Wednesday, February 10, 2010

War isn't just hell...

it's madness. Check out this analysis of the imminent assault by massive numbers of US Marines (with some NATO and Afghan forces) on the Afghan city of Marjah. Note that our forces number 15,000 while the opposition's one-tenth of that amount. Note that we're advertising our attack in advance so the civilians can leave or barricade themselves. Note that it's likely the Taliban fighters will leave before we attack in any event, to live to fight another day. And note the cruel irony, buried in the article, that because of all the attention, money and investment that NATO intends to devote to Marjah after the attack to win the "hearts and minds" of its residents, other Afghan towns are likely to invite the Taliban to their areas so they too can receive an influx of funds and projects. It all sounds rather like the satirical Peter Sellers movie, "The Mouse that Roared," doesn't it?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, that's US, the Johnny Appleseed of chaos and reconstruction.

corewell said...

Detroit34In support of authors, The Mouse that Roared was a book by Leonard Wimberly, made into a movie. He and his wife did visit a friend of mine in Santa Barbara often to take violin lessons and dine. I got to join them once, when Leonard Wimpberly was a guest preformer with the Santa Barbara Synphony about 1970.