The Afghanistan Report the Pentagon Doesn’t Want You to Read
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/the-afghanistan-report-the-pentagon-doesnt-want-you-to-read-20120210
Once again something I meant to publish got lost in limbo as a draft…
Very interesting reading. I am about a third through the report now. I won’t link to it here in case it become classified at some point (yes, our government has withdrawn clearances for doing just that!). I urge my readers to at least take in the Rolling Stone article linked above.
There is huge diversity in the military (perhaps greater than our society in general because, for the most part, the military promotes based on capability rather than personal connections or birth parents) and you can find someone at any level to agree with any statement you care to utter (recall that Timothy McVeigh was a member of our military). Thus, if our government either encourages the military to lie or tacitly approves by not investigating lies, then, naturally, those people who are either pathological liars or see there is success in lying will bubble right to the top. Since the information the military acts on results in literally lives being on the line I would like to think that the core of the military is still honest with itself (my military career, such that it was (Marine reserves and Va Army Natl Guard infantry), was far from stellar and I left with less rank than I had achieved so I have no personal information either way). At least I hope that is the case, though I recall reading about a war game some years ago where a retired US military general took control over the opposing forces and basically wiped out the command/control structure of the ‘good guys’ (note this was all simulated) within hours of a week long exercise. Rather than acknowledge their weaknesses they restarted the exercise but told the retired general he couldn’t use those techniques; he quit the exercise, to his credit (if I weren’t so damn lazy I might research to find that article).
Anyway, I doubt reading this paper will be an eye opener to any of my reader(s) because I doubt people without doubt would bother to investigate what is going on, preferring ignorance instead.
