In Afghan War, Officer Becomes a Whistle-Blower

[davidbfpo]

A British think tank contact alerted me to this NYT article 'In Afghan War, Officer Becomes a Whistle-Blower' (it is shown on today's SWJ Blog):http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/wo...n&st=cse&scp=2

Slightly edited passage

How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding? 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.

The US Army Colonel's original article was 'Truth, lies and Afghanistan' and appears in AFJ:http://armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030

He starts with:

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.

What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

The author has his own blogsite and awaits official permission to publish his full, unclassified report on Afghanistan and has some good photos:http://www.afghanreport.com/

This side of the Atlantic I am aware of a few serving British Army officers who have reached similar conclusions and resigned or taken early retirement. I am sure other US military have spoken out, but how many continue to serve and so far without **** falling on them?

Added: there are two SWJ Blog posts on this matter now and a cross-reference has been added: http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/mid...y-leadership-0 and http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/tru...nd-afghanistan