President Kennedy, Afghanistan, & the Specter of Endless Wars…

[Robert Montenegro]

Today, I make this post in the spirit of great shame and humility.

I have lashed out publicly, in unwarranted fashion, at two dedicated fact-finders, researchers, Leslie Sharp and Joseph Backes, for different reasons—to which I say to each of them, I am deeply sorry, you do not deserve to be targets of my personal mar & ail.

For ten years now, always roughly around this time of year, I have suffered from physical irritability, and psychological despair.

This is because on 11 August 2013, I received the devastating news that three of my personal friends were killed in action, while engaging in combat operations in Paktika, Province, Afghanistan:

My squad leader, SSG. Octavio Herrera.

My assistant squad leader, SGT. Jamar Avery Hicks.

My battle-buddy, SPC. Keith Erin Grace Jr.

 

 

May the almighty keep you in the fold of infinite creation and brilliant enlightenment, brothers—be at ease, & rest.

And for ten long years, I have been in the brutal pursuit of why.

Why was I, and so many of my brothers-in-arms, thrusted into a conflict with no final goal, no sound tactics employed, no end-game, no exit-strategy, & ultimately, no reasonably sane geopolitical purpose?

The horrific answer I have come to in the past four or five years is that a fascist clique of heartless, soulless, psychopaths have thrusted the full mechanisms of Western Civilization (for what it is worth), in a suicidal death spiral—a death spiral whose gyrating center is the Military Industrial Complex and the profiteers that keep it in motion—all for the sake of profit, nothing more.

Three trillion dollars worth of US taxpayers money and natural resources disappeared in Afghanistan and over five-hundred thousand Afghan civilians perished from direct combat action, disease and malnutrition.

Not to mention over four-thousand US military servicemen and defense related contractors were killed in action in a twenty-year war on sovereign Afghan soil, and God knows how many have taken their own lives (and still are killing themselves).

It is not lost on me, that one of the last heads of state that was invited to the Kennedy White House, was the honorable “Father of the Nation,” King Mohammad Ẓāhir Shāh, the non-aligned, imperial ruler of Afghanistan:

 

 

Above is a photograph, taken 5 September 1963, of President Kennedy, greeting King of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ẓāhir Shāh on the North Portico of the White House, along with Chief of Protocol, Angier Biddle Duke, who is standing in the center.

Like President Kennedy, King Ẓāhir was also the target of a coup d'état, that involved the sponsorship of Western intelligence assets.

Once again, I apologize to anyone on this forum if I have come off as an irritable S.O.B., but I suffer from not just shell-shock from my own personal experiences in combat, but from the loss of three of the most affable human-beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I’ll leave you, the reader of this post, with the words of hope from one of the most important, albeit, personally flawed (as we all are), statesmen of the 20th century—words that sadly, represent a missed opportunity of peace, this Earth, and its inhabitants, all suffer from:

 

 

I am sure that if President Kennedy had lived, the situation in Afghanistan would have been different, and my brothers, and countless others, would still be alive...
 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Robert Montenegro

[W. Niederhut]

Robert,

     Thanks for sharing this very personal, tragic story about your experiences and fallen comrades in the Afghan War.

      It's difficult for those of us who have never experienced anything comparable to fully understand what you have been through, but I know that my own father experienced (untreated) PTSD and survivor's guilt from his combat experiences in WWII, and the loss of his comrades.

    Knowing your intellectual habits, I'm guessing that you have done a deep dive into the history of the U.S. Afghan War.

    I'd be interested in hearing your perspective, which is relevant to the general subject of U.S. "forever wars" following JFK's murder.

     I have tried, as a layman, to make sense of America's longest war (in Afghanistan) during the past 22 years-- but I have failed.

     My impression is that it all began as part of the implementation of the Wolfowitz Doctrine--that the U.S. was the sole world super power after the collapse of the USSR-- and the associated Project for a New American Century (PNAC) for U.S. military control of strategic resources in central Asia and the Middle East.

     The ostensible, proximal Bush/Cheney administration pretext for the carpet bombing and invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was that the Taliban was harboring Osama Bin Laden and his "Al Qaeda" mujaheddin associates who were accused of carrying out the shocking 9/11 attacks on the WTC and Pentagon.

      If I understand the history correctly, the Taliban had asked the Bush administration in September of 2001 for the evidence that Bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., but had received none.  

     Reportedly, Osama Bin Laden denied any involvement in 9/11 (to Al Jazeera and to a Pakistani journalist) but those stories were suppressed in the U.S. mainstream media, which repeatedly pushed the narrative (beginning within one hour of the first plane hitting the WTC) that Osama Bin Laden and "Al Qaeda" did 9/11.

     

Edited July 14, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Leslie Sharp]

2 hours ago, Robert Montenegro said:

Today, I make this post in the spirit of great shame and humility.

I have lashed out publicly, in unwarranted fashion, at two dedicated fact-finders, researchers, Leslie Sharp and Joseph Backes, for different reasons—to which I say to each of them, I am deeply sorry, you do not deserve to be targets of my personal mar & ail.

For tens years now, always roughly around this time of year, I have suffered from physical irritability, and psychological despair.

This is because on 11 August 2013, I received the devastating news that three of my personal friends were killed in action, while engaging in combat operations in Paktika, Province, Afghanistan:

My squad leader, SSG. Octavio Herrera.

My assistant squad leader, SGT. Jamar Avery Hicks.

My battle-buddy, SPC. Keith Erin Grace Jr.

 

 

May the almighty keep you in the fold of infinite creation and brilliant enlightenment, brothers—be at ease, & rest.

And for ten long years, I have been in the brutal pursuit of why.

Why was I, and so many of my brothers-in-arms, thrusted into a conflict with no final goal, no sound tactics employed, no end-game, no exit-strategy, & ultimately, no reasonably sane geopolitical purpose?

The horrific answer I have come to in the past four or five years is that a fascist clique of heartless, soulless, psychopaths have thrusted the full mechanisms of Western Civilization (for what it is worth), in a suicidal death spiral—a death spiral whose gyrating center is the Military Industrial Complex and the profiteers that keep it in motion—all for the sake of profit, nothing more.

Three trillion dollars worth of US taxpayers money and natural resources disappeared in Afghanistan and over five-hundred thousand Afghan civilians perished from direct combat action, disease and malnutrition.

Not to mention over four-thousand US military servicemen and defense related contractors were killed in action in a twenty-year war on sovereign Afghan soil, and God knows how many have taken their own lives (and still are killing themselves).

It is not lost on me, that one of the last heads of state that was invited to the Kennedy White House, was the honorable “Father of the Nation,” King Mohammad Ẓāhir Shāh, the non-aligned, imperial ruler of Afghanistan:

 

 

Above is a photograph, taken 5 September 1963, of President Kennedy, greeting King of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ẓāhir Shāh on the North Portico of the White House, along with Chief of Protocol, Angier Biddle Duke, who is standing in the center.

Like President Kennedy, King Ẓāhir was also the target of a coup d'état, that involved the sponsorship of Western intelligence assets.

Once again, I apologize to anyone on this forum if I have come off as an irritable S.O.B., but I suffer from not just shell-shock from my own personal experiences in combat, but from the loss of three of the most affable human-beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I’ll leave you, the reader of this post, with the words of hope from one of the most important, albeit, personally flawed (as we all are), statesmen of the 20th century—words that sadly, represent a missed opportunity of peace, this Earth, and its inhabitants, all suffer from:

 

 

I am sure that if President Kennedy had lived, the situation in Afghanistan would have been different, and my brothers, and countless others, would still be alive...
 

Monté,

When the tears subside . . .

Meanwhile, no apologies necessary here, and you continue to be a breath of fresh air in my world.

(btw, you are a fine, fine writer, and while Hank wasn't prone to professional jealousy, I suspect he would envy this piece — and bleed for you for the experiences that prompted it.)

best. L.

[Robert Montenegro]

24 minutes ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Monté,

When the tears subside . . .

Meanwhile, no apologies necessary here, and you continue to be a breath of fresh air in my world.

(btw, you are a fine, fine writer, and while Hank wasn't prone to professional jealousy, I suspect he would envy this piece — and bleed for you for the experiences that prompted it.)

best. L.

 

Thank you Leslie.

I wouldn't be here if Hank didn't support me in my hour of need.

[Benjamin Cole]

Peace and prosperity to all.

Not only American soldiers were killed in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Sad as those losses were, they are dwarfed by the total amount of human carnage.