Michael's Dispatches

Mike,
The only mistake we made was burning the Quran in a non-sacred manner. Burning is proper disposal, other than wrapping it in a pure cloth and burying it near a Mosque where the ground will not be walked on or disturbed. Please drop the "Western Eyes" B.S. I'm in the US Military, and last time I checked Europe, which includes England, is considered the West. We don't go around killing everyone for burning our flag, even though it is illegal. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the crusades haven't ended. Just modernized. All because of how people view and interpret their religions and the Bibles, Quran, and other literatures. There will always be someone who's veiw is to the extreme and will push the envelope in their favor. People must forget that there are Muslim terrorists that blow up mosques, attack the opposite sect, Sunni or Shia, of the same religion, and conduct attacks from their mosques (which is also againsts their religion), and then complain when we sotrm the mosque or return fire in acts of self-defense. This is sad. But true in most aspects.

Dear Appalled,
I remember 9/11. I remember the superb job performed by our SF and AF in pushing the Taliban out and cornering UBL in Tora Bora. I remember that dumbass denied our forces in Afghanistan the necessary resources to finish the job while he pursued a stupid and unnecessary war with Iraq. Afghanistan was the right war until Bush lost the initiative by diverting our military resources to Iraq. He, Rumsfeld, and Franks made Afghanistan into the hopeless war.

I am appalled that you don't understand what has happened in Afghanistan in the 10 years following our successful defeat of the Taliban. You see, they returned under Bush. Obama listened to his generals and increased the number of troops in Afghanistan, but it was too late.Your boys screwed the pooch appallingly.

In this country, I can call a politician whatever I want. I am appalled that you cannot remember how we got to the current situation in Afghanistan. Regardless, we need to get out now. We cannot change the past except in our dreams.

You know that a president doesn't pick the time for an attack. Blame the military commander. The president does not configure Navy ordnance - the deployed commander does with general guidance from above. President Reagan did not tell the Navy to use a different chart than ANGLICO was using when they called-in fires from the battleship New Jersey and hit the wrong targets on the wrong ridge.

It was EUCOM which turned a deaf ear to the Marine 0-6 in-charge of the men in that stupid, sigle location. It was the State Department and Naval Construction Office which sat on their hands allowing the new steel gates to fall behind schedule. Do you, as a military man think that the President of the united States ordered that the Marine guards keep their weapons unloaded? It was EUCOM.

My point (I stole from someone else) was that it was a tough and a good command decision to get the hell out and not get further bogged-down trying to find and punish the bastards that killed our Marines.

Later, a courageous, lone CIA agent, speaking fluent Arabic, went in to the Bekaa Valley and followed the agents who planned it, to an Iranian-supported camp. No one was willing to act on his courageous work.

Intelligent people like an Air Force pilot should not imagine that the President of the United States control everything in his/her government. Size and "span of control" flat out make that impossible. If the elevator fell off your bird many hours into the mission, I don't think the Board would think of blaming you - unless you were doing those barrel rolls again!