Drake
03-03-2011, 09:50 AM
So, I was listening out of the corner of my ear last night while doing some work, and I overheard a guest on the John Stewart show making some outlandish statements about Afghanistan.
The first misleading statement she made was saying that we are paying the Taliban. Now, this is true, simply because of the fact that we are trying to put Afghan jobs in Afghan hands. People forget that the TB is not like AQ. The TB LIVES in Afghanistan. That's their home, so invariably, any money put into Afghan jobs will make it into TB hands somehow. And people also use the word TB like every one of them is a crazed insurgent trying to kill us. There is a HUGE moderate TB population who are not willing to fight us, and only want to live their way on their land. We are just now getting them to see things from our point of view, and statements like that could derail that progress.
The second one was where she said that contractors made up to four times more than soldiers for doing the exact same thing. Not true at all. Contractors down there are doing specialized tasks we cannot do ourselves, either due to lack of expertise, or lack of manpower. You try getting a Private to manage a network down there. Additionally, soldiers HAVE to deploy. You cannot make a contractor deploy, and if you think you'll get a professional down into a war zone for the same salary as a Private, you must've lost your mind.
Rant complete.
The first misleading statement she made was saying that we are paying the Taliban. Now, this is true, simply because of the fact that we are trying to put Afghan jobs in Afghan hands. People forget that the TB is not like AQ. The TB LIVES in Afghanistan. That's their home, so invariably, any money put into Afghan jobs will make it into TB hands somehow. And people also use the word TB like every one of them is a crazed insurgent trying to kill us. There is a HUGE moderate TB population who are not willing to fight us, and only want to live their way on their land. We are just now getting them to see things from our point of view, and statements like that could derail that progress.
The second one was where she said that contractors made up to four times more than soldiers for doing the exact same thing. Not true at all. Contractors down there are doing specialized tasks we cannot do ourselves, either due to lack of expertise, or lack of manpower. You try getting a Private to manage a network down there. Additionally, soldiers HAVE to deploy. You cannot make a contractor deploy, and if you think you'll get a professional down into a war zone for the same salary as a Private, you must've lost your mind.
Rant complete.