Why Mel Laird is Worried About Afghanistan

I came to Washington in 1969 during the Nixon Administration. My first beat was the Pentagon and the Secretary of Defense was former Republican Congressman Melvin Laird, who I came to believe was - with the possible exception of Lyndon Johnson - the best politician I ever knew, certainly one of the wisest.

Mel and I became lifelong friends. He is well into his 80s now, but he is as sharp as ever. And he is worried - worried about the all-volunteer Army that he helped to create, and worried about where we are going in Afghanistan.

In a letter last week, he said the volunteer force far exceeded his expectations, but that we are asking too much of it now, and the "multiple deployments and disregard for the personal and family life of our troops and their emotional well-being threaten to undermine our national security."

Afghanistan worries him even more. He first went there in 1953, and he said "its culture is tribal, not nationalistic, yet we hope to build a nation there … we've fought eight years and lost 1,000 Americans, yet we are no closer today to stability, let alone victory."

Laird remembers how bad intelligence and misunderstanding led us to Vietnam and he wonders now if we have made the same mistakes again. "I know something about misguided wars and how easy it is to get mired down in something that started with the best intentions," he said.

Mel Laird's opinion is one view, and there are others. But Mel Laird has seen a lot. If he's worried, so am I.

[documemts]

The national sport is a bunch of guys riding around on horses throwing around a dead sheep carcass. At least Vietnam had a jungle. Look at the pictures of Afghanistan. Dirt and sand and rocks. The army recruits get stoned first thing in the morning. If all the NGO's and outside gov't entities left and took their equipment the country would look like a museum piece from the 15th century. Counting the Soviets and the US, how long has there been a war there?

[bushron1]

Funny, but when I listen to Petraeus I hear Westmoreland.

[documemts]

I do too.

[babooph]

Where was his concern when idiot George sent the troops into that mess?

[worldcitizen1]

To "PatriotMike" You don't have a clue!

[tsigili]

Afghanistan is a lost cause. The entire country is not salvageable.

[wyodutch]

Empire has replaced the Republic.
.
Wars, which should be well-considered, debated and involve the entire citizenry are now fought by a few working-class kids and funded by money borrowed by red china... our next "enemy".
.
The one silver lining in our perpetual state of war is that every day, they bring the Empire closer to bankruptcy and total collapse.
.
One hopes that we will have men with cahacter and wisdom of our Founding Fathers to pick up the pieces and put the Republic back together.

[skepticalJM]

Mr. Laird seems to understand that "freedom" can't be forced on a people that are organized around a system that does not accept individual freedom. Yet our current leadership still talks about "victory" and "winning" this war. General Petraeus seems to be catching on to this, but he too still thinks that a Free system can be built there to replace the traditional cultural heritage of the last 2000 years. The end result is an endless outlook to a war that will accomplish nothing. But then we live in a world where Nobel Peace prizes are given for waging war; so what do you expect!

[hagar39]

Remember..the USA don't fight wars to win...we fight wars to make money....for the rich!
And the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a success.
The MIC(military industrial complex) does not want a short war.
This has been going on since the late 1800's.
They should teach this in high schools and college. Forget the crap about fighting for freedom, and defending the USA.
Tell our troops they are going to fight and die for big business which includes the oil companies. Tell the truth!

[Skruffy1]

True that! Well said.

[PatriotMike2]

Reading a little too much Communist Manifesto lately?