American Hit Men in Afghanistan

American hit men are at work in Afghanistan, according to the commander there. KABUL, Afghanistan -- The new top commander in Afghanistan is talking up a weapon that has been kept in the shadows for years -- special operations missions to kill or capture key insurgents -- to try to convince skeptics the war can be won.

More than previous commanders, Gen. David Petraeus has released the results of special operations missions -- 235 militant leaders were killed or captured in the past 90 days, another 1,066 rank-and-file insurgents killed and 1,673 detained -- to demonstrate the Taliban and their allies are also suffering losses as NATO casualties rise.

It is amazing that the U.S. will admit to such killings of foreigners who have not attacked the U.S. Nor has the U.S. Congress declared war on Afghanistan as required by the U.S. Constitution.

We glorify this primitive behavior, humans killing other humans. We call this murder, "Special Ops". It is a brilliant public relations plan. The majority of Americans approve. We think it is honorable for the largest military in the world to kill a few natives who do not want foreign invaders in their country. We praise the men who, like automatons, murder strangers when told to. Their excuse, I was just following orders.

Killing the Taliban is the same as if the Taliban came to America and tried to implement their form of government, but one party, the Tea Party, would resist. The Taliban would then send out their hit men to kill or capture the insurgents from the Tea Party. If you are one of your family were a member of the Tea Party who wanted the foreigners out of your country I suspect the Special Ops of the Taliban would fuel hatred for generations to come.

If we look closely at the war against terrorism I think we could say the American people have realized you cannot win a war against an idea. Now the war has morphed into a war against Islam. People are controlled by fear. American Christians now fear Islam more than they feared the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The fear will make them condone murdering innocent Muslims.

“Man can be the most affectionate and altruistic of creatures, yet he's potentially more vicious than any other. He is the only one who can be persuaded to hate millions of his own kind whom he has never seen and to kill as many as he can lay his hands on in the name of his tribe or his God.” -Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and author (1903-1998)

Charles Tolleson

By GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer September 2010-SEATTLE – The father of a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan says he tried nearly a half dozen times to pass an urgent message from his son to the Army: Troops in his unit had murdered an Afghan civilian, planned more killings and threatened him to keep quiet about it. By the time officials arrested suspects months later, two more Afghans were dead. And much to Christopher Winfield's horror, his son Adam was among the five Fort Lewis-based soldiers charged in the killings.