Inside Opinion » Afghanistan

Thank a veteran today; even better, offer one a job

TNT Editorial Board — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:55:47 +0000

This editorial will appear in Friday’s print edition.

We have a lot of people to thank this Veterans Day – somewhere in the neighborhood of 21.8 million, according to the 2010 census. That’s how many men and women have served in the U.S. military, both in war and peace, and are still alive.

At one end of the spectrum, the ranks of veterans are marching into history. The last American veteran of World War I, Frank Buckles, died in February, a few weeks after his 110th birthday. And the soldiers of World War II – the so-called “Greatest Generation” are …

An impressive Army probe of atrocities in Afghanistan

TNT Editorial Board — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:46:37 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

The Stryker brigade soldiers connected to the murder of three Afghan noncombatants last year face grave charges or have already been convicted. Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs – the accused ringleader – will soon be on trial at Joint Base Lewis McChord.

All are enlisted men and lower-ranking noncommissioned officers – toward the bottom of the military hierarchy. The buck doesn’t stop with them. An exhaustive Army investigation has now detailed negligence on the part of the killers’ superiors.

Some of the problems identified by the investigator, Brig. Gen. Stephen Twitty, seem purely …

U.S. troops have borne the burden of 9/11’s aftermath

TNT Editorial Board — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:18:28 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

From our corner of the United States, the reach of 9/11 can be measured quite literally – in miles.

Washington lies 2,400 miles from New York City. But television and the Internet annihilated that distance on the day of the attack.

Like people in New Jersey or Connecticut – or London or Tokyo – Washingtonians watched in mounting horror as jetliners were deliberately flown into the twin towers. We saw the New Yorkers jumping to their deaths, the skyscrapers collapsing, the desperate survivors fleeing floods of billowing ash down city streets.

Later, …

“Perpetual war” – but where does the buck stop now?

Patrick O'Callahan — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:20:00 +0000

I am not often surprised at what appears on the opinion pages (especially since I read the pieces before they appear), but today’s column on war and peace by Eugene Robinson almost took my breath away.

Robinson complains at length about America’s continuing war in Afghanistan without once mentioning the name of the man who is prosecuting that war – Barack Obama.

Obama at some point deserves responsibility for the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan; I mean, we’re fast approaching the fourth year of his presidency. Robinson somehow neglects to note that Obama stepped up America’s involvement there.

Robinson’s …

There are heroes like Sgt. 1st Class Petry among us

TNT Editorial Board — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:26:10 +0000

This editorial will appear in Thursday’s print edition.

This is all you need to know to understand why a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Ranger and Steilacoom resident was awarded the nation’s highest military honor Tuesday:

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry already had been shot in both legs when grenades came at him and fellow soldiers during a firefight in Afghanistan four years ago. He grabbed one of the grenades, and in getting rid of it, his hand was blown off. Then Petry applied a tourniquet to his own arm – and kept fighting, barking out orders to help his …

U.S. defense budget needs Gates-style scrutiny

TNT Editorial Board — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:03:47 +0000

Robert Gates

This editorial appears in Wednesday’s print edition.

The Cold War ended in 1980s after leaders of the Soviet Union realized they weren’t buying more security with unsustainable military spending – just more antagonism abroad and poverty at home.

The United States isn’t in the same hole, but a growing number of defense advocates – people who genuinely care about the nation’s military strength – are recognizing that something’s got to give.

Foremost among them is Robert Gates, who’s stepping down this week as secretary of defense. Serving under both George W. Bush …

Exemplary Army justice for Afghan war crimes

Patrick O'Callahan — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 22:51:45 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

The prosecution of war crimes at Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Afghanistan promises to become one of the Army’s most honorable episodes – if it focuses as much attention on commanders as it has on enlisted soldiers.

The trials and hearings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord have revealed an attitude of intolerance of atrocities and criminal behavior that might have been dismissed as the cost of doing business in previous wars. Last week’s sentencing of one defendant, Spc. Jeremy Morlock, shows how tough the Army has gotten.

Morlock pleaded guilty to three counts …

JBLM trial: Life imitating art?

Brian O'Neill — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 02:53:51 +0000

The more details emerge in the ongoing courtmartial at JBLM, the more I am reminded of the epic Vietnam movie, "Platoon."

The horror, the horror

Patrick O'Callahan — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:22:09 +0000

Hate to get all literary now, but these allegations of murder and dismemberment in Afghanistan and Iraq follow a distinctly familiar script:

Westerner ventures into backward land on civilizing mission (or profiteering mission – take your pick). Westerner progressively loses moral compass. Corrupted by power and dark impulses, Westerner winds up more savage than natives.

The book is Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Or if you prefer the cinematic version, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.” Or any number of real-world clashes between predatory European colonial powers and dark-skinned people.

The Taliban-enabled 9/11 attacks being still vivid in my mind, …

About Afghanistan, Dicks is as nervous as anyone

Patrick O'Callahan — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 01:36:51 +0000

Concern about the war in Afghanistan isn’t news, but it’s noteworthy coming from U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks. A major power in Congress, Dicks is one of the nation’s chief makers of defense policy and has a strong grip on the military’s purse strings.

As chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, he’s well briefed on the war and visited Afghanistan twice this year.

Visiting us today, he described the war as “a big question mark” – tougher than Iraq, in part because “79 percent of the people are illiterate,” heroin production is widespread and “corruption keeps getting worse.”

“There’s …