To do this they pick on small inconsistent points in his story. Points that do not invalidate the substance of the first person account.

The detractors suggest it is unconscionable that he is glad he did not personally meet a man just before he saw him killed. There are many brave leaders who wish the same, that wish they did not have the faces and words of the men haunt them. This is an honest opinion of a civilian.

That’s what he is a civilian, who risked his life to do his job, just like you risk yours, except you carry a gun, and you have been trained, and you have experience.

That a civilian does not meet your standards of bravado is not surprising. What worries me more is if you can’t see this from his perspective, how the heck are you ever going to under stand your real enemy or do any useful COIN work with the local population?

As the last poster before me said, “Afghanistan is not exactly a success story. If American soldiers can not even move between bases except in convoys, the Taliban are winning.”

Look at any map of Afghanistan, there is a long border with Pakistan. The Pakistan side is the Taliban’s rear area. any time things heat up they cross the border into Afghanistan.

The Soviets could only hold the cities and never lost a town of any significance. They however could not hold the countryside. They used airpower and artillery indiscriminately but still the Muj held on. Right now the Talibs and Al-quaeda do not fight directly they use coercion, sneak attacks and just generally make life impossible for the local population. They then pin this on the Americans and NATO.

Vietnam is smaller than Afghanistan and yet 500,000 US troops plus 1 million ARVN could not stop the insurgency. The US never lost a big fight in Vietnam and won most of the small ones too. However though it was a war, it was not about who killed the most enemy. It was about denying the enemy freedom to operate, freedom to intimidate the local population, freedom to perform bombings. Even with all that firepower and manpower, it was dangerous to travel alone on major highways and everybody moved about in convoys just like in Afghanistan today.

The Talib are blowing up schools, shooting police chiefs, scaring the shit out of the local population yet they do not control much of Afghanistan and do not hold any major towns.

Right now Afghanistan is not exactly a success story. If American soldiers can not even move between bases except in convoys, the Taliban are winning. This has to be turned around.

Do you know how long it took to find the Unabomber? It’s not exactly easy to track down ONE man. Personally, I don’t care. Osama is now living in the dirt and in fear. He’s a coward who must constantly travel to stay alive and is no longer focused on carrying out attacks on others. I would be surprised if he were actually still alive anyway.

Oh, and when you provide a little “analysis” of yourself, you can start chastizing us for our lack of such. The Taliban are cutting their own heads off, as evidenced by recent news of Afghani uprising against them. We’re doing just fine, thank you very much. Feel free to go back to your coffee shop and smoke your hooka pipe.