We’re Fighting in a War We Lost Before the War Began

[Luminous Animal]

3. I think this is a good place to post this. Afghanistan: A Gathering Menace

Letter From - Spring 2012

http://theamericanscholar.org/a-gathering-menace/?utm_source=LF+Newsletters&utm_campaign=bb0216f298-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

Traveling with U.S. troops gives insights into the recent massacre
Photo by Neil Shea
By Neil Shea

We sat on the patio in the late, hot afternoon, airing our foul, boot-pruned feet. The soldiers of Destroyer talked about how their house searches had become demolition parties. They shattered windows and china, broke furniture, hurled civilians to the ground. Earlier that day, they had blown up a building. They tornadoed through Afghan houses and left such destruction that their ANA (Afghan National Army) allies at first tried to stop them, then grew angry, sullen.

“They were so pissed they wouldn’t hang out with us anymore,” Givens remembered. “They kept saying ‘No good, mistah. No, mistah.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, fucking good. Plate? Smash. Is this a drum? Smash.’ ” He laughed. “ ‘Oh, mistah, no.’ ”

I imagined the Afghan soldiers standing by, helpless, while Destroyer destroyed. I thought of attacks over the past several years in which Afghan policemen or soldiers had suddenly turned on their NATO allies and opened fire. Such betrayals have been increasing. Sometimes the Taliban claim responsibility for them, but often it seems the assailants have been taking revenge on foreign soldiers for some perceived insult to their honor. It was not hard to envision the seeds of such an attack sown in the ruts of Destroyer’s visit.