And how do we know that these two senators wanted to hear lies? Because they proceed to tell lies in paragraph number two:
"The truth is, we have long argued that the best way to bring our troops home sooner while succeeding in Afghanistan is to build a stronger Afghan military and government. We've been making that case because the facts support it -- which is why the president and the majority of the American people do, too."
Clearly the best way to bring troops home sooner is to load them on airplanes. One guaranteed way never to build an Afghan government with the respect of the Afghan people is to use the U.S. military to do it. Investing in a "stronger" military and government with a local face on it -- as we've done in Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, among other places, may have the support of President Obama, but does that itself equate to the support of the American people? Let's check.
According to the corporate polls, Americans want military spending cut, withdrawal from Afghanistan sped up, involvement in the war in Afghanistan ended, think the war is going badly, oppose the war, think we should not be involved at all, and disapprove of the president's handling of the war.
Where is the evidence to support Levinreed's claim? If you or I submitted an op-ed to the Washington Post and somebody bribed the editors to seriously consider it, they would ask us to overwhelmingly document any such claim. Here there is no documentation even hinted at. Sure it's true that these senators loved the war before the latest psyop. Sure they've talked this way for the better part of a decade. Sure the American people want the troops withdrawn. But our concern is not with the senators' blather but with their FUNDING of the ongoing crime. And the evidence of our support for funding its continuation with an Afghan face is nonexistent.
Nor should we be fooled by Levinreed's pretense that only Afghan troops are at stake here. The Rollingstone article describes psy-op operations over a year ago, since when Levin and Reed have funded the continuation and escalation of U.S. warfare in Afghanistan.
Dare we glance at paragraphs numbers three and four?
"We saw during a trip to Afghanistan in January that the United States, our Afghan allies and our NATO partners have made significant progress in reversing the momentum of the insurgents, seizing the initiative and helping Afghans secure their future.
"Areas once closed to travel and commerce are open. Afghans' confidence is growing, and the country's security forces increasingly are taking the lead in operations."
This flatly contradicts all non-military reporting that has been coming out of Afghanistan since January, as well as prior. None of the newly opened areas are named, none of the commerce specified, no measures of "confidence" cited. Whether the Pentagon is more often naming its Afghan assistants the "leaders" in operations is hard to know, but would not be an indication of progress toward peace or justice.
"Progress" has been for centuries a reason to continue wars, but lest it become a reason to end them, it is always accompanied by the warning that the "progress" requires increased efforts to assure its permanence. Levinreed writes:
"While we've begun to turn around the once-daunting dynamic in Afghanistan, there is no guarantee that our progress will continue or that our gains will be permanent. The phrase 'fragile and reversible' could have been invented for Afghanistan."
It wasn't. It's been used for millennia by warmakers around the globe.
"Our troops will continue to face danger and hardship, especially as the Taliban renews its offensive operations with the end of winter weather. In turn, policymakers in Washington will continue to face difficult choices. The decision to begin reducing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan in July means that Afghans, the United States and our NATO partners must urgently prepare for a transition to Afghan control. The United States and our NATO partners must be prepared to provide substantial financial support to Afghan military forces in the years ahead as they take up the fight."
We must, must we? Who's in charge here, anyway?
"We worry that the international coalition may fall short of supporting an Afghan security structure capable of defending the Afghan people. We are also concerned that, as U.S. forces transition from a lead role to one of support, the civilian elements of U.S. policy, including diplomacy and economic development, may not be ready to step in as needed, particularly if they do not receive the resources to do this demanding work. Failure to meet these needs could endanger the gains for which so many have fought and sacrificed. And the cost of maintaining a large U.S. presence in the future would be far greater than the expense, in the short term, of building a larger Afghan force."
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