As the Middle East rages in violent anti-American protests, the dirty little secret that few in Washington want to discuss is how military families have worried for years about whether their loved ones serving in Afghanistan (and previously in Iraq) would be killed by insurgents or by the bureaucracy and policies of their own government.
Intrepid journalist and author Diana West reports from an alarming letter written in June by Army Staff Sgt. Matthew S. Sitton that was sent to U.S. Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young asking for help after his commanders in Afghanistan told him to “quit whining” about orders to lead patrols twice daily without objective “or purpose” through, basically, “a mine field.” As SSG Sitton wrote, “As a Brigade, we are averaging at a minimum an amputee a day from our soldiers because we are walking around aimlessly through grape rows and compounds that are littered with explosives. Not to mention that the operation tempo that every solider is on leaves little to no time for rest and refit. The moral and alertness levels on our patrol are low and it is causing casualties left and right.”
“I’m concerned about the well being of my soldiers and have tried to voice my opinion through the proper channels of my own chain of command only to be turned away and told that I need to stop complaining,” SSG Sitton continued. “It is my responsibility to take care of my soldiers …”
Two months later, on August 2, the U.S. policy COIN/nation building, a so-called counterinsurgency plan to win the hearts and minds of Afghans that SSG Sittons wrote about, killed him and another U.S. soldier while on foot patrol in an IED-riddled field in Afghanistan—a death trap. SGG Sitton was 26-years old and leaves behind a wife and son.
The troops are not being sent to war to win. Take off your ideological glasses, and look at the facts.
Under President George W. Bush, the “catch and release” policy in Iraq, where troops were ordered to catch terrorists only to release them to appease the Iranians to supposedly discourage their nuclear enrichment program, failed miserably and emboldened Iran. As the Washington Post reported in 2007, “There were no costs for the Iranians,” said one senior administration official. “They are hurting our mission in Iraq, and we were bending over backwards not to fight back.” The Bush administration changed course to the “catch or kill” program.
Under the Obama-Clinton regime, despite its obvious failure, the “catch and release” policy was embraced. As the Washington Examiner reported, “It’s as if the Taliban have more rights than us or the people of Afghanistan,” said a U.S. Army medic with 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, in Zabul province. “We have to let these guys go all the time no matter what they do, and then we find them trying to hit us again. But if they think I’ve screwed up once, then [the military will] have no problem throwing me to the wolves.”
To be clear, the failure of leadership at the expense of the troops should be directed at both the Democrats and Republicans.
The Bush administration sacrificed U.S. Marines on the altar of “political correctness” when they ignored a basic American principle, “innocent until proven guilty”, which they denied Marines by their silence in what became known as “Haditha.” Haditha was the highest-profile atrocity prosecution of servicemen out of the Iraq war where 24 Iraqi civilians were tragically killed after an IED explosion killed U.S. Marine LCpl Migel “T.J.” Terrazas.
Before an investigation was complete, the press and several elected U.S. government officials, including Congressman John P. Murtha (now deceased), bearing false witness, condemned and declared the Haditha Marines guilty of cold-blooded murder. Last year, the last Marine was exonerated.
Under both Bush and Obama, U.S. soldiers serve war-crime-related sentences in Leavenworth prison in Kansas. Meanwhile, Taliban prisoners are set free on a “pledge” declaring that they will “never support the Taliban or fight for the Taliban ever again.” It is a double-standard policy that shows mercy to the Taliban and no mercy for America’s military.
The Obama-Clinton administration’s policies of apology and appeasement have emboldened America’s enemies, including those in Afghanistan. After Islamic religious materials, for instance, that “contained extremist messages or inscriptions” were destroyed at Bagram Air Field and violent riots broke out, they apologized and reprimanded the soldiers. Meanwhile, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, or Defense chief Leon Panetta never once demanded an apology from Afghanistan’s President Karzai, whose Afghan forces, trained by the U.S. military, have been turning their weapons on U.S. and NATO forces in what has been called the green-on-blue/insider attacks or “epidemic murder.”
As Diana West wrote, “It is time for Generals Petraeus, McChrystal, Allen, Dempsey, Admiral Mullen and many more to face us and explain. It is also time for former President Bush and his advisors and President Obama and his advisors to answer for the failure of their misbegotten and irresponsible policy of nation-building in the Islamic world, which COIN supports.” If I may add, it is time for both administrations to explain why they sent troops to war under restrictive rules of engagement to catch terrorists, only to release them and somehow expect to win.
In what would probably be SSG Sitton’s last written words, he wrote: “I understand that as a commander you are to follow the orders of those appointed over you however there needs to be a time where the wellness of your soldiers needs to take priority over walking around in fields for hours a day for no rhyme or reason (emphasis mine).”
Rep. Young has since reversed his stance on Afghanistan and called for the troops to be brought home; “I just think we’re killing kids that don’t need to die,” he recently said. Questions remain. How many others in Washington will show leadership and a conscience and join him? How much higher will the number of U.S. casualties’ grow, and how many more military families will suffer or be shattered before Washington and the upper echelons of the military take responsibility for their policy and leadership failures? Do they fear God or man?
As Navy Seal Marcus Luttrel, author of Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, warned three years ago about events that occurred in 2005: “Look at me, right now in my story. Helpless, tortured, shot, blown up, my best buddies all dead, and all because we were afraid of the liberals back home, afraid to do what was necessary to save our own lives. Afraid of American civilian lawyers. I have only one piece of advice for what it’s worth: If you don’t want to get into war where things go wrong, where the wrong people sometimes get killed, where innocent people sometimes have to die, then stay the hell out of it in the first place.”
Washington’s dirty, little secret that is killing the troops and harming America’s national security must not continue to be ignored. Not to speak is to speak. Because the troops have not been allowed to win, bring them home now.
(Read the full text of SSG Sitton’s letter.)
Marinka Peschmann, the author of The Whistleblower: How the Clinton White House Stayed in Power to Reemerge in the Obama White House and on the World Stage (One Rock Ink), is a freelance journalist. She has collaborated, ghostwritten, and contributed to books and stories from showbiz and celebrities to true crime, politics, and the United Nations. After freelancing behind the scenes in both the mainstream press and the new media, it was time to step forward. Please visit marinkapeschmann.com for more details.
Photo credit: terrellaftermath
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Stop the MADNESS BRING ALL TROOPS HOME!! Cut off all aid to all foreign countries.Use the money here.SAVE AMERICA.
You took the words right outta my mouth…………….
Agreed. What the he!! is their point ?
AMEN
Well people, if most America did not have their head in the sand or listen to MSM and Ron Paul had been the Republican Presidential nominee our troops would be coming home and foreign aid would have been cut off to all these American hating countries. He would have ended the Federal Reserve; which, by the way, is the REL problem in America. But the majority of the people and the GOP, including the Romney campaign, cheated, abused and lied about Ron Paul so we will just get Obama again or his white clone Romney. People have been so dumbed down about the “behind the scenes” of the Federal Reserve. Well people we will all have to suffer the same fate no matter who is elected, but then again we don’t elect the President, he is selected by the elite – how do you account for Obama campaigning and winning the Presidency with absolute no background to hold the highest position in our great country? Keep sleeping but you are going to have to wake up sometime.
My Hope and Prayers are that as many Service Men and Women as possible will read and understand what I am about to say.
For Starters, My Heart goes out to fellow Service Personel, to Those who have families that have Lost Loved Ones, and to those who have come home maimed and mentally destroyed because of what they have been through. What I am about to say needs to be heard Loud and Clear by ALL Service men and Women.
You DO NOT Serve a Constitutional Government. You Serve a Tyranical Government that is Run by Corrupt men who Serve the Federal Reserve Bankers. Back in the Late 1940′s, when the US Government went Bankrupt the FIRST Time under the Federal Reserve Bank, or also known as the “FED”, the Bankers went into Receivership of the Assets of the US Government, which includes but is not limited to the Paper Documents called the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and set those most Sacred Documents aside Secretly, and Replaced them with their US Code and Uniform Commercial Code, and the only part of the Constitution they held dear is the part that talks about Maritime Law, or law of the High Seas where the Owner or Owners of the Ship Make the RULES. And from then on, the US Government has been completely run by REGULATIONS Issued by the FED Bankers who run the MONEY MECHINE.
You have to understand How all this works. If you have a child, and you want them to do their chores, or some other Taks you feel they should do, you tell them you will get YOUR ALLOWANCE When the Chores are done. So when they do what is expected of them, they are given their Allowance.
OK, lets say they DON’T do their chores. You tell them you are going to WITH HOLD Their Allowance, so they can’t do what they wanted to do with the money they expected to receive. That is HOW the Federal Reserve Bankers Work as the Parents of the US Presidents, and ALL the Other Branches of Government. They are the Older Brothers and Sisters you might say.
So now No One gets their Allowance until the Little Brother does his Homework or chores. The Ciblings Push him hard till he does what he is expected to do, so the Older brothers and sisters get their allowance as well.
THIS IS HOW THE FED BANKERS WORK. They With hold Monetary funding to those Congressmen and Senators if the President doesn’t do what is expected of him, and the Older Ciblings sit back and watch without doing anything against their parents for fear of reprisal and loosing their Allowance all together.
The Federal Reserve Act is the Document that has Everyones Hands TIED, and the Bankers are an Evil Bunch of Slave Masters who want to Own the WHOLE Block, and are using YOU to do their Dirty Work. They don’t care if you get hurt or Killed because there are many more of you that can replace you if you should fall.
I Hate to have to say all that to you, because you all thought you were fighting for “Freedom ” and the American Way, when you have just been doing the Parents Dirty Work for them. You are Destroying your Neighbors and their Houses, so your parents can come in and BUY up their houses and land, for what may be burried under the ground, or the intrinsic value of the land so you can control it somehow.
You Servicemen and women are the Obediant children of the FED, doing They’re Dirty Work. And if one of you should Fall or be Hurt, they could CARE LESS about you, because there are Many more where you came from, who have Believed the GREAT LIE, and are willing to keep your eyes Closed to the Truth and walk right over your younger or fallen Brothers limp body to fulfill the WILL of your PARENTS the FED.
Pleas read the CONTRACT that was signed into LAW by President WOODROW WILSON. That CONTRACT is the Governing Document that Allows the “Parents” to GET AWAY WITH MURDER, not just of those in his Own House, but of their Neighbors Houses as well. The Document I refer to is the CONTRACT WITH AMERICA that many Politicians have spoken lightly about. That CONTRACT is called the FEDERAL RESERVE ACT. You can read the FULL Text of it at the following URL.>>> http://fracontract.wordpress.com/contract-with-america/ Please understand that the FRA controls EVERY ASPECT of your Lives and the Lives of EVERY American through what is caller “Color of Law”. meaning it Looks like a Duck, and may even Quack like a Duck, but it is a Wooden Decoy to Draw you into the Great Lie so you can be SHOT or Destroyed. They WANT YOU DEAD, and if you come home badly Wonded, they give you a simple Token, maybe a Purple Heart, and if you expect your Allowance, well your Sadly Mistaken, because you can do your Chores anymore.
I know a Great manby of you will NOT Believe what I have been saying, but if you REALLY Want to Know the TRUTH, I have given you the Document that controls ALL OF YOUR LIVES.
The Sooner we get rid of the EVIL Masters, the Sooner ALL AMERICANS Can and Will be Truely FREE Once Again.
Sorry about the Mistakes, it was written on the Fly, and I could not check it for errors or Proof Read it for fear of timing out on my server.
I agree with you totally.We need to get rid of all of them
If we must go into war then our men and women that BRAVELY fight these wars need their hands untied…it is time to STOP fighting political wars…YOU never win and many lives are lost…I am voting anyone OUT of office that sees fit to fight political wars…if we are to help other countries then we go in and remove the threat…if we are just going to appease them like our current administration chooses to do…then GET THE HELL OUT!!!…the don’t like us…they DON’T appreciate what we try to do…and to many or our men and women loose their lives…let them all figure out what they need to do themselves…and QUIT SENDING THEM MONEY for crying out loud…what a way to TREAT OUR troops!!!
ProudAmerican, you are dead right! We do a disservice to our troops when we send them into places like Libya and Iraq and Afghanistan. The only people who profit from this is the military-industrial complex and their lobby of defense contractors.
What has been most exasperating to me is how our government has tied the hands of our troops who are serving in such a hostile environment. Seriously, if I understand this right, the forces in Libya were not allowed to have bullets in their weapons while guarding the embassy. And I know there are very restrictive rules that practically tie the hands of our troops on the ground in Afghanistan. If we are not going to allow our troops to do the job they were sent there to do, just bring them home and get them out of harm’s way! We have lost too many good soldiers already, not to mention the ones who come home without limbs and paralyzed. BRING THEM HOME!
W/all the god …… technology we are to have,and this is happening! Could you even imagine what our Vets, prior to the Vietnam War,were subjected too?! OMG! When we take back our country,and we will!!! We need to get all these living Presidents,their top Administration Members,and these Elite aka NWO rounded up(if their still alive)….and have some End Games of our own…”Tip Toe Through The Tulips!!
It’s like the military and our political leaders learned nothing from the Vietnam Police action. When I graduated from High school in 1970 I went to Hawaii with a buddy, got a job and stayed there for a summer until college that fall. My draft number was very low and i was not quite sure what i was going to do. My buddy and I would hitch hike around the islands catching rides with various armed forces personel on leave. We were tanned and lean from heavy construction work and they thougth we were natives and knew where the “girls” were. We were also 18, naive and stupid and didn’t have a clue as we thought they knew. Anyway after asking one of these young marines or army men who were maybe 18 months older than us and had seen things no human ought to see whether he thought i should go if drafed. Well his eyes welled up with tears and he looked me right in the eyes and said, “Whatever you do, DON’T GO! You will lose your life or get maimed and nobody and I mean nobody will give a damn!”
Let’s get the hell out of there, stop ALL foreign aid and get back to running our affairs starting with reversing this balogna of catering to all of the special interest groups. First and foremost is the Queers, then the illegals and then the friggin muslims can go to hell too, er I mean back to their native lands. Then throw the convictions for profit policies judges now receive out the window. No ticket, no laundry. Food debit cards may be used ONLY for basic food that these freeloaders can learn to cook for themselves.
You are absolutely right!