I have previously blogged on the unfounded accusations being made by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, an army acquisitions officer who claims the entire high command in Afghanistan is guilty of lying because it sees progress, admittedly fragile and reversible, but progress nevertheless. He has been hailed as a great whistle-blower in the New York Times and the halls of Congress, but he is hardly that. Joe Collins, a retired army colonel who now teaches at the National War College, does a masterly job of dismantling Davis’s specious report called, “Dereliction of Duty II.” Collins writes:
I was prepared for a real critique and came away profoundly disappointed. Every veteran has an important story, but this work is a mess. It is not a successor piece to HR McMaster’s book on the Joint Chiefs during Vietnam, or Paul Yingling’s critique of U.S. generalship that appeared in Armed Forces Journal a few years back.
The entire Collins article is well-worth reading–especially if you hear more congressmen and anti-war critics praising Davis’s supposed truth-telling.
I will GUARANTEE you that we are accomplishing exactly zilch in Afghanistan. Because as soon as we leave,(which, we WILL leave), Afghanistan is going to go right back to being an ass-backwards land of warlords, poppy growers, wife-beaters, child molesters, goat-f—–s, tribal fighting, corruption, etc. I know this sounds incredibly harsh but does anyone here at Commentary REALLY believe that I am wrong? I used to be an interventionist. However, I have seen the light. When it comes to Muslim lands, I WOULD NOT try to nation-build, it is futile.