Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Battle Buddies
I can't enough of this picture..... Two Battle Buddies - No stronger bond on the battlefield than a man and his K-9 companion. This is what 2 brave warrior look like
Monday, June 24, 2013
Being Home is the best & working with The Home Base Program
Been home for a month now and things are just starting to feel normal again. By normal I mean that I am starting to feel like I will be home and stay home. The first few weeks felt like a R&R as most time at home while deployed is 2-3 weeks.
Now, with Summer in place, I am looking forward to the things I missed over the last few years - 4th of July, Barnstable County Fair, Cape League Baseball and some time at the beach.
I am also working with the Home Base Program out of Massachusetts General Hospital. The VA has proven to be pretty useless as they don't listen and don't want to see things as they are. The VA seems dedicated to downplaying the issues that you have as if they validate them, it will be a "cost" to them. When it comes to the VA, it comes down to $$, not what is best for the Veteran.
The Home Base Program has been put together by MGH and the Red Sox foundation. If you are a Veteran of Iraq and/or Afghanistan and need help, they will assist you free of charge. The staff is attentive and focuses on what is needed, not what it costs.
I highly recommend you look into this great program. Click on the link below.
http://www.homebaseprogram.org/general-information.aspx
Now, with Summer in place, I am looking forward to the things I missed over the last few years - 4th of July, Barnstable County Fair, Cape League Baseball and some time at the beach.
I am also working with the Home Base Program out of Massachusetts General Hospital. The VA has proven to be pretty useless as they don't listen and don't want to see things as they are. The VA seems dedicated to downplaying the issues that you have as if they validate them, it will be a "cost" to them. When it comes to the VA, it comes down to $$, not what is best for the Veteran.
The Home Base Program has been put together by MGH and the Red Sox foundation. If you are a Veteran of Iraq and/or Afghanistan and need help, they will assist you free of charge. The staff is attentive and focuses on what is needed, not what it costs.
I highly recommend you look into this great program. Click on the link below.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Find'em Catch'em Kill'em - "US Special Ops Have Become Much, Much Scarier Since 9/11"
I have written about " Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs". The people in our country are the sheep and the Terrorists are the wolves who will mercilessly slaughter the sheep. The only thing standing between them and the Wolves are " The Sheepdogs "
Many don't want to think about it but we live in a very, very, very dangerous world. It would be nice if we could think otherwise but anyone who thinks there are not people plotting to kill us 24/7/365 is living in a fantasy world.
To deal with the " Wolves ", we have men who's sole job is to hunt the "Wolves" down.
Period. They are the Joint Special Operations Command or (JSOC).
We have and operate many military agencies but the men who spend their days "taking out the trash" are the quiet professionals who keep us safe. They are the tip of the spear. They don't focus on "hearts & minds", only taking out the most dangerous enemies.
God Bless them. I will not apologize to anyone about this as I support them as much as I supported what we did to Europe & Japan in WW2. We leveled cities and burned them to the ground. It was what was required.
War is a terrible thing but there are much worse things such as the loss of Freedom and our nation.
Rock on Boys. Take the bad guys out. You have my support.
The full scale of the shadow war is just coming out now, as detailed in "Dirty Wars: The World Is A Battlefield" by investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jeremy Scahill.
Directed by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the White House expanded the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) into a global capturing and killing machine.
JSOC, which includes troops from a variety of America's best units, grew from fewer than 2,000 troops before 9/11 to as many as 25,000 today.
While most of their missions remain classified, JSOC operators have been used far more aggressively in the past decade than ever before.
"Their real days of glory ... really only started after 9/11," Colonel Walter Patrick Lang, who spent much of his career in covert operations, told Scahill. "They didn't do a lot of fighting before that."
Known within the covert ops community as ninjas or "snake eaters," JSOC operators train to track a target, fix his position, and then finish him off without being detected.
"They're the ace in the hole," General Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Clinton, told Scahill. "If you need someone that can sky dive from thirty miles away, go down the chimney of a castle, and blow it up from the inside — those are the guys you want to call on."
The command was "created in secrecy to perform operations that were kept hidden to virtually all other entities of military and governments," Scahill writes, and the White House took full advantage of that.
From "Dirty Wars":
By late 2002 JSOC operators were discreetly based in Qatar and Kenya for potential missions in Yemen and Somalia. It developed an in-house signals intelligence unit, known as the Activity, and Rumsfeld created a JSOC human intelligence collection operation, called the Strategic Support Branch, that mirrored the capabilities of the CIA.
The addition of the intelligence aspect "effectively meant that JSOC was free to act as a spy agency and kill/capture force rolled into one," Scahill writes.
JSOC even ran an interrogation program, parallel to the CIA's black sites, that would provide the administration with even more flexibility and less oversight (See: Camp Nama).
Rumsfeld worked to make sure that the unit was "unrestrained and unaccountable to anyone except him, Cheney, and the president" while Cheney began going to JSOC headquarters at Fort Bragg in North Carolina to give direct action orders.
"It grew and went out of control under the vice president. It kinda went wild," Vincent Cannistraro, a career CIA counterterrorism officer, told Scahill. "There were a couple of places where, because they weren't coordinated, they weren't informed, they killed people that were not real targets. They were wrong. It happened, frequently."
In September 2003 JSOC, led by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was running the show in Iraq, including training Iraqi Special Ops units that became unaccountable death squads.
It was also making its presence known in Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (Ret.), a career military intelligence officer who wrote the book "Operation Dark Heart," wrote that JSOC's force in Afghanistan "had the best technology, the best weapons, the best people — and plenty of money to burn."
From "Dirty Wars":
In early 2004 Rumsfeld signed a secret order, known as the Al Qaeda Network Execute Order, that "streamlined JSOC's ability to conduct operations and hit targets outside of the stated battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan."
By mid-2004 JSOC operations in Iraq had accelerated dramatically to the point where they were effectively "running the covert war buried within the larger war and controlling the intelligence," Scahill writes.
In 2005 and 2006 JSOC had its hands full with the Iraqi insurgency. It recruited 12 "tactical action operatives" from the private military company Blackwater from a secret raid (code-named Operation Fury) targeting an al Qaeda facility inside Pakistan.
Scahill notes that by 2007 the budget for U.S. special operations had grown to more than $8 billion annually, up 60 percent from 2003.
In January 2007, Scahill writes, JSOC began "a concentrated campaign of targeted assassinations and snatch operations" in Somalia while a CIA-backed Ethiopian force began an ill-fated invasion of the country.
In June 2008 Vice Admiral William McRaven took charge of JSOC, and the next month President Bush approved a secret order authorizing Special Ops Forces (as opposed to their Blackwater contractors) to conduct strikes in Pakistan without the country's permission.
Special Operations Forces were now being used to "go in and capture or kill people who were supposedly linked to extremist organizations around the world, in some cases allied countries," a source dubbed "Hunter," an operator who worked with JSOC on acknowledged and unacknowledged battlefields, told Scahill.
From "Dirty Wars":
Shortly after Barack Obama took office in January 2009, Scahill writes, he gave "carte blanche to JSOC and the CIA to wage a global manhunt. Capture was option two."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-of-jsoc-in-dirty-wars-2013-4#ixzz2T5BUuLSP
Many don't want to think about it but we live in a very, very, very dangerous world. It would be nice if we could think otherwise but anyone who thinks there are not people plotting to kill us 24/7/365 is living in a fantasy world.
To deal with the " Wolves ", we have men who's sole job is to hunt the "Wolves" down.
Period. They are the Joint Special Operations Command or (JSOC).
We have and operate many military agencies but the men who spend their days "taking out the trash" are the quiet professionals who keep us safe. They are the tip of the spear. They don't focus on "hearts & minds", only taking out the most dangerous enemies.
God Bless them. I will not apologize to anyone about this as I support them as much as I supported what we did to Europe & Japan in WW2. We leveled cities and burned them to the ground. It was what was required.
War is a terrible thing but there are much worse things such as the loss of Freedom and our nation.
Rock on Boys. Take the bad guys out. You have my support.
US Special Ops Have Become Much, Much Scarier Since 9/11
The full scale of the shadow war is just coming out now, as detailed in "Dirty Wars: The World Is A Battlefield" by investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jeremy Scahill.
Directed by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the White House expanded the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) into a global capturing and killing machine.
JSOC, which includes troops from a variety of America's best units, grew from fewer than 2,000 troops before 9/11 to as many as 25,000 today.
While most of their missions remain classified, JSOC operators have been used far more aggressively in the past decade than ever before.
"Their real days of glory ... really only started after 9/11," Colonel Walter Patrick Lang, who spent much of his career in covert operations, told Scahill. "They didn't do a lot of fighting before that."
Known within the covert ops community as ninjas or "snake eaters," JSOC operators train to track a target, fix his position, and then finish him off without being detected.
"They're the ace in the hole," General Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Clinton, told Scahill. "If you need someone that can sky dive from thirty miles away, go down the chimney of a castle, and blow it up from the inside — those are the guys you want to call on."
The command was "created in secrecy to perform operations that were kept hidden to virtually all other entities of military and governments," Scahill writes, and the White House took full advantage of that.
From "Dirty Wars":
It was the beginning of what would be a multiyear project by Rumsfeld and Cheney to separate this small, elite, surgical unit from the broader chain of command and transform it into a global killing machine.
What they developed looked like a paramilitary CIA, according to Scahill's reporting.By late 2002 JSOC operators were discreetly based in Qatar and Kenya for potential missions in Yemen and Somalia. It developed an in-house signals intelligence unit, known as the Activity, and Rumsfeld created a JSOC human intelligence collection operation, called the Strategic Support Branch, that mirrored the capabilities of the CIA.
The addition of the intelligence aspect "effectively meant that JSOC was free to act as a spy agency and kill/capture force rolled into one," Scahill writes.
JSOC even ran an interrogation program, parallel to the CIA's black sites, that would provide the administration with even more flexibility and less oversight (See: Camp Nama).
Rumsfeld worked to make sure that the unit was "unrestrained and unaccountable to anyone except him, Cheney, and the president" while Cheney began going to JSOC headquarters at Fort Bragg in North Carolina to give direct action orders.
"It grew and went out of control under the vice president. It kinda went wild," Vincent Cannistraro, a career CIA counterterrorism officer, told Scahill. "There were a couple of places where, because they weren't coordinated, they weren't informed, they killed people that were not real targets. They were wrong. It happened, frequently."
In September 2003 JSOC, led by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was running the show in Iraq, including training Iraqi Special Ops units that became unaccountable death squads.
It was also making its presence known in Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (Ret.), a career military intelligence officer who wrote the book "Operation Dark Heart," wrote that JSOC's force in Afghanistan "had the best technology, the best weapons, the best people — and plenty of money to burn."
From "Dirty Wars":
Unlike the Green Berets, JSOC was not in the country to win any hearts and minds. Once JSOC took charge, the mission would no longer resemble anthropology. It was to be a manhunt, at times an assassination machine.
In early 2004 Rumsfeld signed a secret order, known as the Al Qaeda Network Execute Order, that "streamlined JSOC's ability to conduct operations and hit targets outside of the stated battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan."
By mid-2004 JSOC operations in Iraq had accelerated dramatically to the point where they were effectively "running the covert war buried within the larger war and controlling the intelligence," Scahill writes.
In 2005 and 2006 JSOC had its hands full with the Iraqi insurgency. It recruited 12 "tactical action operatives" from the private military company Blackwater from a secret raid (code-named Operation Fury) targeting an al Qaeda facility inside Pakistan.
Scahill notes that by 2007 the budget for U.S. special operations had grown to more than $8 billion annually, up 60 percent from 2003.
In January 2007, Scahill writes, JSOC began "a concentrated campaign of targeted assassinations and snatch operations" in Somalia while a CIA-backed Ethiopian force began an ill-fated invasion of the country.
In June 2008 Vice Admiral William McRaven took charge of JSOC, and the next month President Bush approved a secret order authorizing Special Ops Forces (as opposed to their Blackwater contractors) to conduct strikes in Pakistan without the country's permission.
Special Operations Forces were now being used to "go in and capture or kill people who were supposedly linked to extremist organizations around the world, in some cases allied countries," a source dubbed "Hunter," an operator who worked with JSOC on acknowledged and unacknowledged battlefields, told Scahill.
From "Dirty Wars":
The mindset, [Hunter] said, was, "The world is a battlefield and we are at war. Therefore the military can go wherever they please and do whatever it is that they want to do, in order to achieve the national security objectives of whichever administration happens to be in power."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-of-jsoc-in-dirty-wars-2013-4#ixzz2T5BUuLSP
Friday, May 10, 2013
TRON Legacy and Afghanistan - " The Game has Changed"
I have always
been a big movie person and have found a lot of enjoyment from the artistic
work of those who create good stories.
Movies run the gambit from those that are masterpieces ( Wizard of Oz,
Casablanca, Star Wars, etc.) to those that are the middle of the pack and those
that are a complete waste of time (anything that has Vampires or the word “Saw” in its title.)
For a movie
to be worth watching, I really have to identify with the characters and
especially the protagonist. The Harry
Potter Movies are very good but I could never really jump into them like others
as I couldn’t identify with any of the characters. The stories were good but I wasn’t able to
see myself in there. Indiana Jones and
the Lost Ark was one story where I jumped in with both feet. When it came out in the early 80s, I went to
see it 7 times in the theatre. This was
before disc players and the like so if you wanted to watch it, you had to go
back to the theatre. I did. Again and again…. I couldn’t get enough of it. Likely why I chose “ Middleboro Jones” for my
Nom de plume.
Which takes
me to the most recent movie that has grabbed my attention and has held it for
quite a bit.
TRON Legacy.
The original
TRON movie came out when I was in college and was a technical achievement for
Disney when it debuted. The style and the
way it portrayed the world inside the computer was revolutionary and many like me
were hooked by all that it offered.
Kevin Flynn was an arcade guy and a computer geek who discovered there
was a lot more than 1’s and O’s going on inside the hard drive of the early
computers. There were good guys and bad
guys. In the original, our man Flynn triumphs over the corporate villain and
the computer program MCP (Master Control Program). He escapes the computer world and returns to
take back the company that he helped build in the real world.
The story
ended there and for over 30 years, the story of TRON was relegated to cable and
an occasional screening on the Disney Channel.
Then the guys at Disney decided to revisit the world of TRON with the
newest CGI enhancements to see where things went after 30 yrs.
In the
updated story, Kevin Flynn has become a missing man as he disappears and no one
knows what happened to him sometime in the late 1980s. His son misses him and then we meet his son
who has grown into a rebellious young man with issues about the loss of his
Dad. Sam Flynn goes looking for answers
and finds himself in the arcade where his Dad has an office no one knows about
which allows him (accidentally) to be uploaded into the world of TRON inside
the computer.
By now,
you might be saying what the heck does any of this have to do with Afghanistan?
I’m getting
to that.
Sam finds his
Dad and they meet up again after being separated for almost 20 years. Sam has trouble as he needs answers on why
his Dad was away for so long. The first
exchange is interesting as the now older Kevin Flynn looks at Sam. He can’t believe he is really there inside
the world inside the computer.
Sam
says, “ Long time…” to which his Dad replies, “ You have no idea..”
This was one
of the first lines of dialogue that really caught my attention as I can
identify with Kevin Flynn.
While I have
been here in Afghanistan over the last 4 years, time has gone forward for me
and all at home. In many ways, I feel
just like Kevin Flynn as I have been in another world from reality and
separated from all at home. Being in
Afghanistan is definitely not TRON but the idea of me getting older while my
son(s) grow into men(like we see with Kevin Flynn) is very much how I have
felt.
Sam’s
response is also somewhat telling as he says to his dad, “ You’re….” and Kevin
Flynn says “ Old “ filling in the truth of the way Kevin Flynn looks and
feels. Kevin Flynn needs time to ponder
having his son there again and he tells Sam, “ Dinner will be soon….we’ll
talk.” and leaves him to spend time with Quorra, a student of all that Kevin
Flynn knows and someone Flynn has been helping.
Kevin Flynn steps outside and looks off into the distance trying to take
in all that has happened and looks out to the distance for a answer….something
I have done quite often here. I have
spent hours looking at the horizon hoping to gain an answer to my own
separation from my family.
Quorra tries
to help Sam with all the emotions and says “ He never thought he would see you
again…” Her assessment of the reunion
between Father & Son is very accurate and also describes what it is like
when you are here on long term assignment.
There are times when you are here and you “feel” like you may never get
to see home & family again…..I can really identify with the emotions here
and it is likely why the movie has such an emotional pull on me.
Some of the
music is also what makes the story come to life. I went to a concert where Maestro John
Williams showed his music with movie scenes in the background. Then he showed the same scenes without any
music at all….. the story was dead and lifeless without the great soundtrack. This bears true in this movie.
His son asks
about why his Dad never came home and Kevin Flynn fills him in on all that has
gone on. The story is one of his efforts
to make a better world and how his good intentions went terribly wrong.
My life
doesn’t follow that aspect of the story but the basic interactions between
Kevin Flynn and his son Sam has some parallels to my own interactions with my
children. They are grown and are set out
on their own lives, some of which I have missed out on during the better part
of the last 4 years that I have been coming here.
Kevin Flynn’s
personal world view is somewhat different than mine but he has a spirituality
that hold some commanality to mine. Mine
is more traditional and his focuses on things like Zen, meditation, etc. Sam
Flynn heads off on his own to figure things out and when his Dad discovers
this, Father & Son are set on a path to their own battle with the troubles
in TRON. Quorra tries to persuade Kevin
Flynn that Sam will be OK but Flynn sees the game change as the catalyst needed
to fix things. “ I won’t lose him
again. Chaos. Good News.”
Sam takes actions
that get him, his Dad and Quorra in trouble.
In his anger, Flynn tells Sam, “You’ve done enough already…..Sam.... You’re
really messing with my Zen thing.”
In a
short while, they figure out that they need to work together and solve the
issues that threaten them and the entire TRON world.
I have also
discovered in life that my kids will come up with their own ideas and you have
to let them try things out. Skinning
their knees is part of life and protecting them from that lesson is one of the
biggest mistakes all these “new age” helicopter parents make. Allowing kids to make mistakes and recover
from them helps make them better people and better at handling life issues.
Kevin Flynn sacrifices
himself in the end to save Sam and Quorra…. It is something all parents would
do and hopefully will never have to face.
The movie is one that didn’t get a lot of box office play but has become
one of my new favorites.
As with many
other situations, I am evaluating what is there in front of me for Leadership
Learning opportunities and making sure I
keep lessons in mind when I run into situations…Too many don’t understand this
simple aspect of making the most of your daily experiences and by doing so,
improving your ability to deal with life.
The mission
here will end soon for me when I demob and I look forward to not being away
from home and the real world. It will be
nice to be part of my real life instead of what occurs here in Afghanistan.
In the end, Kevin Flynn doesn't get to go home. In my world, that is not a worry as I will get home very soon.
" The Game has changed." Indeed.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
“The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan,” one American official said, “was the United States.”
Is it possible that the people in our Government are this bloody stupid??
Guess so. Sad, as Pogo got it right when he said, " We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Guess so. Sad, as Pogo got it right when he said, " We have met the enemy, and he is us."
With Bags of Cash, C.I.A. Seeks Influence in Afghanistan
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG NY Times
Published: April 28, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan — For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Off-the-books cash delivered directly to President Karzai’s office shows payments on a vast scale.
All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current and former advisers to the Afghan leader.
“We called it ‘ghost money,’ ” said Khalil Roman, who served as Mr. Karzai’s chief of staff from 2002 until 2005. “It came in secret, and it left in secret.”
The C.I.A., which declined to comment for this article, has long been known to support some relatives and close aides of Mr. Karzai. But the new accounts of off-the-books cash delivered directly to his office show payments on a vaster scale, and with a far greater impact on everyday governing.
Moreover, there is little evidence that the payments bought the influence the C.I.A. sought. Instead, some American officials said, the cash has fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington’s exit strategy from Afghanistan.
“The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan,” one American official said, “was the United States.”
The United States was not alone in delivering cash to the president. Mr. Karzai acknowledged a few years ago that Iran regularly gave bags of cash to one of his top aides.
At the time, in 2010, American officials jumped on the payments as evidence of an aggressive Iranian campaign to buy influence and poison Afghanistan’s relations with the United States. What they did not say was that the C.I.A. was also plying the presidential palace with cash — and unlike the Iranians, it still is.
American and Afghan officials familiar with the payments said the agency’s main goal in providing the cash has been to maintain access to Mr. Karzai and his inner circle and to guarantee the agency’s influence at the presidential palace, which wields tremendous power in Afghanistan’s highly centralized government. The officials spoke about the money only on the condition of anonymity.
It is not clear that the United States is getting what it pays for. Mr. Karzai’s willingness to defy the United States — and the Iranians, for that matter — on an array of issues seems to have only grown as the cash has piled up. Instead of securing his good graces, the payments may well illustrate the opposite: Mr. Karzai is seemingly unable to be bought.
Over Iran’s objections, he signed a strategic partnership deal with the United States last year, directly leading the Iranians to halt their payments, two senior Afghan officials said. Now, Mr. Karzai is seeking control over the Afghan militias raised by the C.I.A. to target operatives of Al Qaeda and insurgent commanders, potentially upending a critical part of the Obama administration’s plans for fighting militants as conventional military forces pull back this year.
But the C.I.A. has continued to pay, believing it needs Mr. Karzai’s ear to run its clandestine war against Al Qaeda and its allies, according to American and Afghan officials.
Like the Iranian cash, much of the C.I.A.’s money goes to paying off warlords and politicians, many of whom have ties to the drug trade and, in some cases, the Taliban. The result, American and Afghan officials said, is that the agency has greased the wheels of the same patronage networks that American diplomats and law enforcement agents have struggled unsuccessfully to dismantle, leaving the government in the grips of what are basically organized crime syndicates.
The cash does not appear to be subject to the oversight and restrictions placed on official American aid to the country or even the C.I.A.’s formal assistance programs, like financing Afghan intelligence agencies. And while there is no evidence that Mr. Karzai has personally taken any of the money — Afghan officials say the cash is handled by his National Security Council — the payments do in some cases work directly at odds with the aims of other parts of the American government in Afghanistan, even if they do not appear to violate American law.
Handing out cash has been standard procedure for the C.I.A. in Afghanistan since the start of the war. During the 2001 invasion, agency cash bought the services of numerous warlords, including Muhammad Qasim Fahim, the current first vice president.
“We paid them to overthrow the Taliban,” the American official said.
The C.I.A. then kept paying the Afghans to keep fighting. For instance, Mr. Karzai’s half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was paid by the C.I.A. to run the Kandahar Strike Force, a militia used by the agency to combat militants, until his assassination in 2011.
A number of senior officials on the Afghan National Security Council are also individually on the agency’s payroll, Afghan officials said.
While intelligence agencies often pay foreign officials to provide information, dropping off bags of cash at a foreign leader’s office to curry favor is a more unusual arrangement.
Afghan officials said the practice grew out of the unique circumstances in Afghanistan, where the United States built the government that Mr. Karzai runs. To accomplish that task, it had to bring to heel many of the warlords the C.I.A. had paid during and after the 2001 invasion.
By late 2002, Mr. Karzai and his aides were pressing for the payments to be routed through the president’s office, allowing him to buy the warlords’ loyalty, a former adviser to Mr. Karzai said.
Then, in December 2002, Iranians showed up at the palace in a sport utility vehicle packed with cash, the former adviser said.
The C.I.A. began dropping off cash at the palace the following month, and the sums grew from there, Afghan officials said.
Payments ordinarily range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, the officials said, though none could provide exact figures. The money is used to cover a slew of off-the-books expenses, like paying off lawmakers or underwriting delicate diplomatic trips or informal negotiations.
Much of it also still goes to keeping old warlords in line. One is Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek whose militia served as a C.I.A. proxy force in 2001. He receives nearly $100,000 a month from the palace, two Afghan officials said. Other officials said the amount was significantly lower.
Mr. Dostum, who declined requests for comment, had previously said he was given $80,000 a month to serve as Mr. Karzai’s emissary in northern Afghanistan. “I asked for a year up front in cash so that I could build my dream house,” he was quoted as saying in a 2009 interview with Time magazine.
Some of the cash also probably ends up in the pockets of the Karzai aides who handle it, Afghan and Western officials said, though they would not identify any by name.
That is not a significant concern for the C.I.A., said American officials familiar with the agency’s operations. “They’ll work with criminals if they think they have to,” one American former official said.
Interestingly, the cash from Tehran appears to have been handled with greater transparency than the dollars from the C.I.A., Afghan officials said. The Iranian payments were routed through Mr. Karzai’s chief of staff. Some of the money was deposited in an account in the president’s name at a state-run bank, and some was kept at the palace. The sum delivered would then be announced at the next cabinet meeting. The Iranians gave $3 million to well over $10 million a year, Afghan officials said.
When word of the Iranian cash leaked out in October 2010, Mr. Karzai told reporters that he was grateful for it. He then added: “The United States is doing the same thing. They are providing cash to some of our offices.”
At the time, Mr. Karzai’s aides said he was referring to the billions in formal aid the United States gives. But the former adviser said in a recent interview that the president was in fact referring to the C.I.A.’s bags of cash.
No one mentions the agency’s money at cabinet meetings. It is handled by a small clique at the National Security Council, including its administrative chief, Mohammed Zia Salehi, Afghan officials said.
Mr. Salehi, though, is better known for being arrested in 2010 in connection with a sprawling, American-led investigation that tied together Afghan cash smuggling, Taliban finances and the opium trade. Mr. Karzai had him released within hours, and the C.I.A. then helped persuade the Obama administration to back off its anticorruption push, American officials said.
After his release, Mr. Salehi jokingly came up with a motto that succinctly summed up America’s conflicting priorities. He was, he began telling colleagues, “an enemy of the F.B.I., and a hero to the C.I.A.”
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Riding Shotgun
You know it's serious when the dog is riding shotgun twitter.com/SEALofHonor/st…
— SEALofHonor (@SEALofHonor) April 26, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Hailstones reek havoc in Kandahar
Tuesday was a weird day here in Kandahar. That is quite a statement as this place has some pretty messed up things happening daily but yesterday was a new one.
We got hit by a thunderstorm/hail that lasted about 30 minutes, pelting everything with hailstones as large as golfballs. It destroyed cars, windsheilds, tables and just about everything that was outside.
We got hit by a thunderstorm/hail that lasted about 30 minutes, pelting everything with hailstones as large as golfballs. It destroyed cars, windsheilds, tables and just about everything that was outside.
The Hail punched holes in our picnic tables that were outside.
The sad news was that three local Afghan Citizens were killed by the hailstones, getting hit in the head hard enough to take their lives.
Of all the ways to get killed in this country, ( and there are many), no one ever wrote on a death certificate, " Killed by Hailstone " until today.
This place never ceases to amaze me as it is crazy here in Kandahar. Time to go home in about 27 days.....sounds like a plan. Get outta here and go home.
Friday, April 19, 2013
STAY STRONG BOSTON FROM AFGHANISTAN
An awesome picture from Afghanistan - Thanks to these Soldiers for their service and their solidarity with the people of Boston
Friday, April 12, 2013
The "Layabout Day" and a visit to KAF
Took a ride over to KAF today. It is our one day a week off, or as we call it, the "Layabout Day". It is the one day a week when you can just hang out and not focus on anything.
Got to see a little more of the base than usual as the exit we normally use ECP 5 (Entry Control Point) was closed for road work. We wound up having to drive to the far end of the base to exit at ECP 4 instead. We drove along the road which takes you in front of the civilian terminal which is pictured below.
Got to see a little more of the base than usual as the exit we normally use ECP 5 (Entry Control Point) was closed for road work. We wound up having to drive to the far end of the base to exit at ECP 4 instead. We drove along the road which takes you in front of the civilian terminal which is pictured below.
KAF was dusty and busy as usual....Not much different going on but the place is noticeably less crowded. That is one sign that the "rush to the exits" is proceeding here in Afghanistan. Picked up the mail and stopped off at the PX for a few things.
The rest of the day was dedicated to making the most of my Layabout Day and enjoying a day where we can recharge the batteries for the next week which begins tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Wild Weather in Kandahar
We had a bout
of violent thunderstorms tear through Kandahar. Our offices were pummeled by
high winds and torrential rain for about an hour today. It was a strong storm and when we made our
way back from the office park to the residential camp a mile away, we saw how
strong it really was.
A work yard just
near our residential camp was hit by a microburst as every structure in the
work yard was flattened. This was a work
yard that was about 100 yards wide and about 300 yards long. No structure survived and the perimeter fence
was down with some of the trees in this area snapped in two like twigs. Our residential
camp was OK but the large antenna mast that holds our internet dish was knocked
down.
We have lost our main internet connection and are limited to net connectivity at our office for the newt few days.
The weather here can be powerful when it wants
to and this was one of those times. When
a storm comes across the open desert, there is little to slow it down or stop
it.The last three days of wild weather ended with a brilliant sunset on Tuesday evening. It was nice to see and standing there admiring God's handiwork while smoking a cigar was the perfect way to end the day.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Sunrise in Kandahar
Sunrise this morning in #Kandahar, #Afghanistan - Start of our Saturday as #USA finishes its Friday - #OEF @usnavy twitter.com/Leadership_One…
— Middleboro Jones (@Leadership_One) April 6, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
For troops deployed in Afghanistan, it is " Return of Dreaded MREs "
So, what did you eat for Breakfast today ?? How about lunch?? Stop off at your favorite place for a snack with your buddies??
FOOD is one of the items that can make or break your day. If you get good food, you'll be better able to take on the day's challenges. If you don't, well that can make your day tougher.
Well while the President and his family spend exorbitantly on multiple vacations and crap for themselves along with the rest of the Pols, we are taking away hot meals from deployed troops in Afghanistan.
Oh yeah, it is couched as "part of the draw down", and we need to pack up BUT in reality ( something the idiots in Washington, DC has no connection to) it is all about spending less $$$$ on the troops.
We'll waste it on celebrity filled concerts for the White House but need to put the soldiers on only one hot meal a day. We'll send $$$ to green projects that are nothing but a scam but we'll take away the one thing that can make a difference for tired and hard working troops, a good meal.
Decorum prevents me from saying what I really feel so all I can add is this:
FOOD is one of the items that can make or break your day. If you get good food, you'll be better able to take on the day's challenges. If you don't, well that can make your day tougher.
Well while the President and his family spend exorbitantly on multiple vacations and crap for themselves along with the rest of the Pols, we are taking away hot meals from deployed troops in Afghanistan.
Oh yeah, it is couched as "part of the draw down", and we need to pack up BUT in reality ( something the idiots in Washington, DC has no connection to) it is all about spending less $$$$ on the troops.
We'll waste it on celebrity filled concerts for the White House but need to put the soldiers on only one hot meal a day. We'll send $$$ to green projects that are nothing but a scam but we'll take away the one thing that can make a difference for tired and hard working troops, a good meal.
Decorum prevents me from saying what I really feel so all I can add is this:
" WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT !??"
As US Packs Up, Return of Dreaded MREs
KABUL -- U.S. troops across Afghanistan are preparing for a reunion with a long-lost frenemy.
After years of base build-ups and access to massive dining halls with a substantial selection of ethnic food options and specialty nights, soon many servicemembers instead will be chowing down on a plateful of MRE, or Meals, Ready to Eat — also referred to by nicknames inspired by the packaged food’s taste, or lack thereof.
As U.S. troops strive to meet the Dec. 31, 2014, deadline for international combat troops to leave Afghanistan, the American military is mandating sweeping changes as support services also decline. Changes include consolidating housing and reduction of contract labor, as well as changes to the soldiers’ daily diet. All dining halls will replace two of the current four hot meals per day with MREs or Unitized Group Rations (UGRs), which are similar to a giant MRE.
The hot food reductions are part of a larger plan to return to so-called expeditionary standards, meaning a return to conditions more akin to those during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The deadline for all bases to conform to the new guidelines is Oct. 1, though the process has already begun, said Brig. Gen. Steven Shapiro, who is helping to implement the new rules.
Shapiro echoed coalition commanders’ assertions of success in Afghanistan, even amid continuing violence and a rash of coalition deaths at the hands of their Afghan counterparts.
“The fact that we’re winning, it manifests itself in these expeditionary standards,” Shapiro said.
Deployed troops had mixed feelings about the impending changes.
Sgt. Michael Day, a combat engineer at Kandahar Air Field, said he understands the need to scale back services, but that chow is the wrong thing to skimp on.
“It’s great for, I guess, saving money and cutting back on contractors … but there’s a lot more things you can cut back,” he said. “It’s not fair to the soldiers doing the daily grind.”
Spc. Angel Gonzalez, with 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Unit, said he understands the rationale for cutting back in order to leave the country, but he said there will be an inevitable effect on morale.
“It wouldn’t be that bad since they’re cutting soldiers back, but still, that chow is a morale booster really,” he said. “It’s something you look forward to in your day. It gets you going through the day, that hot meal, and those fresh drinks.”
Sgt. 1st Class Jamie Villarreal, also with 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Unit, said the new meal regimen would be no different than the conditions troops faced at the beginning of the Iraq War and said the MRE offerings have improved.
“The quicker we get out of here, the better,” he said. “We go back home, be around family and friends, so there’s nothing bad about this.”
Amongh other changes Shapiro said troops will see are:
• Housing will be consolidated as the military closes buildings in advance of shutting down bases. This means many troops sleeping two to a room may have to double up, though they are unlikely to be moved into tents.
• Post exchange stores will reduce their selection, a process that has already begun.
• Vendors, including the restaurants along Kandahar Air Field’s boardwalk, will start closing, so there will be fewer dining and shopping options at the larger bases.
• Although gyms will not be closed and MWRs will remain open, some of the specialty events troops at large bases have become accustomed to, such as salsa and bingo nights, may disappear.
• Soldiers are likely to take over many of the jobs contractors have been doing for years, such as food service, as the military starts sending contractors out of the country.
The transition will be gradual and base commanders will have latitude to decide which meals to cut, though breakfast and the midnight meal, generally the least-attended offerings, are the most likely to go. Bases will go through their remaining stocks of food before reducing the number of hot meals offered, Shapiro said.
“You almost have to eat your way to this new standard,” he said.
One service that will not be affected is emergency medical care, Shapiro said. The military will still keep in place the so-called “golden hour” standard that seriously wounded troops can get to a trauma center within an hour of being injured on the battlefield. The only change in medical care may be that outpatient services are transferred to larger bases.
“We’re not going to sacrifice health and safety,” he said.
Shapiro explained that troops will continue to have access to wireless Internet, which he said is key to morale.
“As long as I can Skype with my wife and my kids at the end of the day, I’m having a good day,” he said.
The military has rolled out an awareness campaign about the entire transition process, including American Forces Network ads with soldiers talking about how losing amenities means they are closer to going home. A series of posters, with the theme “expeditionary in, expeditionary out,” is more colorful, with one featuring a marine eating a scorpion as a humorous example of what “expeditionary” will not mean. Another poster will feature a display of the various MRE menus.
Of course, this news is likely to bring snickers from troops based at remote combat outposts, many of which have never had any of the trappings of larger bases, such as Bagram Air Field, a logistical hub near Kabul with a Pizza Hut and Popeyes on Disney Drive.
Shapiro said the changes are expected to result in a savings of 10 to 20 percent in contracting costs, as well as canceled construction contracts worth roughly $1 billion. But he stressed that the financial benefit is a bonus, rather than the reason for the changes.
-- Stars and Stripes reporter Alex Pena contributed to this report
After years of base build-ups and access to massive dining halls with a substantial selection of ethnic food options and specialty nights, soon many servicemembers instead will be chowing down on a plateful of MRE, or Meals, Ready to Eat — also referred to by nicknames inspired by the packaged food’s taste, or lack thereof.
As U.S. troops strive to meet the Dec. 31, 2014, deadline for international combat troops to leave Afghanistan, the American military is mandating sweeping changes as support services also decline. Changes include consolidating housing and reduction of contract labor, as well as changes to the soldiers’ daily diet. All dining halls will replace two of the current four hot meals per day with MREs or Unitized Group Rations (UGRs), which are similar to a giant MRE.
The hot food reductions are part of a larger plan to return to so-called expeditionary standards, meaning a return to conditions more akin to those during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The deadline for all bases to conform to the new guidelines is Oct. 1, though the process has already begun, said Brig. Gen. Steven Shapiro, who is helping to implement the new rules.
Shapiro echoed coalition commanders’ assertions of success in Afghanistan, even amid continuing violence and a rash of coalition deaths at the hands of their Afghan counterparts.
“The fact that we’re winning, it manifests itself in these expeditionary standards,” Shapiro said.
Deployed troops had mixed feelings about the impending changes.
Sgt. Michael Day, a combat engineer at Kandahar Air Field, said he understands the need to scale back services, but that chow is the wrong thing to skimp on.
“It’s great for, I guess, saving money and cutting back on contractors … but there’s a lot more things you can cut back,” he said. “It’s not fair to the soldiers doing the daily grind.”
Spc. Angel Gonzalez, with 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Unit, said he understands the rationale for cutting back in order to leave the country, but he said there will be an inevitable effect on morale.
“It wouldn’t be that bad since they’re cutting soldiers back, but still, that chow is a morale booster really,” he said. “It’s something you look forward to in your day. It gets you going through the day, that hot meal, and those fresh drinks.”
Sgt. 1st Class Jamie Villarreal, also with 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Unit, said the new meal regimen would be no different than the conditions troops faced at the beginning of the Iraq War and said the MRE offerings have improved.
“The quicker we get out of here, the better,” he said. “We go back home, be around family and friends, so there’s nothing bad about this.”
Amongh other changes Shapiro said troops will see are:
• Housing will be consolidated as the military closes buildings in advance of shutting down bases. This means many troops sleeping two to a room may have to double up, though they are unlikely to be moved into tents.
• Post exchange stores will reduce their selection, a process that has already begun.
• Vendors, including the restaurants along Kandahar Air Field’s boardwalk, will start closing, so there will be fewer dining and shopping options at the larger bases.
• Although gyms will not be closed and MWRs will remain open, some of the specialty events troops at large bases have become accustomed to, such as salsa and bingo nights, may disappear.
• Soldiers are likely to take over many of the jobs contractors have been doing for years, such as food service, as the military starts sending contractors out of the country.
The transition will be gradual and base commanders will have latitude to decide which meals to cut, though breakfast and the midnight meal, generally the least-attended offerings, are the most likely to go. Bases will go through their remaining stocks of food before reducing the number of hot meals offered, Shapiro said.
“You almost have to eat your way to this new standard,” he said.
One service that will not be affected is emergency medical care, Shapiro said. The military will still keep in place the so-called “golden hour” standard that seriously wounded troops can get to a trauma center within an hour of being injured on the battlefield. The only change in medical care may be that outpatient services are transferred to larger bases.
“We’re not going to sacrifice health and safety,” he said.
Shapiro explained that troops will continue to have access to wireless Internet, which he said is key to morale.
“As long as I can Skype with my wife and my kids at the end of the day, I’m having a good day,” he said.
The military has rolled out an awareness campaign about the entire transition process, including American Forces Network ads with soldiers talking about how losing amenities means they are closer to going home. A series of posters, with the theme “expeditionary in, expeditionary out,” is more colorful, with one featuring a marine eating a scorpion as a humorous example of what “expeditionary” will not mean. Another poster will feature a display of the various MRE menus.
Of course, this news is likely to bring snickers from troops based at remote combat outposts, many of which have never had any of the trappings of larger bases, such as Bagram Air Field, a logistical hub near Kabul with a Pizza Hut and Popeyes on Disney Drive.
Shapiro said the changes are expected to result in a savings of 10 to 20 percent in contracting costs, as well as canceled construction contracts worth roughly $1 billion. But he stressed that the financial benefit is a bonus, rather than the reason for the changes.
-- Stars and Stripes reporter Alex Pena contributed to this report
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Help get our Miss " Sandy " Stateside........
Hope all had a good Easter Sunday -
Here is the mission - The pup that we have here in Afghanistan will be heading to her new home in Seattle. She was abandoned here on the side of the road in Kandahar but was taken in by the staff at the camp where we stay near KAF
Here is the mission - The pup that we have here in Afghanistan will be heading to her new home in Seattle. She was abandoned here on the side of the road in Kandahar but was taken in by the staff at the camp where we stay near KAF
The staff here named her " Xena " but I preferred to call her "Sandy"
She's with NOWZAD Dogs ( www.nowzad.com ) and is in Kabul preparing to head home once she is medically cleared and they have her ready.
YOU can help my making a small donation to help with the $4000 it will cost to get her stateside.
Any amount is appreciated, no matter how much as I know $$$ is tight these days.
You can donate at http://www.gofundme.com/nowzad-xena
The website is paypal and it allows you to make a donation securely.
She's a great pup and deserves the life that she will have living in the US.
I appreciate all who assist and I rarely (if ever) ask for people to donate $$ but this is one little pup who is well worth it.
Thanks again. With many hands lifting, this little girl will get a chance to live a " dog's life " with a family who will love her always.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
EASTER SUNRISE 2013 - Kandahar, Afghanistan
Happy Easter from Kandahar !
A beautiful sunrise this morning ( see enclosed picture) - Easter Morning and "He has risen"
It was 12 years ago on Easter 2001 that I sent the enclosed message to my son James who was out to sea on the carrier USS John C. Stennis, CVN-74. After all these years it reminds me of what is important on Easter Day.
Easter was my Mother's favorite holiday and to her it was the message of hope, rebirth & faith that made it special.
Easter was my Mother's favorite holiday and to her it was the message of hope, rebirth & faith that made it special.
I send you best wishes from Kandahar.
Kandahar has been quiet as of late and that is a good thing for all here. I will be home at the end of May and I am looking forward to it.
COPY of E-mail sent Easter 2001 -
Happy Easter!
My son - It was too much for the Easter Bunny to swim out to meet your ship, but I want to wish you a Happy Easter - Like other holidays, I think Easter has gotten too far from what the true meaning of what it is really about - We are truly blessed with God's love - We are not together on this day, but we know you are safe - We are together in spirit, and united in our faith - The Lord has watched over us, and has guarded us through the past years - and He will be there as our Shepard as we go forward into an uncertain future -
We are very proud of the sacrifice you make to protect us each day - It is a honorable and noble cause to fight for our country & our way of life - In a world where our way of life and faith is under siege, we must continue to hold on to our faith, courage and honor - It is what separates us from the cowardly and despicable bastards that murder innocents in God's name - We will fight these villains, and Justice will prevail -
Enclosed is a passage from John 20:1-18 - it tells the story of the discovery of the Resurrection - Know that we await your safe return, and hope that your time will pass quickly -
We love & miss you - We are truly blessed by Jesus' & God's love.
Love -
Dad & Karen
John 20:1-18
20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."
20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.
20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
20:5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,
20:7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.
20:8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
20:9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
20:10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
20:12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.
20:13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
20:15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher).
20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
20:18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her
We are very proud of the sacrifice you make to protect us each day - It is a honorable and noble cause to fight for our country & our way of life - In a world where our way of life and faith is under siege, we must continue to hold on to our faith, courage and honor - It is what separates us from the cowardly and despicable bastards that murder innocents in God's name - We will fight these villains, and Justice will prevail -
Enclosed is a passage from John 20:1-18 - it tells the story of the discovery of the Resurrection - Know that we await your safe return, and hope that your time will pass quickly -
We love & miss you - We are truly blessed by Jesus' & God's love.
Love -
Dad & Karen
John 20:1-18
20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."
20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.
20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
20:5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,
20:7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.
20:8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
20:9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
20:10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
20:12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.
20:13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
20:15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher).
20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
20:18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her
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