JO attended two briefings in DC, by General David Petraeus, the 10th and current Commander, US Central Command. General Petraeus previously served as Commanding General, Multi National Force - Iraq (MNF-I). Very interesting guy. He seemed very sure that adding more troops and having more time in Iraq and Afghanistan would bring victory. He seemed more optimistic about Afghanistan saying that the Afghani people do have a sense of national identity eventhough there are many different ethnic groups. Afghans as a people can still harken back to the good ole days of the "golden age" in the 1960's. The general steered away from questions related to the war on terror as a war on Islam. Even if we call the Taliban a radicalized form of Islam... it's still Islam. The JO believes that all wars are holy wars. People just fighting over different beliefs in the end. The general commented on Gen. Stanley McChrystal's idea of "winning the hearts & minds" ( of the Iraqi's and Afghani's ) - the real meanining is - to win the hearts & minds of the people to make them see that the (Taliban ) radicals are destructive and oppressive and that the good people of Iraq and Afghan should take up arms and be willing to fight to protect their futures... so eventually American soldiers won't have to.Like King Arthur in Monty Python says on his Crusades - Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.
No comments:
Post a Comment