February 2010

1/2 and 1/2

This morning, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal gave an apology to Afghanistan for the recent loss of 27 civilians in the NATO airstrike on Sunday – the Afghan government claiming the act “unjustifiable”.

We just can’t win.

We are either killing or apologizing.

Why is America always apologizing to other nations for our actions when not ONE nation has apologized to the USA for any of theirs?

Does the Afghan government call McChrystal or President Obama when more than 5 soldiers are killed in one day trying to make their Afghan country stable, trying to eliminate the extreme corrupt Taliban in their country because they can’t seem to do it on their own?

What number will make it large enough for the Afghan government to do so? More than 12 troops? Atrocious. A life is a life. 1 or 27, all people that aren’t the bad people dying is a shame and it’s not right they died, but the amount lost should not determine if an apology is necessary or not.

So if we have to apologize for 27, then I want the Afghan government to apologize to the USA for the 27+ troops we have already lost in their country fighting this war for years, where they let the Taliban breed like wildfire.

And one more thought that has always irritated me. Why is it more significant if women and children are killed vs an 18 year old soldier?

That 18th century old theory of “women and children are precious” vs men dying is just wrong. That just enforces that very old stigma that women and children are weaker then men. That encourages inequality. We are in the 21st century now. We have all moved well beyond that.

Some of these women and children that are “precious” mind you – are also the same ones supplying the ammunition – keeping it hidden in their homes for when the Taliban arrive. So let’s not be all so gushy when it comes to hearing the words ‘women and children’. The media just does that to grandify a story. I am suprised world organizations are still making note to emphasize that point to. They should update the way they report statistics to reflect the current global mindset.

Do we report when we loose a female US soldier vs a male? I have never seen that specification. An 18 year old soldier vs a 35 year old one? No. We just report “xx troops lost”.

So I don’t stand for any of this garbage that transpired the last 24 hours. Every country looses lives, in uniform or not, when guns, bombs, ied’s and suicide bombers are the order of the day.

This is still a very real and violent war. I don’t think it is required from those at war to apologize when we are trying to keep the US safe and pretty much the global world safe.

Excuse me, I forgot to remind the Afghan government that they would probably have no government if it wasn’t for the US troops and NATO troops being present in Afghanistan right now, not to mention keeping their civilians butts safe during elections so Karzai could be elected in the first place.

So for the Afghan government to come back with this statement of “unjustifiable” – well, from where I sit, IS unjustifiable!

Obviously, McChrystal didn’t wake up saying – I am going to kill Afghan civilians today. War is a risk, for everyone.

The Afghans still want US troops there. They have requested we stay longer. So with that, they knew there would probably be more civilian deaths not intended.

So if anyone is to blame for these Afghan civilian deaths, it is the Afghan government. Not the USA troops, not NATO.  They are doing exactly what they are in existence to do – fight.

The Afghan government knew McChrystal’s top priority was less civilian casualities. That number has decreased since he has taken over. So, I think this man has done his best with keeping his mission in forefront (why he is in this country to begin with) and trying to keep his men alive as well.

So for the Afghan government to issue a statement: “unjustifiable” is merely the Afghan government switch-hitting to look good in the eyes of its people.

If it really wants no more civilian deaths, they need to tell us all to leave tomorrow.  Again, one main reason we are still there is to help train their people, so they can fight the Taliban better on their own.

This is just getting ridiculous.  The US and NATO troops are either there to protect the Afghan civilians or are there to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda – but it just can not do both effectively.

It’s either reason #1 or reason #2 – otherwise, it is simply doing  both half—.

NATO and US Troops are not personal body guards for the Afghan civilians. That is not what they have been trained for, and that is certainly not why they are there.  And as an American, I will tell you, nothing about the USA Military is doing anything half —.

You can not effectively kick the Taliban’s butt without occasionally and inadvertantly killing civilians. It is just a fact of war. The only way you can eliminate this statistic – this fact – is if you remove all Afghans civilians from their country and then you start the real war against the Taliban.

This might even be the better alternative. Then, the  NATO and US troops can just do airstrike after airstrike, attack after attack, and most likely wipe the Taliban out altogether in about a month.

Think about how much less energy they would spend on being careful and protecting civilians and how much more energy they would have then to be effective to achieve their ultimate mission: get rid of the Taliban.

Well, there’s a thought. It’s taken us years to fight a war we have made pretty much minimal progress on – if you factor in civilian casualities and senseless troop deaths, and the Taliban being still very large in size and fighting strongly.  This suggestion could do it in probably a month or less. I think we should look into this as the next strategy for how to win this war.

Even if McChrystal doesn’t restrategize, at the minimum, I think our U.S. General needs to have a talk with the Afghan government. He should tell them to keep their comments to themselves and remind them to be a little more appreciative of what US and NATO troops are there trying to do: train their people, help stabilize their country, run the Taliban out, etc etc.

Remember, the Taliban have no problem shooting guns off right next to women, children – any civilians. So perhaps when fighting this long war, US and NATO troops have to stop being so careful and just get the job done right once and for all.

Otherwise, we will be doing this 1/2 and 1/2 for many more years, and more lives will be lost, civilians and troops, and in the end all, not accomplishing the main mission – stopping the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let in Snow!

The Washington D.C. metro area  (Northern VA and MD) is just getting walluped with snow this winter!

Unbelievable the amounts of accumulation!

Almost a white Christmas, on Dec 19, ‘09, 16 inches fell on Reagan Airport in VA.

February 6, 2010 snow storm – now dubbed “Snowmageddon” by President Obama  - gave Dulles International in VA a record breaking 32.4 inches.

Tomorrow, Feb 9, 2010 going into Feb 10th,  the D.C. area is expecting 10-20 more inches! This is almost comical!

I have lived on the east coast all my life up until 1994 when I headed west, and when I returned east in 2001 the most it snowed was 10 inches – record breaking in Virginia Beach actually. And when I moved north to the DC/VA area a few years later, the most that fell at one time was 8 or 9 inches.

Now that I am back in southern CA (just moved in May 09) it’s weird how I am sort of envious of all this snow. For all the cold you endure, you figure if it’s going to be cold, it should just snow and snow a lot, to give you the time off to enjoy it with others:)

But also I am envious because it’s a neat experience when the DC/VA area ’shuts down’ as it is normally extremely hectic &  fast paced – so there is some pleasure in the quietness of it all and the beauty of the snow falling.

You get a taste of this during the holidays, when in Arlington VA, you can literally walk down the middle of normally one of the busiest streets on Thanksgiving eve, Christmas and Christmas eve, because there isn’t a car on it.

But the snow – well that makes it more remarkable – because the air is crisp and it’s even more silent  - as the snow absorbs sounds. So to me, this is a rare time and a time that should be cherished.

The unexpected days off, the time to enjoy being outside and making a snowman or something. I absolutely loved watching the video on how DC celebrated the recent snow storm – about 1000 people gathered for a snowball fight – that’s the kind of things I am talking about.

Time to let go and have some fun. Something often overlooked by many because everyone is so busy there, and it’s not normally scheduled in their packed 6 day a week, 16 hours work days  in the DC/VA area.

What I didn’t like reading was that cab fares have gone to ’snow rate’ where they jack up the price of a ride that is normally $20-$30 bucks to the airport to $100.

That’s just not right. What they should be doing is the reverse, if they were really savvy.

They should be supporting the community/cities this is happening in and either offer the same rate or lowering their rate to show their support in trying to help people get to the airports, or to the store to get essentials. That’s what all other businesses & communities do in unusual circumstances – they support one another and bend over backwards to alter their ‘usuals’ to make life easier as people go through the not-so-usual time period.

But leave it to DC/VA – where everyone tries to always take advantage of everyone else with the ‘what’s in it for me attitude’.

This is the part of DC/VA that just gives the region a very poor image in the global community. This just reinforces how this area tries to gauge and haggle people.

But the cab companies will loose business in the end. People will remember which cab companies jacked up their rates and took advantage of them during this time. And those cab companies will probably want to know why their cabs are empty during the rest of the year.  They are so dumb.

I, for one wouldn’t give them more money  - and I would make sure even if I absolutely had to – to never use them again because  they took such ridiculous advantage of people when they absolutely didn’t need to.

Poor business decisons like this bite you in the butt much harder later. So they might think they are gaining more money now, but they are loosing a lot more business/money later.

I am surprised the Mayors of DC/VA/MD didn’t declare as part of the city emergency – that no rates could be risen due to this natural occurance. That would keep things calmer in all the cities, where transportation systems aren’t running at all, or running very sparsely.

So let it snow even more!  And let this be a enjoyable time for many who usually don’t get this time, but also a learning lesson for a select few companies.