Did you catch the sarcasm?
This weekend I picked up the LA Times and in the upper right column, the article was about Afghanistan and the rising activity of insurgents because of the warming weather. (They are coming out of their winter bases in Pakistan, and coming back to Afghanistan.)
Read the Story:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-spring13apr13,0,5241948.st...
My husband is stationed on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, so the report didn’t surprise me, because he told me early winter that he wished it would stay winter forever. Winter=Bad Guys aren’t out shooting mortars at us. But it still makes me think about where we are and why we are there.
This newsletter came out from the 1-503d Battalion and Lt. Col. Fenzel talked about how missions were going and how relationships with the Afghan nationals were going, all the fun things to tell families to make them feel better about their husbands at war. (I know it sounds like I just overgeneralized, but my husband is in an infantry unit! Generally all men.)
The end of the deployment is coming, and it is a little bitter sweet, because yes--the end is near, but look at what he has to go through to get to the end... this spring and summer is full of firefights, mortars, RPGs, patrols, etc. I would much rather it be winter, despite his cold hands and runny nose, at least there was no calamity.
A PRETTY BIG SIDENOTE/THOUGHT
What I don’t understand is… we cannot go into Pakistan; they are an ally. (??)
But that’s where the “bad guys” are… so we just wait for them to come back across the border?? Isn't that called harboring a fugitive!? I don't know if anyone wants to hear it, but crazy Pakistani soldiers who are not too happy with Americans, are joining in on the fun when the shooting starts. There is more than one "enemy." But what do we do about Pakistan? Nothing, because we cannot.
PBS: Map of Pakistan's Tribal Land
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/taliban/tribal/map.html
ABC Blog: Tensions High on Afghanistan-Pakistan Border
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/tensions_high_o.html
APRIL 8, 2008
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing
SEN. BIDEN: Mr. Ambassador, is Al Qaeda a greater threat to US interests in Iraq, or in the Afghan-Pakistan border region? … Which would you pick, Mr. Ambassador?
AMB. CROCKER: I would therefore pick Al Qaeda in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area.
What I think is going to happen...
The plays have been set into motion, President Bush promised NATO that the US would promise more troops to Afghanistan. Questions about Iraq and Afghanistan have been floating around lately (we are beginning to remember that there is a seven year war going on next door). So, let us say that occupation in Iraq lessens, or even ceases. There will be a strong occupation in Afghanistan. And we, the American people, will have yet, another thing to gripe about.
It'll be like the Romans in Shakespeare's Julius Ceaser. Sheep, swayed by the slightest. I think I truly understand the Bush Administration's "Stay the Course." It has been said and heard many times when talking about strategy in Iraq. "Stay the course..." Don't be distracted, don't let the media decide what it is you know, don't let anyone bully you into thinking that there are better things to worry about... OIF and OEF are part of a War we are fighting, we, our nation, our soldiers, our husbands, our wives, our brothers and sisters, our children, our grandchildren-- they do not deserve to be overlooked, or forgotten. (That statement must apply when they are AT are, and when they RETURN from war.)
This war, this spring, this summer... is becoming more and more interesting as days go by that I don't hear from DJ. I have an idea of what he must be doing, what is happening as I sit in a classroom, blogging on MSP... I am perfectly safe, where he is wearing a very, very heavy kevlar vest, a magazine rack full of amo, (for me) a pretty heavy gun, a heavy helmet... you've all packed the gear, you've all tried it on, you know what I am talking about. It is almost ridiculous to look at the contrast!
I feel so spoiled.
