[Peace-discuss] Matthew Hoh's resignation & USG goals in AfPak

[Morton K. Brussel]

It's a twisted analogy, but yet it would be better not to have the  
wars; that is the main evil.  --mkb

On Oct 28, 2009, at 10:17 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

> What would we say of someone who opposed Germany's wars in the 1940s  
> because they wouldn't be effective in removing Jews and Communists  
> from Europe?
>
> Would that revolt be admirable?
>
>
> Morton K. Brussel wrote:
>> Hoh understands that the stated reasons for our wars are wrong and  
>> the methods used are futile and wasteful, but goes no further. You  
>> condemn him for that? His revolt is still admirable, despite what  
>> he leaves out,  since it might lead others to condemn our wars for  
>> the reasons he states, if not for your reasons.   --mkb
> >
>> On Oct 27, 2009, at 6:39 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>>> I think people have to be taken at their word.  To do anything  
>>> else is a sign of contempt.  He says that he objects not to how we  
>>> are pursuing this war, but why.
>>>
>>> But we certainly should object to how we're pursuing the war, as  
>>> the dead children and destroyed families of civilians attest.  We  
>>> treat them like insects and don't notice when we step on them,  
>>> because we are in pursuit of higher goals -- deterring terrorism,  
>>> as Obama says.
>>>
>>> There is nothing in his letter to suggest that Hoh has an answer  
>>> to why we are pursuing the war, even though he knows that that  
>>> Obama's justification -- "securing Afghanistan to prevent al-Qaeda  
>>> resurgence" -- is a lie.
>>>
>>> We need to condemn both what the Obama administration is doing,  
>>> and why. --CGE
>>>
>>>
>>> Morton K. Brussel wrote:
>>>> Wow! This is quite a statement, which you unfortunately  
>>>> depreciate, although
>>>> seeming to recognize its value.
>>>> You, in fact do not know whether Hoh understands or not the true  
>>>> reasons for
>>>> the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, etc. . He is content to  
>>>> "merely"
>>>> describe why he is resigning on a "practical" level—it seems to  
>>>> me. --mkb
>>>> On Oct 27, 2009, at 4:27 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>>>>> "Matthew Hoh, a former Marine officer, resigned from his current  
>>>>> State Department post in Afghanistan, saying he no longer  
>>>>> believes the war is
>>>>> worth American lives." [CSM]
>>>>> Hoh's letter of resignation is below.  He explains that he  
>>>>> doesn't understand or trust "the strategic purposes of the  
>>>>> United States’ presence
>>>>> in Afghanistan." His objections are not to "how we are pursuing  
>>>>> this war,
>>>>> but why."  But he doesn't suggest why.
>>>>> He knows that "our stated strategy of securing Afghanistan to  
>>>>> prevent al-Qaeda resurgence" is false, but he fails to see that  
>>>>> it's a necessary
>>>>> propaganda cover for the real geopolitical reasons that the US  
>>>>> has for
>>>>> dominating the region. (He does recognize that the propaganda  
>>>>> cover "would
>>>>> require us to additionally invade and occupy western Pakistan,  
>>>>> Somalia,
>>>>> Sudan, Yemen, etc." -- as we are doing, because the real reason  
>>>>> requires
>>>>> that, too.)
>>>>> For those real goals, the chosen means are appropriate --  
>>>>> vicious, but appropriate.  And American planners understand what  
>>>>> they're doing. They
>>>>> should not so much be better informed as opposed.  --CGE
>>>>> ================ September 10, 2009
>>>>> Ambassador Nancy J. Powell Director General of the Foreign  
>>>>> Service and
>>>>> Director of Human Resources U.S. Department of State 2201 C  
>>>>> Street NW Washington, D.C. 20520
>>>>> Dear Ambassador Powell,
>>>>> It is with great regret and disappointment I submit my  
>>>>> resignation from my
>>>>> appointment as a Political Officer in the Foreign Service and my  
>>>>> post as
>>>>> the Senior Civilian Representative for the U.S. Government in  
>>>>> Zabul
>>>>> Province. I have served six of the previous ten years in service  
>>>>> to our
>>>>> country overseas, to include deployment as a U.S. Marine ofticer  
>>>>> and
>>>>> Department of Defense civilian in the Euphrates and Tigris River  
>>>>> Valleys of
>>>>> Iraq in 2004-2005 and 2006-2007. I did not enter into this  
>>>>> position lightly
>>>>> or with any undue expectations nor did I believe my assignment  
>>>>> would be
>>>>> without sacrifice hardship or difficulty. However, in the course  
>>>>> of my five
>>>>> months of service in Afghanistan, in both Regional Commands East  
>>>>> and South,
>>>>> I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic  
>>>>> purposes of
>>>>> the United States’ presence in Afghanistan. I have doubts and  
>>>>> reservations
>>>>> about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my  
>>>>> resignation
>>>>> is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to  
>>>>> what end. To
>>>>> put simply: I fail to see the value or the worth in continued U.S.
>>>>> casualties or expenditures or resources in support of the Afghan  
>>>>> government
>>>>> in what is, truly, a 35-year old civil war.
>>>>> This fall will mark the eighth year of U.S. combat, governance  
>>>>> and development operations within Afghanistan. Next fall, the  
>>>>> United States’
>>>>> occupation will equal in length the Soviet Union’s own physical  
>>>>> involvement
>>>>> in Afghanistan. Like the Soviets, we continue to secure and  
>>>>> bolster a
>>>>> failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of  
>>>>> government
>>>>> unknown and unwanted by its people.
>>>>> If the history or Afghanistan is one great stage play, the  
>>>>> United States is
>>>>> no more than a supporting actor, among several previously, in a  
>>>>> tragedy
>>>>> that not only pits tribes, valleys, clans, villages and families  
>>>>> against
>>>>> one another, but, from at least the end of King Zahir Shah’s  
>>>>> reign, has
>>>>> violently and savagely pitted the urban, secular, educated and  
>>>>> modem of
>>>>> Afghanistan against the rural, religious, illiterate and  
>>>>> traditional. It is
>>>>> this latter group that composes and supports the Pashtun  
>>>>> insurgency. The
>>>>> Pashtun insurgency, which is composed of multiple, seemingly  
>>>>> infinite,
>>>>> local groups, is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people  
>>>>> as a
>>>>> continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on  
>>>>> Pashtun land,
>>>>> culture, traditions and religion by internal and external  
>>>>> enemies. The U.S.
>>>>> and NATO presence and operations in Pashtun valleys and  
>>>>> villages, as well
>>>>> as Afghan army and police units that are led and composed of non- 
>>>>> Pashtun soldiers and police, provide an occupation force against  
>>>>> which the insurgency is justified. In both RC East and South, I  
>>>>> have observed that
>>>>> the bulk of the insurgency fights not for the white banner of  
>>>>> the Taliban,
>>>>> but rather against the presence of foreign soldiers and taxes  
>>>>> imposed by an
>>>>> unrepresentative government in Kabul.
>>>>> The United States military presence in Afghanistan greatly  
>>>>> contributes to
>>>>> the legitimacy and strategic message of the Pashtun insurgency.  
>>>>> In a like
>>>>> manner our backing of the Afghan government in its current form  
>>>>> continues
>>>>> to distance the government from the people. The Afghan  
>>>>> government’s
>>>>> failings, particularly when weighed against the sacrifice of  
>>>>> American lives
>>>>> and dollars, appear legion and metastatic:
>>>>> • Glaring corruption and unabashed graft; • A President whose  
>>>>> confidants
>>>>> and chief advisers comprise drug lords and war crimes villains,  
>>>>> who mock
>>>>> our own rule of law and counternarcotics efforts; • A system of  
>>>>> provincial
>>>>> and district leaders constituted of local power brokers,  
>>>>> opportunists and
>>>>> strongmen allied to the United States solely for, and limited  
>>>>> by, the value
>>>>> of our USAID and CERP contracts and whose own political and  
>>>>> economic
>>>>> interests stand nothing to gain from any positive or genuine  
>>>>> attempts at
>>>>> reconciliation; and • The recent election process dominated by  
>>>>> fraud and
>>>>> discredited by low voter turnout, which has created an enormous  
>>>>> victory for
>>>>> our enemy who now claims a popular boycott and will call into  
>>>>> question
>>>>> worldwide our government’s military, economic and diplomatic  
>>>>> support for an
>>>>> invalid and illegitimate Afghan government.
>>>>> Our support for this kind of government, coupled with a  
>>>>> misunderstanding of
>>>>> the insurgency’s true nature, reminds me horribly of our  
>>>>> involvement with
>>>>> South Vietnam; an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at  
>>>>> the expense
>>>>> of our Nation’s own internal peace, against an insurgency whose  
>>>>> nationalism
>>>>> we arrogantly and ignorantly mistook as a rival to our own Cold  
>>>>> War
>>>>> ideology.
>>>>> I find specious the reasons we ask for bloodshed and sacrifice  
>>>>> from our
>>>>> young men and women in Afghanistan. If honest, our stated  
>>>>> strategy of
>>>>> securing Afghanistan to prevent al-Qaeda resurgence or  
>>>>> regrouping would
>>>>> require us to additionally invade and occupy western Pakistan,  
>>>>> Somalia,
>>>>> Sudan, Yemen, etc. Our presence in Afghanistan has only increased
>>>>> destabilization and insurgency in Pakistan where we rightly fear  
>>>>> a toppled
>>>>> or weakened Pakistani government may lose control of nuclear  
>>>>> weapons.
>>>>> However, again, to follow the logic of our stated goals we  
>>>>> should garrison
>>>>> Pakistan, not Afghanistan. More so, the September 11th attacks,  
>>>>> as well as
>>>>> the Madrid and London bombings, were primarily planned and  
>>>>> organized in
>>>>> Western Europe; a point that highlights the threat is not one  
>>>>> tied to
>>>>> traditional geographic or political boundaries. Finally, if our  
>>>>> concern is
>>>>> for a failed state crippled by corruption and poverty and under  
>>>>> assault
>>>>> from criminal and drug lords, then if we bear our military and  
>>>>> financial
>>>>> contributions to Afghanistan, we must reevaluate our commitment  
>>>>> to and
>>>>> involvement in Mexico.
>>>>> Eight years into war, no nation has ever known a more dedicated,  
>>>>> well trained, experienced and disciplined military as the U.S.  
>>>>> Armed Forces. I
>>>>> do not believe any military force has ever been tasked with such  
>>>>> a complex,
>>>>> opaque and Sisyphean mission as the U.S. military has received in
>>>>> Afghanistan. The tactical proficiency and performance of our  
>>>>> Soldiers,
>>>>> Sailors, Airmen and Marines is unmatched and unquestioned.  
>>>>> However, this is
>>>>> not the European or Pacific theaters of World War II, but rather  
>>>>> is a war
>>>>> war for which our leaders, uniformed, civilian and elected, have
>>>>> inadequately prepared and resourced our men and women. Our  
>>>>> forces, devoted
>>>>> and faithful, have committed to conflict in an indefinite and  
>>>>> unplanned
>>>>> manner that has become a cavalier, politically expedient and  
>>>>> Pollyannaish misadventure. Similarly, the United States has a  
>>>>> dedicated and talented
>>>>> cadre of civilians, both U.S. government employees and  
>>>>> contractors, who
>>>>> believe in and sacrifice for their mission, but have been  
>>>>> ineffectually
>>>>> trained and led with guidance and intent shaped more by the  
>>>>> political
>>>>> climate in Washington, D.C. than in Afghan cities, villages,  
>>>>> mountains and
>>>>> valleys.
>>>>> “We are spending ourselves into oblivion” a very talented and  
>>>>> intelligent
>>>>> commander, one of America’s best, briefs every visitor, staff  
>>>>> delegation
>>>>> and senior officer. We are mortgaging our Nation’s economy on a  
>>>>> war, which,
>>>>> even with increased commitment, will remain a draw for years to  
>>>>> come.
>>>>> Success and victory, whatever they may be, will be realized not  
>>>>> in years,
>>>>> after billions more spent, but in decades and generations. The  
>>>>> United
>>>>> States does not enjoy a national treasury for such success and  
>>>>> victory.
>>>>> I realize the emotion and tone of my letter and ask you excuse  
>>>>> any ill temper. I trust you understand the nature of this war  
>>>>> and the sacrifices
>>>>> made by so many thousands of families who have been separated  
>>>>> from loved
>>>>> ones deployed in defense of our Nation and whose homes bear the  
>>>>> fractures,
>>>>> upheavals and scars of multiple and compounded deployments.  
>>>>> Thousands of
>>>>> our men and women have returned home with physical and mental  
>>>>> wounds, some
>>>>> that will never heal or will only worsen with time. The dead  
>>>>> return only in
>>>>> bodily form to be received by families who must be reassured  
>>>>> their dead
>>>>> have sacrificed for a purpose worthy of futures lost, love  
>>>>> vanished, and
>>>>> promised dreams unkept. I have lost confidence such assurances  
>>>>> can anymore
>>>>> be made. As such, l submit my resignation.
>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>> /s/ Matthew P. Hoh Senior Civilian Representative Zabul Province,
>>>>> Afghanistan
>>>>> cc: Mr. Frank Ruggiero Ms. Dawn Liberi Ambassador Anthony Wayne  
>>>>> Ambassador
>>>>> Karl Eikenberry
>>>>> http://warincontext.org/2009/10/27/a-letter-from-afghanistan-that-every-american-must-read/
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