The Afghan War Could Destroy The U.S.

Ear shattering explosions rocked the area and trembled the ground, lighting the night in bright orange flames as black billowing smoke rose high into the sky. The caustic stench of burning gasoline and heavy chemicals permeated the air as firefighters battled to put out the flames.

"Allahu Akbar," (God is Great), yelled out the men who caused this horrific scene. "Down with America."

Sunday night in Pakistan, an estimated 300 gunmen using rocket-propelled grenades brazenly destroyed more than 160 military vehicles at the Port World Logistic Terminal compound near Peshawar and at the Faisal depot close by.

These are the major facilities and the primary route used to supply U.S. and allied troops fighting the Taliban. It is not the first such attack but it is by far the biggest yet and the most successful one.

These gunmen demonstrated America's vulnerability. If the U.S. is to continue its war, it must secure these facilities and the long highway route to Afghanistan, which will require vastly more soldiers and weapons.

"Militarily insignificant," is how U.S. spokeswoman Lt. Col. Rumi Nielsen-Green termed it. "So far there hasn't been a significant loss or impact to our mission," she said.

Privately, the U.S. military was very likely stunned by the magnitude of the attack and is scrambling to protect those facilities and that highway from further aggression.

The U.S. military does not have the support of the Afghanistan government, which wants this seven-year-old war to end, nor does it have the support of the Pakistan government. Yet it continues its attacks, ignoring these nation's sovereignty and often killing innocent civilians as part of its "war on terror," an empty abstraction, and the basis for endless war.

Before this becomes another Iraq war, or one similar to the 1980's Soviet Union military disaster* in Afghanistan, the U.S. should work with the Afghan government and their neighbors to find a peaceful solution to the region's troubles. And withdraw the American military before any more blood is spilled.

The U.S. is financially and morally bankrupt from Iraq and should not further compound its problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you are an American citizen, please raise your voice in opposition to this war before it becomes another sorry chapter in U.S. and world history.

Dick

*The Soviets ultimately committed 620,000 soldiers to that war and over 14,000 of them were killed and more than 53,000 were injured. The costs of that war skyrocketed and played a key role in bankrupting and destroying the Soviet Union. The Afghan civil war that followed put Afghanistan under the control of the Mujahideen, a faction of which later became the Taliban, and Osama bin Laden.

For further details of the latest attack, please see the BBC report, "MIlitants torch Afghan supplies." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7769758.stm