U.S. isn’t equipped to win in Afghanistan, Iraq

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

To the Editor:

We’re spending billions to build and more heavily armor Humvees and Stryker personnel carriers, now confining them to improved roadways. Yet, growing numbers of American troops are being killed and maimed – road fodder for ever more powerful Improvised Explosive Devices planted by illiterate, financially desperate tribesmen in Iraq, Afghanistan and before long, Pakistan.

As far as I know, there are no U.S. Army or Marine Corps generals who trained and served as snipers. The forces of military promotion favor the conventional. Man for man, those U.S. special forces who served in the ’80s helping the Taliban kill Russians in Afghanistan and in the early ’90s (read Operation Hotel California) helping the Kurds neutralize Saddam Hussein in northern Iraq (before Donald Rumsfeld pulled the rug out from under them), were notably effective with minimal expense and loss of life.

The mountainous terrain of the borderland Tribal Territories and the behavioral edicts of the Muslim tribal societies populating them dictate the nature of the tactics of warfare effective in those regions of Iran, Pakistan, Tajikstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, in which al-Qaida finds sanctuary as well as recruits fighters.

The people of these high borderlands are characterized more by their anti-nationalist sentiments than allegiance to the nation in which they reside. I call it a “sovereigncy of insovereigncy.” These are citizen warriors who, forsaking home and hearth, using their personal weapons, will fight to the death to repel foreign invaders. (Sound familiar?) Yet, these same people will take in, feed and protect any lost soul from the outside world who drags himself helpless in the middle of a storm in the night into one of their villages.

Our military’s fascination with 1. helicopter assault, 2. unmanned drones and 3. high altitude laser guided bombing represent 1. tactical suicide in high altitude extreme terrain, 2. a recipe for target confusion and 3. a proven way to recruit 10 new martyrs for al-Qaida for every al-Qaida member killed.

Intelligent, highly trained Pashtun and Farsi fluent backpacking U.S. special forces personnel, equipped with night vision and laser weapons guiding technology, GPS navigation, satellite communication and cadre development skills constitute a way to win this war against terror the American way. What do the Peace Corps, Eagle Scouting, Lawrence of Arabia and Lewis and Clark have in common with our personnel in Operation Hotel California? I believe they share the critical skills we need to fight global terrorism.

It’s time to ditch the joystick and the joyride. We need to rediscover and redevelop some old American skills applied with new American technology, and rediscover success in this distant, exotic and critical theater.

JIM CANFIELD

Mason