Intelligence Analyst Admits "Stable Honest Government in Kabul" Is Not The War's Purpose; Suggests Mobile Mullahs And More...

The good sir, Mitchell LaFortune, former Army sergeant and intelligence analyst makes some thoughtful weekend admissions about the Afghanistan War's true purpose in an Op-ed in The New York Times. Here are some tender morsels of war strategy written in the pleasant bucolic environment of Saco, Maine and morbidly entitled Learning From Wikileaks.

In this first passage I do believe it sounds as if the good sergeant is saying that keeping in place a "quick-strike military structure" (permanently?) is the real purpose of the war.

...Many people also operate from a faulty assumption about the war’s purpose. No matter what we’ve told the Afghans, the true goal of the American-led effort should not be to create a stable, honest government in Kabul. While that would be a great benefit, what’s vital is that we keep in place the robust intelligence and quick-strike military structure we have developed in the country and across the Pakistan border...

And then here, am I to presume he means adding afghanistan journalists to the U.S. special op hit list?

...To undermine support for United States troops, the Taliban insistently remind the people that America has committed to a withdrawal beginning next summer, they jump on any announcement of our Western allies pulling out troops and they publicize polls that show declining domestic American support for the war. To counter the spin, we need to add the Taliban’s top propagandists to the high-value-target list and direct military operations at the insurgents’ media nerve centers. A major reason that people in rural areas are so reluctant to help us is that Taliban propaganda and intimidation have created an atmosphere of fear...

And then I do admire the lovely bit of alliteration in his last gem of an idea, the mobile mullah.

...While creating a network of more enlightened religious figures to compete with the hard-liners will take time, we could jump-start progress by creating a group of “mobile mullahs” — well-protected clerics who can travel through rural areas and settle land disputes and other issues. These men should come from the general areas in which they will be performing their duties and be approved by community leaders...

I feel so much safer that the USA is guided by bright minds like Mr. LaFortune, who will undoubtebly guide us through the dirty muck of the next....centuries, of armed conflict in Central Asia. Hail, O Eternal War...