Former Marine captain resigns in protest of Afghanistan war

[AllentownJake]

Matthew Hoh, a former Marine captain with combat experience in Iraq, resigned last month from his position with the Foreign Service, where he was the the senior U.S. civilian in the Taliban-dominated Southern Afghanistan province of Zabul, because he became convinced that our war in that country will not only inevitably fail, but is fueling the very insurgency we are trying to defeat. Hoh's resignation is remarkable because it entails the sort of career sacrifice in the name of principle that has been so rare over the last decade, but even more so because of the extraordinary four-page letter (.pdf) he wrote explaining his reasoning.

Hoh's letter should be read in its entirety, but I want to highlight one part. He begins by noting that "next fall, the United States' occupation will equal in length the Soviet Union's own physical involvement in Afghanistan," and contends that our unwanted occupation combined with our support for a deeply corrupt government "reminds horribly of our involvement in South Vietnam." He then explains that most of the people we are fighting are not loyal to the Taliban or driven by any other nefarious aim, but instead are driven principally by resistance to the presence of foreign troops in their provinces and villages

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/27/afghanistan/

Profile in Courage deserved

[FrenchieCat]

1. I wondered in another thread which posted the exact same story last night.....

as to why it took so long for this Former Captain to figure out what he is against.

He fought in Iraq, and it is obvious he had no problem fighting in that wrong war....
a war much more controversial in that it was not linked to 9/11 at all, nor was it sanctioned
by NATO allies.

So it would seem that he was asleep while in Iraq,
and woke up while in Afghanistan......

Guess he now is willing to sacrifice his civilian career on "principle" that he discovered
only in Afghanistan and obviously wasn't present while he was fighting in Iraq.

Guess he didn't follow the elections, or he would have known way before last month
exactly what would take place in Afghanistan....and that the reasons that we are there
actually hasn't changed since 2001, other than the fact that we are now concentrating
on Afghanistan, a war that was not of any focus since its inception.

[AllentownJake]

2. It says his resignation is over

conversations he was having with civilians on the ground an an understanding that the Afghans reject occupation they aren't embracing the Taliban.

I'm sorry did Americans have a choice on the Afghanistan war in the previous election?

The choice was war in Iraq and Afghanistan or Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[optimator]

3. he's a dumbfuck

nothing new has changed, so if he had a brain he would have resigned 8 years ago.
WE TOLD YOU SO DIPSHITS

[AllentownJake]

4. He was in the army 8 years ago

There are reasons soldiers follow orders. One of the considerations is your fellow soldiers. He's resigning from a civilian job.