The Shadow War

The Obama administration apparently is conducting a covert war on al Qaeda:

In roughly a dozen countries – from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to former Soviet republics crippled by ethnic and religious strife – the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy [al Qaeda] using robotic drones and commando teams, paying contractors to spy and training local operatives to chase terrorists.

Perhaps I’m jaded, but nothing in this article surprised me.

History lessons

The Captain’s Journal has an excellent post on the myth and reality of the role of COIN in Iraq. To put it bluntly, the Marines were far less interested in winning hearts and minds than they were in destroying Al Qaeda in Iraq.

New kids on the Kush

One problem with the war in Afghanistan is that its getting increasingly difficult to determine who is on what side.

Another milestone in the War on Terror

The cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is just about to hit $1,000,000,000,000 ($1 trillion). Al Qaeda spent $200,000 carrying out the 9/11 attacks. This means that for every $1 al Qaeda spent on 9/11, the US has spent $500 million fighting al Qadea, or about $30,000 per US citizen. I can’t think of a reasonable way to justify this expenditure.

Congratulations, Mr. President!

In just a few short days you will have the dubious honor of presiding over the longest war in US history! Yeah!

So far, the United States has spent $275,000,000,000 ($275 billion) on the war in Afghanistan. Good job! Al Qaeda only spent $200,000 on the 9/11 attacks. Losers! We’ll show them what spending real money on a war looks like! How’s that war going by the way? Well, its not clear we are calling it a war anymore:

Because the task in Kandahar is so delicate, U.S. commanders talk about squeezing rather than driving out the Taliban. The military has struggled to come up with a description of the upcoming fight avoiding terms like campaign, operation and battle because because those words and others have annoyed Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

So the U.S. is calling it “Hamkari Baraye Kandahar,” which translates as “Cooperation for Kandahar.” Karzai simply calls it a “process.”

Whatever it’s called, U.S. military leaders say that unless it succeeds, the rest of the plan for pacifying Afghanistan is hollow.

(deep sigh)…How will we know of “it” succeeds until if we don’t know what “it” is? After spending close to $300 billion, we still can’t explain we still can’t explain what we are trying to achieve in Afghanistan? (banging head on desk)