U.S. officials 'repeatedly lied about
Afghanistan war for 18 years and hid
the fact it was unwinnable', according
to bombshell Washington Post report
dubbed 'the Pentagon Papers of today'
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Jennifer Smith
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
12/9/2019 11:45:04 AM
US officials repeatedly lied to the public about the war in Afghanistan for its 18 year duration by hiding the fact that it was unwinnable and troops were out of their depth, The Washington Post has claimed. In a lengthy article published on Monday, the Post claims that top officials knew the military's chances were slim but that they routinely hid the grave reality and made 'rosy pronouncements' about it instead. The cache of documents—dubbed the 'Pentagon Papers of Afghanistan'— includes interviews that the government carried out with senior military personnel which the newspaper obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 12/9/2019 11:54:00 AM (No. 257138)
Of course it is unwinnable as is any war in the Middle East. Those people are fanatics whose loyalties are family and tribe. They'll form alliances to win advantage for their tribe, then turn on their allies in a heartbeat. Better to stay out and let them settle things among themselves than waste our brave young men trying to make sense of Middle Eastern politics.
23 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Turninggrey 12/9/2019 12:03:25 PM (No. 257152)
The Washington Post hates America. It just is orgasmic producing these anti American articles. I won't even read it. It is like walking past two hobos copulating in public. You know what they are doing is wrong on so many levels, but you were walking that direction and you couldn't look away fast enough when you figured out what was on display.
6 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 12/9/2019 12:05:16 PM (No. 257157)
We all knew the tar pit of the Middle East is unwinnable. Sending Americans to die and spill their blood for nations that will NEVER embrace religious or political freedom is traitorous.
20 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
MrDeplorable 12/9/2019 12:12:18 PM (No. 257163)
NO modern war is winnable under the politically-correct ROE (Rules Of Engagement) imposed by our government on ALL military operations. A good friend who served in the Special Forces went unofficially to Afghanistan in the Eighties to help the mujahidin (then our friends) against the Russians and when he came back, he said "The Russians will never win that war and when they finally leave, the Afghans will go back to killing each other. It's just the way they are and they will never change." And the fact that everyone will be offended by my friend's politically-incorrect statement shows the mindset behind the politically-correct ROE our troops have to fight under. QED.
30 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
GO3 12/9/2019 12:13:13 PM (No. 257165)
The WaPo covering for the deep state brass responsible for the stalemate. The list of those who did not know how to win, or didn't want to make the tough decisions is long and distinguished; all senior service college grads I'm sure. When any of the current or previous leaders read the WaPo pronouncement that their troops were out of their depth for 18 years it would be fightin' words - or maybe not if normally office bound generals are in charge of the fighting.
BTW, wars are winnable in the ME, just ask the Israelis or the Brits.
8 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
seamusm 12/9/2019 12:32:20 PM (No. 257178)
'Rosy pronouncements?' As in when and to whom. I don't remember any such. Moreover, I am probably joined by millions who wondered why we were there. Trump ran in 2015 saying the same thing.
11 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
chumley 12/9/2019 12:33:01 PM (No. 257179)
Any war can be won if those in control of it have the resources and will to win it. We haven't had anyone like that since the end of WW2.
At the end of Gulf War #1 we had killed a lot of people and broken a lot of their stuff, but the enemy still had the means and will to fight. In Gulf War 2 we didn't even do that much. Clearly there is someone who is benefitting from our state of perpetual warfare and massive military budgets. It aint us..
11 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Ida Lou Pino 12/9/2019 12:42:24 PM (No. 257189)
Ummmm - - does this mean that Little 0bie has to give back that Peace Prize?
10 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
cor-vet 12/9/2019 12:59:18 PM (No. 257206)
I think most wars could be winnable if you could keep the polititians out. Viet Nam is a prime example of a war that could have been won, except for the polititions and the media. The same polititians and media we have now.
10 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
cold porridge 12/9/2019 1:14:45 PM (No. 257220)
The tribes in the middle east have been at war with each other for several thousand years. We should have never been there (for the oil) and Afghanistan was just for opium trade I believe, and to fill the banker's coffers. War only benefits the big banks.
7 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 12/9/2019 1:24:52 PM (No. 257230)
FTA:However, the military personnel say that as the years wore on, the mission became less clear. Some officials started focusing on turning it into a democratic country, whereas others wanted to focus on elevating women's rights, the report claims.
It's like a bureaucratic agency. Once the original purpose is over, they re-invent themselves to keep the gravy train running. The mission never ends because no one knows what it is.
5 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Luandir 12/9/2019 1:26:38 PM (No. 257232)
Our troops are out of their depth? Equine excrement.
It might take a scorched-earth campaign to tame those savages, but our troops are not to blame for this fiasco.
9 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 12/9/2019 1:53:07 PM (No. 257259)
That's what the anti-war critics automatically say regardless. This isn't news. Its portrayed in a way to make it news, but it isn't It's fake news.
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Starboard_side 12/9/2019 1:59:46 PM (No. 257264)
Amazing how much "news" is suddenly being released on the Monday that the IG report was due for release, huh?
Doubtful coincidence that the WaPo and the Dem establishment didn't coordinate these events to hopefully minimize the IG news.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
stablemoney 12/9/2019 2:56:38 PM (No. 257294)
WaPo thinks the American public is stupid and hasn't noticed that nothing is advancing in Afghanistan for the last 18 years. Actually we have noticed, but public opinion doesn't matter much, does it?
5 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
FLCracker 12/9/2019 3:20:09 PM (No. 257316)
Afghanistan is not in the Middle East. It is in Central Asia. That's what is says on all my Army paperwork.
FTA: "... troops were out of their depth,... " Troops were hamstrung by a mission based on political and limited objectives.
5 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
chance_232 12/9/2019 3:20:45 PM (No. 257317)
We did WIN the war. The mistake was sticking around to fix it, when the locals refuse to have nice things.
4 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Strike3 12/9/2019 3:21:52 PM (No. 257318)
Even the Russians figured that one out after wasting fifteen years and losing half of their helicopter fleet. We should have stopped after the carpet bombing of Tora Bora and moved on to the real culprits in Saudi Arabia.
5 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
bighambone 12/9/2019 3:26:05 PM (No. 257323)
If this report is only half true or is all true is there any wonder why President Trump has been saying from the get-go that he supports the USA being out of Afghanistan militarily. It is clear that President Trump is up against very entrenched special interests, both civilian and military, anytime he puts out a trial balloon relating to withdrawing any number of US Troops from the Middle East or Southwest Asia.
As an example look what happened a few weeks ago when Trump ordered the withdrawal of about 45 US soldiers from observation posts along the Syrian-Turkish border after it was determined that those troops were in the way of a big Turkish Military invasion of Northern Syria. Immediately, it was insinuated falsely by the leftist and liberal Democrats, the Neocons, and Republican never Thumpers, that Trump was actually removing all US troops from the region and was abandoning the Kurds, and the Middle East to the Russians and ISIS.
I think that I remember back when the US first entered Afghanistan militarily that Russian Generals who had fought in Afghanistan told US Generals that going to war in Afghanistan would be a very expensive fool’s errand and that Afghanistan is full of primitive Muslim peoples living back in the about the 13th Century who had no interest in building a modern country or liberal Western society. So here we are today still stuck in Afghanistan.
5 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 12/9/2019 3:40:34 PM (No. 257337)
We ramped up Afghanistan after bin Laden staged 9-11 from there. That and the horror stories about the Taliban's butchery. That said, I agree with Trump getting us out. Let them kill each other. If they attack us in some way then turn Kabul into a bubbling pool of melted glass. It's what we should have done to Hanoi years ago.
6 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
fayebeck 12/9/2019 6:25:16 PM (No. 257422)
If true then there should be war crime charges brought against some swamp dwellers. America will never win a war by refusing to use nukes. Why the mideast dookie hole is worth fighting wars and doing nothing to help Venezuela is beyond my thinking.
3 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
bighambone 12/9/2019 9:58:01 PM (No. 257544)
To really win a military conflict against the primitive Muslims of Afghanistan a liberal Western Democratic nation would have to resurrect the brutal military tactics of Gengis Khan, and there is no way that the US liberal Democrats or the wimpy Republicans would go a long with such a ruthless expeditionary military campaign to eliminate about half the population of Afghanistan. So President Trump is correct, the sooner the US military gets out of Afghanistan the better.
3 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Lucky5 12/10/2019 2:39:36 PM (No. 258126)
War is a big business and those who control that, are part of the deep state.
0 people like this.
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Washington Post is in the fake news business, but this is not at all implausible. Remember how we had troops guarding the opium poppy crops so as to not upset hearts and minds?