Nine US troops die in Afghan Taliban attack

London Times: “One of the biggest single losses in a day” for coalition troops in Afghanistan.

More Afghan civilians killed by US

BBC: Forty-seven Afghan civilians - 39 of them women and children - killed by US airstrike. Military claims they were militants.

Foreign fighters flock to Pakistan

NY Times: Not entirely sure if this is what they mean by “flypaper theory.”

Suicide bombing in Afghan capital

WaPo: That other war, continued: Suicide bombing near Indian Embassy kills 40 people, injures 141.

Staying longer

AP: Pentagon extends tour of Marines in Afghanistan, after saying for months that they would come home on time.

A prayer for this Fourth, and likely others

I don’t usually post entries related to holidays; I’m usually busy elsewhere, occupied with other things. Upon reflection, however, it seemed unfitting to let this birthday of a nation currently at war on two fronts pass without remark. More than a few citizens will invoke the name of God today in celebrating our country’s birth. It stands to reason that if God is our ally, then He must be the enemy of our enemies. Such is the reasoning behind our plea: “May God grant us victory in war.”

With that, I yield the floor to Mr. Samuel Clemens.

The War Prayer

by Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpouring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.

It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their faces alight with material dreams – visions of a stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! – then home from the war, bronzed heros, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation – “God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest, Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!”

Then came the “long” prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory.

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there, waiting.

With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal,” Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said

“I come from the Throne – bearing a message from Almighty God!” The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. “He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd and grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.

“God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two – one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of His Who hearth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this – keep it in mind. If you beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

“You have heard your servant’s prayer – the uttered part of it. I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it – that part which the pastor, and also you in your hearts, fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(After a pause)

“Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits.”

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

A little cool water for the holy fire of patriotism.

You can watch a short video of this work by Twain; a nod of the head in thanks to Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly for his Memorial Day post.

Prison break

Sobering news from that other war, via CNN: A suicide attack by Taliban forces on a prison in Afghanistan frees hundreds of Taliban suspects captured over the last six years. I apologize for the glibness of this next remark, but the description of the incident sounds like something out of a Mad Max movie:

The militants used suicide truck bombs loaded with about two tons of explosives to blast holes in the mud brick walls of the Soviet-era prison, a Taliban spokesman said.

A gun and rocket battle between the militants and prison guards lasted several hours and ended with dozens of militants rushing inside on motorcycles to free all prisoners inside — including about 400 Taliban fighters, the Taliban spokesman said.

This was the main prison in the province of Kandahar, located on the western outskirts of the city of Kandahar, a reported Taliban stronghold. The Washington Post reports that the prison is controlled by badly-paid and undertrained Afghan police and a corrupt Interior Ministry.

That other war

Generals on the way out of an assignment may feel more free to speak inconvenient truths. Today’s erstwhile commander is General Dan McNeill, outgoing head of Nato forces in Afghanistan. When he took charge of the effort there fifteen months ago, the International Security Assistamce Force had a paltry 33,00 troops. Currently the number stands at 53,000, and McNeill says that’s nowhere near enough:

“This is an under-resourced war and it needs more manoeuvre units, it needs more flying machines, it needs more intelligence, surveillance and recognisance apparatus,” Gen McNeill said.

“I’m not just focused on the US sector, I’m talking about across the country.”

The money graf:

He suggested that if counter-insurgency guidelines were strictly followed, 400,000 troops would be needed in Afghanistan.

Which presidential contender has spoken about the need to pour more resources into that other war? Barack Obama put Afghanistan on his agenda in remarks in the hoary old days of 2006…

Perhaps most importantly, some of these troops could be redeployed to Afghanistan, where our lack of focus and commitment of resources has led to an increasing deterioration of the security situation there. The President’s decision to go to war in Iraq has had disastrous consequences for Afghanistan — we have seen a fierce Taliban offensive, a spike in terrorist attacks, and a narcotrafficking problem spiral out of control. Instead of consolidating the gains made by the Karzai government, we are backsliding towards chaos. By redeploying from Iraq to Afghanistan, we will answer NATO’s call for more troops and provide a much-needed boost to this critical fight against terrorism.

…and subsequently, with an additional emphasis on non-military assistance.

We must not, however, repeat the mistakes of Iraq. The solution in Afghanistan is not just military — it is political and economic. As President, I would increase our non-military aid by $1 billion. These resources should fund projects at the local level to impact ordinary Afghans, including the development of alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers. And we must seek better performance from the Afghan government, and support that performance through tough anti-corruption safeguards on aid, and increased international support to develop the rule of law across the country.

Obama gaffed up last month while discussing Afghanistan, advocating more Arabic translators for a country where, apparently, nobody actually speaks the language. While this delighted ABC News and various rightist bloggers, the kerfluffle obscured Obama’s point on the need for agricultural assistance and an Afghan alternative to growing poppies for opium*:

“We need agricultural specialists in Afghanistan, people who can help them develop other crops than heroin poppies, because the drug trade in Afghanistan is what is driving and financing these terrorist networks. So we need agricultural specialists,” he said.

So what has John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had to say about the war in Afghanistan? In 2007, he said much that would fall in line with the needs expressed by Gen McNeill - and by Obama - with an emphasis on boosting the local judiciary and law enforcement. Unlike Obama, however, McCain has not suggested any redeployment of forces from Iraq that might help support changes on the ground in Afghanistan.

We can expect to hear more on that other war from both candidates as the primaries recede in the political rear view, and the general election contest begins in earnest.

*In one of history’s little ironies, opium production was all but wiped out in Afghanistan as recently as 2001…by the Taliban.

National Guardsman’s death in Afghanistan troublingly familiar

Someone familiar with the story of LaVena Johnson forwarded to me a Boston Globe story by Noah Bierman that is hauntingly familiar:

Mystery surrounds death of soldier
Quincy woman is called a noncombat casualty

The Massachusetts National Guard soldier from Quincy who died in Afghanistan Friday was found with a single bullet in her head lying near her church on a secure military base, her family said yesterday after a briefing from Army officials.

The Department of Defense said in a statement yesterday that Ciara Durkin’s injuries came from a “non-combat related incident” that is under investigation. The statement contradicts a Sunday statement from the Massachusetts Army National Guard that said Durkin, an Army specialist, was killed in action. A guard spokesman said the term was meant to imply that Durkin was deployed in Afghanistan at the time of her death.

“We’re completely in the dark,” said Pierce Durkin, the soldier’s 28-year-old brother. “Patience is probably dissipating.”

Family members, who are pushing for more information from Army officials, are girding for the possibility that Ciara (pronounced Kee-ra) Durkin was killed by a fellow service member, intentionally or accidentally, at the Bagram Airfield. They said they are confident that she did not commit suicide.

From the death of a female soldier in the relative security of her own base to conflicting statements and clumsy parsing of language by authorities to the certainty of a grieving family that its daughter did not take her own life - we have seen this before.

It is to be hoped that the family of Ciara Durkin meets with a swifter and more transparent response from the military than has the family of LaVena Johnson.