Americans are tired of the US military's longest running war in history. Why does it continue in spite of our pleas and votes to withdraw? Why does Obama increase troop levels and hostilities? Frontline (PBS) investigates.
NIGHT RAIDS: Fueling Afghanistan
Botched night raids and harrowing accounts from Afghan citizens have raised serious questions about the precision of intelligence and the rate of civilian casualties.
Last year the Times of London exposed a horrifying night raid gone wrong in which Afghan investigators found that Special Forces dug bullets out of the bodies of two pregnant Afghan women in an attempted cover-up.
Night raids are also controversial because they violate Afghan cultural norms. Tactics that are considered particularly offensive include troops entering a home where women are present or using dogs (which are considered impure) in their search. ...
Congress.org
Dear Mr. President,
You bring home 10,000 troops, and the rest by 2014. That is a drop in the bucket, too little too late. The Middle East War has to end right away. We have no business over there. We cannot afford it. It is an offensive action on our part.
Our military over there loses their lives, their sanity or they are injured horribly; there is no one that comes home from war the same person. The only reason we are over there is for special interest groups like oil bar[on]s and arms dealers that make a great deal of profit off of war.
In the meantime, at home our economy goes down the tube along with our jobs. If you want to have a war, go fight it yourself, and take all those people that like war with you. See how fast you solve the problem then. Stop the propaganda about all the good we are doing over there. ...
NIGHT RAIDS: Fueling Afghanistan
Botched night raids and harrowing accounts from Afghan citizens have raised serious questions about the precision of intelligence and the rate of civilian casualties.
Last year the Times of London exposed a horrifying night raid gone wrong in which Afghan investigators found that Special Forces dug bullets out of the bodies of two pregnant Afghan women in an attempted cover-up.
Night raids are also controversial because they violate Afghan cultural norms. Tactics that are considered particularly offensive include troops entering a home where women are present or using dogs (which are considered impure) in their search. ...
- The truth about Afghanistan (InvisibleHistory.com)
- British troops killed in Afghanistan doubles this year
Congress.org
Dear Mr. President,
You bring home 10,000 troops, and the rest by 2014. That is a drop in the bucket, too little too late. The Middle East War has to end right away. We have no business over there. We cannot afford it. It is an offensive action on our part.Our military over there loses their lives, their sanity or they are injured horribly; there is no one that comes home from war the same person. The only reason we are over there is for special interest groups like oil bar[on]s and arms dealers that make a great deal of profit off of war.
In the meantime, at home our economy goes down the tube along with our jobs. If you want to have a war, go fight it yourself, and take all those people that like war with you. See how fast you solve the problem then. Stop the propaganda about all the good we are doing over there. ...
QUOTES
"According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the [Afghan] Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan..." Zbigniew Brzezinski- "Afghan society is very complex, and Afghanistan has a very complex culture. Part of the reason it has remained unknown is because of this complexity." Mohsen Makhmalbaf
