I almost decided not to write a post about the recent shootings in Afghanistan by a U.S soldier but I decided to simply because I have such conflicting opinions. Here is my thought process.
My first thought was that it was horrible. Anytime such an event happens our system has broken down, at least on a micro level. Our troops are the best and brightest solders in the planet; massacring civilians is not normal and un-called for. My thoughts go out to the victims and the soldier himself. I feel very strongly that violence such as this is not the answer. There are rules of engagement that should be followed, and by not following them the soldier has hurt our military and humanitarian efforts there.
Here is my conflict. After thinking about it and hearing all of the planned retaliatory attacks I began to realize the simple futility of us fighting for a country like Afghanistan. Over the past few weeks, Afghan "police" have killed several U.S advisors inside U.S. military bases, one of which was a National Guard Major from here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In turn the United States has not ramped up military missions or planned massive attacks as retribution, yet we now face such action from Al Qaeda. Thus the futility.
My better angels want to stop short of coming right out and say we should just pull out now but I cannot. As I read more about the event, the more I cannot help but think the United States needs out of Afghanistan tomorrow.. Perhaps this is what the enemy wants, but if the country of Afghanistan falls into utter pandemonium then so be it. We have tried to bring democracy to Afghanistan, and succeeded, but the dam is cracking.
Either we pull out or start playing by their rules completely. There is only so much you can do with a beast that bites the hand that feeds it. The beast can go hungry or get wacked with a newspaper. We either need to let Afghanistan fail into chaos or start rolling up newspapers. As peaceful as I try to be, I cannot help but feel this way.
No comments:
Post a Comment