Society US military lied about Afghanistan for years; measures success based on death

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kneeblock

Drapetomaniac
Apr 18, 2015
12,435
23,026
Fascinating article out today showing the US military has been lying about success in Afghanistan for years, that it's widely seen as unobtainable and basically the main way they count success is based on the number of Afghans they kill. Nothing terribly surprising, but grotesque nonetheless. Officials during the Bush, Obama, and now Trump administrations have basically held to the same story for well over a decade as they've continuously failed in most of their objectives and shifted them to new ones.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/grap...apers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/
 
Jan 21, 2015
3,255
6,074
Wars are founded on a bed of lies. That’s one reason I hate the mainstream media so much, they are the salesmen.

fuck the Washington post for writing this now ffs, where were they when Afghanistan was being invaded? Selling war lies, that’s where.
 
M

member 3289

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I see no problem with this. Sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to motivate the guys under your command.
 

Enock-O-Lypse Now!

Underneath Denver International Airport
Jun 19, 2016
11,737
19,619
The Taliban had offered to give up Bin Laden prior to 9/11.

We never did catch Mullah Omar

Has anyone ever won a war in Afghanistan?
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
39,772
53,672
Wars are founded on a bed of lies. That’s one reason I hate the mainstream media so much, they are the salesmen.

fuck the Washington post for writing this now ffs, where were they when Afghanistan was being invaded? Selling war lies, that’s where.
The files were just released as part of a freedom of information request. All they care about it selling news
 
Jan 21, 2015
3,255
6,074
All they care about it selling news
I disagree strongly, I think their function and interests go way beyond that. I have watched too many lies and coverups to ignore a clear pattern.

MSM coverage of 911 and the subsequent wars are some of the most blatant examples imo. I watched them live, it was atrocious and terrifying.
 

tang

top korean roofer
Oct 21, 2015
9,398
12,402
nothing new... been doing the same shit since the Vietnam War

counter insurgency is just not a winnable war, shouldn't have got into it in the first place
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
39,772
53,672
I disagree strongly, I think their function and interests go way beyond that. I have watched too many lies and coverups to ignore a clear pattern.

MSM coverage of 911 and the subsequent wars are some of the most blatant examples imo. I watched them live, it was atrocious and terrifying.
Read the article. The news is a release of conversations from 2014-2018 between military command. Freedom of information request.
 

kneeblock

Drapetomaniac
Apr 18, 2015
12,435
23,026
Wars are founded on a bed of lies. That’s one reason I hate the mainstream media so much, they are the salesmen.

fuck the Washington post for writing this now ffs, where were they when Afghanistan was being invaded? Selling war lies, that’s where.
This is absolutely true, but to be fair the Washington Post has gone through a complete ownership, publishing, and editorial change since then. Much like "the government," "the media" isn't a static entity. We can and should demand better from them rather than throwing out the institutional baby with the bathwater.

Using FOIA is something anyone can and should do to find out what the US government is up to. I remember the lead up to war too and was a reporter at the time, albeit for a podunk local paper. I remember trying to write an article about the sabre rattling that was going on and being told it wasn't what we did. I ended up getting the story out in the end, but it was a neutered version of what was really happening. Most folks I interviewed for the piece were scared and uncertain and willing to dump a crazy amount of trust in the state to do anything to "keep us safe." I'd like to believe we're generally a more circumspect society now, but when I see stories like this, I basically get how people who lived through Vietnam felt when the Pentagon papers came out. Mostly numb because so much damage has been done, but glad it's at least on the record in a high profile way.
 

KWingJitsu

ยาเม็ดสีแดงหรือสีฟ้ายา?
Nov 15, 2015
10,311
12,758
Those Afghan poppy seed don't harvest themselves, ya know.
 

redneck

First 100
First 100
Jan 18, 2015
999
1,513
It should be obvious to everyone now that the US did not invade Afghanistan with any plan to ever withdraw.

They've been at war there for three times as long as World War 2 lasted.
 

Disciplined Galt

Disciplina et Frugalis
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
26,030
30,881
It should be obvious to everyone now that the US did not invade Afghanistan with any plan to ever withdraw.

They've been at war there for three times as long as World War 2 lasted.
That sweet sweet opium and those mineral deposits.