Facing Afghanistan

killers. very medieval.

The guy on the far right appears to be wearing the same uniform as the first guy on the left. I think they are both Marines.

“Emasculated,” you say, Well, the guy on the left looks like a total, 100% certified stud — hardly emasculated.

Somewhere between winning and losing there is something that would actually benefit the Afghans, help keep instability in Afghanistan from furthering instability in Pakistan, and get the kids in that photo off a never-ending hamster wheel. But, in our political lexicon there is only escalating war, or pulling out. Neither of those two options, as they are discussed by our political class, circumvents the description directionless, ultimately on their own and verging on humiliation. As best I can tell, the crime wave of the Bush years will continue to generate victims well into the future. A ‘gift’ that keeps on giving. Bad judgment and poor choices have a nasty way of replicating themselves. These kids shouldn’t have to be part of the human sacrifice, in their morale, their mental health, or their very lives, to expiate Bush/Cheney’s guilty sins.

Everyone in Cool Springs TN says bring them home. Alot of military families in Middle Tennessee and the whole Nashville area is very supportive of the military. Drop an H-bomb on Afghanistan and take care of it for once and all. Unlike nuclear, hydrogen wont kill as much plant life and render the landscape unusable for decades.

The larger struggle here is the debate that will follow withdrawal, Who lost Afghanistan?. The players are already positioning themselves. Americans see another defeat coming, and the issue is about who will take the blame.
The answer to the question raised in 1949, Who Lost China, is the State Department, notably the “China Hands” who underestimated Mao Tse-Tung. Sen. Joseph McCarthy subsequently accused the State Department of being full of Communist sympathizers.
Students of the 1960’s know Who Lost Vietnam. Why, it was the Hollywood liberals, especially Jane Fonda. They turned U.S. opinion against a war we could have won. [/snark]
The Times Magazine article portrays Gen. McChrystal as a sort of Dudley Do-Right. Dreadfully earnest, he drives himself relentlessly, works 14-hour days, and demands extra effort from his subordinates. Once, when he caught his officers lounging after hours drinking liquor, he banned alcohol from the club.
However, the article implies that McChrystal lacks political savvy. When asked how we can win the war if the Afghans don’t see their government as legitimate, McChrystal replied, “Well, so long as they see us as legitimate.”
It’s possible that McChrystal – poor sap – was brought in to take the loss. It’s a dirty deal for him, of course. The ones really bear the weight are the troops and their families. Americans are increasingly aware that the Afghan war is already over. The soldiers know it; their families don’t.

I hope Todd’s comment is to be taken as tongue-in-cheek. The thoughtless dismissal of other people as non-humans, easily eradicated as a way of “dealing” with difficult problems, is precisely why we’re still fighting two wars in impoverished, disorganized quasi-nations and losing.

The white forms in the background, I don’t know what they are, exactly, but the first (on the left) sure looks like the tip of a spear to me, and rest look like spears or weapons, leaning on something, ready to go in case of attack. Primitive weapons. Tip of the spear. All interesting parts of the picture composition.
Battle hardened young men.

YOU are and IDIOT. An “H-Bomb” is a nuclear bomb – it just works through fusion instead of fission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon
Killing millions of innocent people – no matter what they look like, wear or what language they speak – is morally indefensible. You think this solution brings your “boys” home and is therefore some sort of kindness. YOU are an assh0le.

Unlike most of the pictures on this blog, this is just a bad photo. The tragedy of the situation and the soldiers called to serve there have been shown many times here, usually in excellent photos. The photoshopping to compensate for the back lighting is way over done and creates a very fake look to the whole thing. (halos are useful but not this kind) . I do like the “spears” effect from the tent opening though.

a stud yes, but he does look frustrated and overwhelmed.

I liked the first part about coming home, but why bomb defenders of their homeland? They have done nothing to us.

It’s their faces that grab me; don’t even notice the background.
Exhausted, hot, frustrated, young, strong…what have they seen and heard; what is happening in this moment that evokes those expressions?

Also,their gear looks like images I have seen of suicide bomber vests; disorienting.

I thought this was a still shot of a movie. It is real, huh? Man, that’s depressing.