The some 2,000 pages of notes from interviews of senior officials who have shaped US strategy in Afghanistan confirm that "senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false... hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable," according to the bombshell Post report.
The internal interviews and statements were unearthed via Freedom of Information Act request and span the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. The trove further confirms that US leaders knew vast amounts of money was being wasted in a futile attempt to "Westernize the nation".
Watchdog groups commonly estimate total US spending on the war has hit $1 trillion by end of 2019. More importantly, America's 'endless war' has cost at least 2,351 American lives and over 20,000 wounded.
The internal Pentagon project conducted by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) had sought to get as honest assessment as possible as to the status of America's longest running quagmire panning multiple administrations. It was to be a classified "Lessons Learned" assessment of sorts to prevent future missteps.
"What did we get for this $1tn effort? Was it worth $1 trillion?" one retired Navy SEAL who had advised the Bush and Obama administrations observed in one of the documents. "After the killing of Osama bin Laden, I said that Osama was probably laughing in his watery grave considering how much we have spent on Afghanistan."
Another top official, former White House Afghan war czar Douglas Lute under Bush and Obama, confessed, "We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan - we didn't know what we were doing." He added that "we didn't have the foggiest notion of that we were undertaking" after the 2001 invasion.
"If the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction ... 2,400 lives lost," he added.Two major consistent themes from the documents are โ
- the manipulation on a mass scale of statistics fed to the public in order to hide the true disastrous nature of the war; and...
- US leaders "turning a blind eye" to large scale theft of US tax payer dollars by corrupt Afghan officials.
"Every data point was altered to present the best picture possible," Bob Crowley, an Army colonel and senior counterinsurgency adviser to U.S. military commanders testified.
Over 400 people close to the decision-making process were interviewed as part of the internal DoD investigation; however among those 366 names were redacted, given that as more damning testimony was given, the Inspector General deemed they should be treated as 'whistleblowers' and informants.
But for all the hand-wringing and outrage Monday's WaPo bombshell will unleash this week, it must be remembered that the establishment in both parties have consistently pushed to stay at war, not to mention going to war in the first place.
As independent journalist David Mizner observes of the new 'Afghan Papers' it remains that "US politicians lie to stay at war, every time. The real crime was going to war in the first place โ and almost no US politicians, pundits, and or journos with large platforms opposed the war."
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A video tour of the damning new 'Afghanistan Papers' revelations and their significance:
Reader Comments
I mean, this is Langley Post we're talking about...
Maybe it will give Tulsi a boost? Probably hoping for too much but hoping anyway.
The synchronicity of Wapo suddenly starting to do good journalism is not lost on some people. Previously Wapo supports whatever the government elites want.
Not for you, but for the weapons manufacturers the Afghan War Mass Deception earned probably beyond expectations. That's why these War Efforts are kept alive. You can forget national pride and they are our enemy. Its business for massive profits.
And no mention of the main reason US troops are in Afghanistan?
Opium poppy is still in very high demand
No mention of Opium, the real reason for invading a peaceful country.
OBL was a CIA agent all the time.
USA destroyed the twin towers and the owner pulled WTC7, as planned, because the USAF shot down one of the missiles.
Epstein is still alive and when probate clears, will be as rich as he ever dreamed, under a new identity, probably in IsRaEl, aka Judea.
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This wishful thinking of "they kept him alive and are rewarding him" has one fatal flaw that I can see, and that is because he filmed them all and they HATE that and would never tolerate it, and as soon as they had a chance, deaderz. Way easier to organize the guards payoffs / scareoffs and disable cameras than this elaborate fake body / rescue plan. It always sounded so dumb to me and not all how the 'elites' (scum) work.
R.C. (Satire abounds above.)
RC
R.C.
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As if the above "war deception" should come as a surprise to the Washington Post? The US's #2 prowar 'liberal' (sic) machine?
I guess that Langley decided that they needed more 'street cred' so that when they support the Dem. candidate. it will have more weight with those who are only finally, just now, BELATEDLY REALIZING the emperor has no clothes.
I seem to remember the Pentagon Papers - which despite their possibly limited hangout aspects - at least then were consistent with SOME of the prior, real reporting that the NYT/WaPo two were doing then. Back then, the control was directed at the hugest issues and was more specifically controlled from the top, rather than rotting the entire places from inside the humans' souls that once worked there.
R.C.
Looks like a bong to me. Hence, these are the paranoid ramblings of a Pot-Addicted Fiend; DISREGARD!
Sarcasm. Satire.
RC
This is why the americans refuse to leave. The investor class demands a profit through outright theft and murder as well as arms and narcotics trafficking.
May your journey to finding truth be a long one, filled with nuggets worth keeping and remember to share them, least you end up carrying a bag too heavy to bear, that's the kind of baggage people want you to share.
I enjoy writing things like that and trust they are at least somewhat unique.
Long journey yes, ouff, just ended up at the owners of a GoldMine 10 days ago, totally by fluke.
You are good at ESP ... i see
I won't take the bait but it's been fun running into you.
Many blessings
karma has already unleashed its cause and effect as they say, america is losing allies, nato on the brink of break up, our russian chinese and iranian friends all know this, they have the patience to sit it out, and military wise, america would lose an all out war in 9hrs,
one story a true story a long time back, american pentagon officials, or gov shitheads, were discussing a nuclear explosion in one of americas most run down cities, which is detroit, blast it from the face of the earth and blame russia and china, finger pointing as usual, blaming others as usual, and yet its all of americas many gov workers, most work and do what the fuck they want, julian had that list, i read that list, then wiki membership was deleted on my end, no more could i and julian exchange emails, i was angry as hell, but to this day, we have no contact,
the rape charge was bogus, the whole thing was bullshit, he exposed the truth, yet the president and other prime ministers do nothing but expand there own bank accounts and bullshit to the sheeple to keep them quiet, and cause fear, where if you speak up and have factual evidence, your a fuckin target,
america is broke, now watch over the next 2 years max, many countrys ditching the greenback, going on another system, yet america creates sanctions and tarrifs to try and get its money back, of which it never will, its a done deal, broken as ever, america is on a downhill spiral, and its military war machine is so far behind now, its worth nothing to the worth of money its printed on,
this nord stream project to help millions of european pple with gas etc, is on the brink of sanctions, or even more a military strike from the us cos nobody want american gas, i could go on, but america is seriously broke, 2 generations from now, america will be shown as a mere 3rd world country, alienated, hated and a bigger target than what it is today,,
america, you brought it upon yourselves.. anarchy and chaos will rule the world, cant fuckin wait..
So your final phrase, (in fairness to good old fashioned Americans), should say, "AmeriKa, you brought it upon yourselves".
Thanks.
R.C.
Stay way inland and high up. Now we know why Denver Airport extends way beneath the Rockies and Utah has so much computing power.
Wishing for anarchy and chaos on any nation, even America makes you no better than the PTB that created this whole mess. Itโs that mentality that jeopardises any future hope of peace. Otherwise, I tend to agree with your comment for the most part.
The US/MSM doesn't want to discuss that point, as those evaluations were made, and still are being made,. and still we are there, for no valid reason. killing and killing, and occasionally being killed; to wit: A war crime.
And yet, the word crime appears once in the above. The phrase 'war crime' appears not at all.
R.C.
On articles with lots of comments, it's often not easily seen WHO posted WHAT so as to find what triggered your notification.
However, I have a strong guess. Your post was four minutes ago. Before that, LM posted a link saying "Go to 15 mins mark."
The best way to find recent comments is to hit Control-F (find) and type in < minutes ago > or < hours ago > and you will likely find the source of the notification.
Also, I believe, your original notification should even show the comment number you are being informed of and that link should take you straight to it.
SOTT/Scott: Y'all are great!
RC
R.C.
"To (sic) Late"?????? No Soup For You!
RC
Whew! That was close.
RC
Yeah... as soon as a new comment flies in everyone on the thread is notified Kido.
At some point the interest goes to schleeeep
Since that time it has been the national approach to let the proprietors of business and their employees handle the people that come into their shops and offices that start chewing on plastic sale signs and shrieking incoherently.
No kidding seen very similar incidents many times myself over the years and the response from the cops are always the same, yes sir we will move them along.
What a national disgrace that we have come to be so politically correct and I might add broke that the people who have in most cases brought on themselves their mental sickness with elicit drug use that we have given them the same rights to be as free as we are so they can continue their madness in our presence.
Can you imagine how many mental and drug interdiction facilities and programs could be run on the cost of just the Afghan war alone.
R.C.
No that LOL isn't Laugh Out Loud or Lots Of Luck it's Lots Of Love, keep up the good posts.
War must be declared by CONgress?
So all actions overseas are without authority. All deaths are crimes. All disbursements can be surcharged upon those who authorized them.
Yet no legal actions are ever taken to enforce the CONstitution .... so all citizens like the Germans after WWII, are guilty
Sure you know the songs played as 'Classic Rock' which amount to one or two songs from phenomenal entire albums.
But when I see what America has become, I hear a refrain. And while I'm not a huge Steppenwolf fan, I still hear that refrain: Steppenwolf, Suicide/America Have a listen: [Link] (It's 9:17 long.)
Heard it before?
R.C.
The spirit was freedom and justice
And its keepers seemed generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't, pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
Now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'
The cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner, we can't pay the cost
[Link]
Lyrics: [Link]
RC
RC
Possibly a bot?
R.C.
R.C.
Bullying ad hominem behaviour merely CONfirms my opinion. I was registered quite a while ago under a soubriquet.
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I even provided a few of the on point lyrics, for the let us say โless informedโ: So what did YOU say then? So what's is claiming / questioning whether a human is a troll or a 'bot'? It was a non-issue & direct insult directed AT (โadโ) ME a human) (a/k/a, โhominemโ) = TWO ad hominems ! Thatโs where how why this started.
Letโs not forget that you also claimed my point was โinanityโ. How? Why? Are you clueless? Are you really unaware of the 'Pentagon Papers' analogy? Did you read the article, or other comments referencing same? The above exchanges, and comments from SOTTfolk, such as arcsmith, LM, along with YOUR trollesque' BS prove all I've written and here, and above, stated.
R.C.
*Soubriquet''s modern usage mostly implies a 'handle' given to a person due to external factors; not one 'self named.' Better term: pseudonym.
RC
Facetiousness. My 'rhyming poetry' involved about as much time as it took to type it. To compare it to Poe would be an insult (to Poe) for the ages. (But, to compare it to 'Vanilla Ice'???? " [But here's the funniest thing ever written about that proverbial (broken) "Flash" (Bulb) in some old car's (oil) pan: "But they didn't have Ice Cube; So he bought 'Vanilla Ice']
Offspring*: 'Pretty Fly for a White Guy". Have a listen & a laugh. [Link]
R.C.
*You know that their main guy, Dexter Holland, just got his USC Doctorate in Molecular Biology? Cool.
RC
[Link]
Her hand has been tipped her crime revealed, we have been infiltrated.
Yeap my sense of humor is as twisted as my sincerity.
Back in 3rd? grade, as a 'winning' science experiment, I then started to ring a bell before each walk. By day 9?, she would come tearing around the corners, claws slipping on the floor on the turns, all the way to where I'd stand by the front door. That remained a constant until she was getting on 14. She'd been bitten twice by a rattlesnake plus hit by two cars.
A GREAT dog.
R.C.
Here RC, especially pour toi
[Link]
Again, I must corrrect: (I try to keep my celebrity a secret, but, OK, I 'fess up....) R.C.
*And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell, also. (Aka,. satire.)
RC
But still!!??!! ๐
Almost makes me want to cry!!
My lifelong dream was to live on a farm and it happened... at 53. I opened my home as a Halfway Home (my other childhood dream). Sure glad that one is behind my behind lol...
I ve also left that farm now, but it is kinda crazy but i refuse to live amongst neighbours (more than 3 max lol) ... so since the summer i volunteer on farms for (almost free rent n crops/meat) and have a network of 11 farms, turbines windmills creature with or without antlers so far and a GoldMine with another mine coming along. I seem to have a knack for collecting acres and farmers need help EVERYWHERE!.
So i mention it here for Sottees every so often, cause I know we'll be needing to live on and from and for the land coming up soon.... together. Everyone carries personal expertise. The only way to pull thru is by sharing it together.
We're only as strong as the weakest link. Get strong is what i say.