Truth?

"How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding and behind an array of more than seven years of optimistic statements by U.S. senior leaders in Afghanistan? No one expects our leaders to always have a successful plan. But we do expect — and the men who do the living, fighting and dying deserve — to have our leaders tell us the truth about what’s going on."

These chilling words form the heart of a report today in the Armed Forces Journal from Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis. Davis is just back from a tour in Afghanistan as part of something called the Rapid Equipping Force. During that tour of duty (his fourth deployment), he toured much of the country and spoke to hundreds of troops and locals. His conclusion is that the Afghan government, police and army are totally incompetent and unable to face the Taliban. To make things worse, these Afghan forces are not getting any better. When US forces leave, the Afghans will collapse.

Davis then contrasts this reality with the continuing claims of success emanating from Washington, and it makes his blood boil. He says that he understands that not every battle plan will be a success, but the troops doing the fighting at least deserve to be told the truth.

Normally, I would be disturbed by a report like this, but I would also discount it as an aberration. Sadly, since much of the "information" that gets put out by the Obama administration is more like propaganda than fact, I have to give the report more credence. Think of Obama's "conversion" to someone who wants to get control of federal spending. In how many speeches and briefings have we heard about the need to now cut the deficit by controlling spending and raising taxes in a balanced way. And then what happens? Obama pushes for tax increases while still fighting all spending cuts. In other words, Obama claims to be a part of what animates the Tea Party but actually fights against it. Sounds a lot like what Davis describes in regard to Afghanistan.

I certainly am in no position to determine the validity of what Davis says about conditions in Central Asia. His report, however, should give rise to a Congressional investigation. If it turns out that Davis is even partially correct, then the American people deserve the truth. Far too many soldiers have died for this mess to continue if the strategy is failing. The life of one American fighting man is worth far more than Obama's entire political future.