the mission. We do not believe that the end is the justification for the means, that makes us who we are and we are not the terrorists.
Keeping that in mind I think that we need to expand our concept of how we defeat the enemy. The war that we are waging is like no other war we have fought in our history. The economic and media fronts are almost more important than the frontlines. We have to really appreciate the terror organizations ability to sell their cause to the masses and to use propaganda to recruit new members. We have to understand how cash is a weapon also. We have to learn to attack their cash flow just as we would a bomb making factory or the arms dealers headquarters. We have to eliminate their ability to exist.
We dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki not because we believed in the death of innocent civilians, but we made a tough choice--drop the bombs and kill numerous civilians to save multitudes more. This decision was not made lightly and did result in an earlier end to the war than would have been possible without the bombing. I think that we need to make another hard choice here with Afghanistan and the poppy fields -- I would not recommend dropping hydrogen bombs on the poppy fields, however I am thinking that napalm bombs or another ordnance that would achieve a similar goal, the quick and efficient destruction of a poppy field with as little collateral damage as possible, would be a smart choice in helping to prevent the future destruction of property and loss of life globally.
We have to look at the whole picture and the complete enemy. We have to remove their ability to recruit, publicize and attack. We have not been effective thus far in countering their offensives in the media or online and playing catch up at this point might bog us down in a true quagmire. However, if we remove their ability to produce, promote and distribute their ideals to open ears then we will shift the advantage in our favor. We have the advantage on the ground in the combat zones it is in the unconventional areas that we are losing the war. So the Pentagon needs to put their egos on the back burner grant the DEA's request for assistance in so much as they can to eliminate the poppy fields of Afghanistan. One or two sweeping operations whose goal is the complete destruction of cash crops of illegal substances in theater should effectively limit the enemies ability to mount a resistance of substance.