"Here Be Dragons" - Ann Jones speaks the truth about Afghanistan

[EXneoCON]

Source: tomdispatch.com

"In the eight years I’ve reported on Afghanistan, I’ve “embedded” regularly with Afghan civilians, especially women. Recently, however, with American troops “surging” and journalists getting into the swing of the military’s counterinsurgency “strategy” (better known by its acronym, COIN), I decided to get with the program as well. Last June, I filed a request to embed with the U.S. Army."

Read more: http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175280/

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One of the more poignant - if only for it's unvarnished truthfulness - front-line accounts to come out of the U.S.'s counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

[ixion]

1. A great read. Actual REAL journalism

very rare these days.

[EXneoCON]

2. Even the military...

... has become a parody of the stereotypical Spoiled American. I have nothing against easing the burden on our troops (perhaps bring them home, eh?!) but this is really beyond the pale.

[formercia]

3. Male Bonding

"So here’s a TomDispatch exclusive, courtesy of Afghan-American men serving as interpreters for the soldiers. They were embarrassed to the point of agony when mentioning this habit, but desperate to put a stop to it. COIN calls for the military to meet and make friends with village elders, drink tea, plan “development,” and captivate their hearts and minds. Several interpreters told me, however, that every meeting includes some young American soldiers whose locker-room-style male bonding features bouts of hilarious farting.

To Afghan men, nothing is more shameful. A fart is proof that a man cannot control any of his apparatus below the belt. The man who farts is thus not a man at all. He cannot be taken seriously, nor can any of his ideas or promises or plans."

[femrap]

4. WOW! Great read....

some Truth for a change. I'll be looking forward to her new book.

[Prometheus Bound]

5. Funny, sad and pathetic, from paragraph to paragragh.