… How the Military – Industrial – Congressional Complex (MICC) Will Win By Losing
The old adage that it is easy to get into Afghanistan but painful to leave is true for many reasons — here is a big one described in 27 November issue of the Daily Mirror [also attached below] — the British army plans to use Russian railways, built by the Tsars 140 years ago, to return hundreds of millions of pounds worth of equipment in Afghanistan via a landroute to the English Channel.
If you think the horror described in the Daily Mirror report is bad, think about the US options: Given our deteriorating relations with Pakistan, the long, highly vulnerable land route out of Afghanistan, thru the Bolan and Khyber passes, and then down the road system of the Indus Valley in Pakistan to its port of Karachi, is becoming increasingly problematic.
An optional US exit strategy would be an agonizing variation of the Dunkirk option described in the Daily Mirror report plus a sea lift, perhaps via transshipment points in Black Sea ports, like Batumi in Georgia, or Novorossiysk or Sochi in southern Russia, or even Odessa in the Ukraine (which at least would avoid the problem of different railroad gauges).
A more remote option would be to repair relations with the mullahs of Iran and exit overland westward thru the ports in that country, but that unlikely option would require that, at a minimum, we kiss and make up, lift sanctions, and tell our so-called allies, the Israelis, to shut up and stop their threats to bomb Iran.
So, the most likely exit option is the time-honored US strategy of leaving mounds of expensive equipment behind when it walks away from a war. Moreover, that would be great for the MICC's future budgets, because it would make it easier to sell a “reset” program to replace the losses with newer, even more expensive weapons and equipment.
So, as the Aussies say, ‘no worries, mate,' because ‘tomorrow is another day,' and besides, the MICC will win by losing, after Afghanistan is gone with the wind.
Chuck Spinney
The Blaster
By Christopher Leake and Will Stewart , Daily Mail 27 November 2011
British military commanders are planning to use Russian railways, built by the Tsars 140 years ago, to bring home hundreds of millions of pounds worth of equipment from Afghanistan.
Phi Beta Iota: Revisionist studies since Viet-Nam ended have unearthed evidence that Viet-Nam was a deliberate “using up” of the US military equipment stocks with the specific intent of forcing disposal and then repurchase of an entirely new generation of equipment. That was also funded new military construction within the USA not seen since WWII. The known projected death toll of 25,000 to 50,000 was an “acceptable cost” for the “higher purpose” of “churning” the US military-industrial complex. Iraq and Afghanistan have served the same purpose, and a series of unethical Administrations unwilling to actually serve the public interest have nursed the charade along. What America needs now is a complete flushing of Congress and the two-party tyranny, and installation of a coalition cabinet and a non-partisan Congress able to restore intelligence and integrity to all that the government is supposed to do when it is legitimate, informed, and thoughtful.
