The armed forces of the U.K., the U.S.'s biggest military ally, will need billions of dollars more than they have to spend, according to a government audit report, requiring what analysts say will be fundamental cuts to operations...

With Britain battling a record budget deficit, many political analysts say funding for the armed services will fall rather than increase...

The report underscores an evergreen criticism of modern British governments: that they ask their armed forces to project a global military presence without giving them the financial backing to do so.

Is America under funding our military while expecting them to maintain a global presence? At first glance, the answer is no.

Page one of Defense News reported on yesterday President Obama and the congress added $100 billion dollars to the defense budget to...

...cover the rising cost of operations, personnel and pressing modernization needs, officials said.

If approved by Congress, the money would allow defense spending to rise about 1 percent above projected inflation, analysts said.

DoD’s 2010 budget request called for $534 billion, plus $130 billion to cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq...

Among other procurement efforts, the money will pay for new Air Force global strike programs — including work on new manned and unmanned systems — Army brigade combat team modernization, a Navy attack submarine and the Navy’s new Carrier Long-Range Strike system, sources said...

Analysts called the decision a victory for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has lobbied the White House for more funding.

At first blush, this appears to the act of a government backing its resolution with teeth as it sends men and women abroad in harms way. However, a closer look reveals this spending bill does not include...

...the estimated $30 billion that will be needed to fund President Barack Obama’s recent decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Now the Hill reports there is even less in this spending bill for the Pentagon to accomplish its missions...

The defense-spending bill written by Congress ignores cuts to several high-profile Pentagon programs proposed by the Obama administration...includes money for the General Electric-Rolls-Royce alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and for 10 additional Boeing C-17 cargo planes...It also includes a lifeline of sorts for the VH-71 presidential helicopter, which the administration has canceled due to cost concerns.

The Pentagon did not ask for money to continue any of these programs. The funding for the three programs makes up about $3.1 billion in the $636.3 billion Pentagon-spending bill agreed to by congressional negotiators.

Gates also told the Senate that he strongly opposed the $2.5 billion for 10 additional C-17s....But Democrats are also looking to the defense bill as a vehicle to raise the country’s debt ceiling and to extend unemployment benefits and healthcare insurance subsidies for the long-term jobless.

So it is unlikely that Obama will end up vetoing the bill, despite the previous threats.

There it is. These initiatives won’t fund the president’s war surge or critical programs identified by the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense. This bill is one big pork-barrel trough for initiatives already rejected by the president, the Secretary of Defense, and the generals in the Pentagon. Its also a domestic spending bill disguised as a defense bill. After this bill is signed a few contactors in key districts will benefit and the troops will get equipment they don’t want or need.  

The U.K. is only a few paces down the road to Hell ahead of us. In a few more budget cycles we’ll be in the same place. Every precious dollar congress spends on pork and not on real defense requirements is a bill our troops will pay later - when they’re stranded overseas and no one has their back. 

Our economic collapse will quickly be followed by our military collapse...unless the citizens of this nation reign in the mafia we call Congress.

“First, there are those who suggest that Afghanistan is another Vietnam...Yet this argument depends upon a false reading of history. Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognizes the legitimacy of our action. Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency. And most importantly, unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border.”

I’ll buy that. However, I would like to expand upon the commander-in-chief’s remarks and show the other ways Afghanistan is not another Vietnam.

First, I’ll state the obvious. Vietnam is a coastal country, full of low-lands, swamps and jungles.It’s sticky, hot, lush, and full of really nasty bugs. Afghanistan is a, mountainous place. It’s dusty, brown, and full of nasty people.

Second, Vietnamese women are hot. Afghanistan, not so much. I mean, lets face it, there aren’t many war brides coming home from this place.

In Vietnam, we didn’t care so much about offending people. We usually cared more about the accuracy of our ordinance.

In Vietnam, our soldiers listened to better music. Seriously, have you heard the lame crap which passes for popular music these days? I have a request for the left-wing in our nation...how about some good old fashioned war protest songs? I don’t agree with them, but they were still fun to listen to. Hey, now, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down....That stuff was great!

In Vietnam, few people supported the troops. However, there was a hell of a lot more people as troops. American’s from all walks of life fought and died in that war. Today, people loudly support the troops, then slink off to the mall, grateful someone else is doing the dirty work.

Hollywood made one anti-war movie after another about Vietnam. Some of them were damn good, even if you fundamental disagreed with the political perspective. Many conservatives have The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, and Coming Home in their DVD collections, right along with John Wayne’s Green Berets. Other than HBO, Hollywood isn’t making so many movies about the wars these days. And when they do, they suck (I mean, Lions for Lambs?? Come on, folks, you can do better than that!) Hey, Hollywood, if your going to make an anti-war movie, fine, just blow more sh*t up!

Fashion is very different between the two wars. In Vietnam, the enemy wore black pajamas and hid in the jungle. In Afghanistan, the wear white pajamas and hide in caves. Beards are very popular among the Afghani men...not so much in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, the American media was openly against the war effort. In Afghanistan, the American media is trying to figure out how ignore the war as not embarrass their messiah, President Obama.

For our money, one of the better parts of President Obama's speech at West Point this week was his connection between a healthy economy and U.S. national security. To quote: "Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power. It pays for our military. It underwrites our diplomacy." We only wish Mr. Obama understood the link between the larger welfare state he is trying to build at home and the economic weakness that will undermine our military power.

The proof is right before his eyes in the U.S. struggle to get Europe to contribute more forces to Afghanistan. Mr. Obama has called on NATO to buttress the U.S. surge of 30,000 in Afghanistan with 5,000 or more European troops. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Brussels today to round up promissory notes. But except for the usual stalwarts—Britain and Poland—the allies are having trouble meeting even this modest goal. Germany and France are reluctant to contribute anything more to defeat the Taliban.

This is by now a familiar story, and a big part of the problem is the relative lack of military spending. Among the Western Europeans, only France and the U.K. spend more than 2% of GDP on defense, supposedly the NATO-mandated minimum. Nearly everyone else is below that. Germany, the continent's largest economy, stands at 1.3%. U.S. defense spending has been above 4% of GDP since 2004, having fallen to 3% after the Cold War ended.

No amount of pleading and shaming has worked on the continentals. NATO launched the "Defense Capabilities Initiative" in 1999, only to abandon it a few years later. Various attempts to stand up European "rapid reaction" forces have floundered.

Most European countries also commit more than half of what little they do spend on defense to soldier salaries and benefits. Equipment and training are shortchanged. Belgium devotes 74% to personnel; the U.S. 30.6%. Europeans lack cargo planes and helicopters to enable troops to get to, and move within, far-off conflict zones. In 2007, the U.S. deployed 14% of its troops in overseas operations, Europe 4%.

Such relative strategic weakness has made the Europeans more dependent on the American security umbrella, even as they resent it. But it also makes Europeans more disposed to avoid confrontation with adversaries like Saddam Hussein or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As Henry Kissinger has put it, European leaders are no longer able to ask their people to make major sacrifices.

The overlooked culprit here is the rise of the modern welfare state. Since World War II and especially from the 1960s, Europe has built elaborate domestic income-maintenance programs, with government-run health care, pensions and jobless benefits. These are hugely expensive, requiring high taxes and government spending that is a huge proportion of GDP. The nearby table compares the so-called tax wedge across nations, which is one measure of the relative burdens to finance cradle-to-grave entitlements.

One consequence has been slower growth in Europe, relative to the U.S. and China, with less tax revenue to spend on everything. Another result is that welfare spending has crowded out defense spending. The political imperative of health care and pensions always trumps defense spending, save perhaps in a hot war. Europe may never again be able to muster public support for a defense buildup of the kind the U.S. undertook to end the Cold War in the 1980s, or even the smaller surge after 9/11.

The tragic irony of this year is that Democrats are rushing the U.S. down this same primrose entitlement path. With ObamaCare certain to eat up several more percentage points of GDP as it inevitably expands, we will take a giant step toward European social priorities.

For many Democrats, this is precisely the goal. Many Europeans, such as those at the Financial Times, will also welcome America's relative decline. But we doubt the American people fully understand what such a gilded entitlement cage means for our national vitality, or for our ability to defend U.S. interests at home and abroad.

The chart nearby shows the change in the share of U.S. federal spending on defense and domestic programs across recent decades. The upward blips in defense outlays occurred during Vietnam, the Reagan buildup and post-9/11. But the overall trend has been to spend less of the budget on defense. Add the stimulus, ObamaCare, a new entitlement for college and other Democratic plans, and the defense squeeze will only tighten. Higher taxes and borrowing may allow guns and butter to co-exist for a while. But over time, the welfare state will defeat the Pentagon here, as it has in Europe.

President Obama's domestic agenda may well mean that his successors lack the option to deploy 100,000 troops to Afghanistan, or to some other future trouble spot. This is the way superpowers lose their superiority.

The Foreign Office refused to discuss the funding but privately officials confirmed the money was cut amid vain hopes that the Americans would foot the bill instead...

“It was a highly successful mission and the Afghans were getting better every day,” a special forces source said last week. “The paltry sums involved were getting a pretty valuable return.”

Ed Butler, who commanded British troops when they first deployed to Helmand in 2006, said: “It strikes me as pretty counter-intuitive and verging on the ridiculous to cut this funding when the government is stressing the training of Afghan security forces as a way of withdrawing our troops.”

...The Conservatives said it “beggared belief" that the Foreign Office should withdraw funding from what was clearly an important project.

Even the smallest of counter-insurgency programs prove too much of a strain for the British military to sustain.

The next article, U.S. Seeks 10,000 Troops From Its Allies In Afghanistan, shows America’s other allies cannot sustain token troops in Afghanistan, let alone increase force levels.

The United States is scrambling to coax NATO allies to send 10,000 additional troops to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s strategy for the region. Those countries appear willing to provide fewer than half that number, American and allied officials said Wednesday.

The British government is facing opinion polls showing that around 70 percent of the public favors an early withdrawal...

Germany and France have balked at committing any more forces to a war that has so little public support that they can barely maintain current troop levels...

The Netherlands and Canada have begun discussing plans to pull out. Canadian defense officials told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in Halifax last week that they had no intention of sending troops in the future, and that they remained committed to withdrawing by the end of 2011...

Waning public opinion plays an important role in most NATO members’ reluctance to remain in Afghanistan, but I believe the heart of the matter lies in two important facts: Europe can no longer afford to send troops abroad; and they know the US will pick up the slack.

As sun sets in the west, it also rises in the east. China,Japan Boost Defence Ties illustratesas western power quickly retreats once staunch allies are running for cover and seeking other benefactors.

Japan and China yesterday agreed to conduct their first joint military training exercise as ties warm up between the Asian neighbors, which have long argued over a range of issues and have been suspicious of each other

Top defence officials and military officers from both sides will also meet regularly...(and) The joint exercise will be held next year, according to the Japanese Defence Ministry.

Japan knows the Pax America that kept peace across the Pacific for half a century is coming to an end and China’s rising power is fed from America’s and Europe’s decay. They are smartly moving out from under one shadow to another.  US Navy and Air Force power in the region is atrophying, and China is quickly rising, as seen the article Admiral Says PLA's Strength, Intentions Should Be Displayed.

Beijing should not be shy of displaying the full breadth of its growing military power and intentions to the world, a senior naval officer wrote in comments published yesterday.

In a commentary in the Global Times, a newspaper published by party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, Naval Rear Admiral Yang Yi said Beijing should expand its military power and need not hide this from the world.

“We should confidently and overtly tell the US and other countries that China needs to expand its overseas military power because of the continuation of national interests abroad,” wrote Yang, director of the Strategic Studies Institute under the People’s Liberation Army’s National Defence University

...Yang said Sino-US strategic relations were moving from the level of “common interest” to “ balance of power”.

 “The Taiwan issue has been the most sensitive and explosive problem,” he wrote. “This is a friendly reminder to the US – please be careful, careful, careful, and don’t think Beijing won’t dare to declare war with Washington.”

Anthony Wong Dong, president of the International Military Association, an independent grouping of observers based in Macau, said the article was a candid assessment.

These articles show the West can no longer sustain low-intensity combat operations against an enemy clearly bent on their destruction. At the same time, China is drawing traditional allies from the US orbit and brazenly challenging America as the sole military superpower.

They have the money and leverage to do so. We, on the other hand, have vaults full of IOUs and a congress full of fools.

I don’t like the odds.

By Tom Coghlan, Kandahar

As Sergeant Matthew O’Neill spotted the thin copper wire snaking through the dust he knew, too late, that it was attached to a roadside bomb. It exploded under him an instant later, picking up the stocky, sandy-haired US Marine combat engineer and catapulting him more than 20 feet.

From a ploughed field in southern Helmand to the medical care of the main Nato field hospital in Kandahar is a journey of 100 miles — and getting there, or to the British hospital at Camp Bastion, is a race against the clock. Make it in less than an hour and the rate of survival is well over 90 per cent. Any longer than that, and the chances of survival begin to ebb away.

Meeting that target is the job of the 55th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, a US Air Force unit now nearing the end of a three-month tour. They have flown nearly 1,500 missions so far, making them the hardest-working American casualty evacuation unit since Vietnam. “This is the highest tempo of missions we have ever seen,” says their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Kuehn, 41.

As Sergeant O’Neill crashed to earth, adrenaline surged through his body and carried him straight back to his feet. A figure bolted across the field ahead of him. Sergeant O’Neill was sure it was the bomb’s “trigger man”. He opened fire and the figure collapsed. Only then did he realise that he was injured.

He had third-degree burns to his left hand and face. His hearing was gone in his left ear and the vision in his left eye was blurred. The bones in his left forearm — the arm that had just supported and held his rifle steady — were fractured. His left side and face were peppered with high-velocity dirt and stones picked up by the blast. It was not immediately clear whether the pressure wave from the blast had caused damage to his internal organs and brain. At Kandahar airbase, the casevac crews wait for the call to scramble in a hut by the runway, much like the fighter squadrons of the Second World War, although these days the news comes with the simultaneous bleeping of pagers. The crews are in the air within five to seven minutes, flying in what Colonel Keuhn describes as “the single worst helicopter environment in the world”. Afghanistan’s high altitude air is thin; the heat reduces lift for rotor blades and the mountains incubate storms; the fine, dust of the plains attacks electronics and moving parts. The helicopters are regularly hit by enemy fire, but a bigger danger are the “brownouts” of dust whipped up around a descending helicopter.

As they fly into hastily prepared emergency landing sites to pull out wounded men, often from rough fields littered with drainage ditches, the pilots are blinded by a dense dust cloud for the last 50 feet. The casualties appear through the haze, carried by their comrades, while the rotor blades are still turning.

“The violence here is very ‘in your face’,” says Captain Colin De Groote, 27, from Los Angeles. “To see kids injured, to see Brits and Americans with horrific injuries, in a lot of pain, to see their buddies’ faces of shock and disbelief . . . a lot of guys I replaced were really ready to go home.”

As Sergeant O’Neill was lifted into a helicopter, it was clear that he was incredibly fortunate. “He was the first guy I’ve seen get blown off an IED (improvised explosive device) and not get any appendage loss,” said Senior Airman Lucas Ferrari, 27, who treated the wounded Marine as a helicopter carried him off the battlefield. Further examination in Kandahar hospital would also show that he had suffered no internal injuries.

Swathed in bandages in his hospital bed, Sergeant O’Neill was phlegmatic about the experience the next morning. “I was out chasing command wires,” he told The Times with a shrug. “I stepped on a bomb.”

The number of casualties recorded during the summer months has begun to drop with the onset of cold weather, but a steady stream of broken bodies still arrives in Kandahar aboard the Black Hawk helicopters. On Friday night Sergeant O’Neill’s arrival was closely followed by three young American soldiers wounded in a mortar blast. On Saturday morning they picked up a dead American and a British Special Forces soldier with a serious bullet wound to the neck.

The medics say that some badly wounded patients can become extremely violent in the helicopters; drawing on, as one medic puts it, “some sort of primordial survival instinct”. Others are freakishly calm. A British Special Boat Service soldier who was shot through the face earlier this month astonished the helicopter medics by refusing morphine and calmly picking bits of bone and teeth out of his own wound. “Some people are just tougher than others,” said Staff Sergeant Brian Oswald, who treated him. “I guess it is no surprise that they tend to be in the special forces.”

As well as rescuing the living, the evacuation crews must collect the dead; eight in one day late last month. The crews drape the body bags with the national flags of the dead soldiers as they carry them from the aircraft.

They have, they believe, saved the lives of about 300 soldiers and civilians who would not otherwise have survived to reach hospital since September and they have carried a further 500 who did not have immediately life-threatening injuries.

Almost 50 per cent of their patients have been Afghans, many of the rest have been British soldiers. A letter on the wall of the squadron hut in Kandahar airbase from Colonel Rob Thompson, whose 2 Rifles have suffered the worst casualties of all the British units, reads: “It seems you’ll fly through anything and land anywhere just to be there for our wounded Riflemen within the shortest time possible. I know that the speed with which your crews have made it to our emergency helicopter landing sites has saved a number of lives and we will be forever in your debt for that.”

From the Raleigh News & Observer, November 13, 2009 on Pg. 1

By Jay Price, Staff writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- As Chief Warrant Officer 3 James Woolley eased the giant Chinook down into the mud-walled compound, Special Forces troops on the ground dashed to form a perimeter to protect the helicopter, a prize target for Taliban insurgents.

The landing zone in the western Afghan province of Badghis wasn't under fire when U.S. Special Forces called for help to evacuate five wounded U.S. soldiers. But seconds after the Chinook, call sign Flipper 76, touched down, generating its trademark cloud of khaki-colored dust, the attack began.

Woolley, of Sanford, N.C., and the other pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Slover, of Hope Mills, noticed a puff of smoke maybe 175 yards away up a slope, and the chopper immediately lurched like a car hit in a fender-bender.

As a medic began rushing the wounded men to the rear ramp, the thin-skinned helicopter, unknown to its crew, now had a live rocket-propelled grenade aboard -- a weapon capable of disabling an armored vehicle.

The incident, which turned into one of the biggest medical evacuations of the Afghan war, occurred on Nov. 4. On Thursday, the commanders of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, based at Fort Bragg, cleared the crew to tell the story of a miracle that came within inches of disaster.

The story began when two 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers, based at Fort Bragg, went missing in a river during a resupply mission.

A massive U.S.-Afghan manhunt turned into a fierce firefight with insurgents. Four Afghan soldiers, three Afghan police officers and an interpreter were killed, and 22 men were wounded, including the five Americans.

NATO is investigating whether some of the friendly casualties were a result of errant fire from U.S. aircraft that were called in to help.

The body of one missing soldier has been found.

The crew of Flipper 76 didn't know any of that when the medevac call came about 4:30 p.m. It had just finished dropping off troops and supplies at a small U.S. base nearby, along with Flipper 13, another Chinook. Flipper 13 stayed put while Flipper 76 headed for the compound, which was in a rural community with several other compounds.

A grenade to the head

The rocket-propelled grenade punched through the nose of the helicopter. It zipped between Woolley and Slover, went down a short passageway and struck the door gunner, Sgt. Roger Rathbun, in the back of his head.

The impact ripped away a palm-size chunk of his flight helmet, and propellant from the rocket scorched his neck as it deflected up into the ceiling of the cargo area. Rathbun was spun halfway around and knocked to the floor. Chinook pilots can't hear much of what's going on around them, but after hundreds of hours flying helicopters, they develop a musician's ear for any odd sound or change in the tone of their engines and rotor blades. Pilots quickly learn to recognize the "tink" of small arms fire hitting the fuselage. This hard slap and shudder was new for Woolley.

Slover, too, was startled. "What the ... was that?" he said.

Woolley saw damage to the nose of the chopper and immediately guessed that it had been struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, the weapon that brought down the helicopters in the famous Black Hawk Down battle in Somalia.

Slover was wondering why they were still alive.

"I think we both knew, even though I was trying to convince him it possibly might have been something other than an RPG, because I was trying to convince myself there was no way we had just been hit by an RPG but survived it," Slover said.

Rathbun, of Bunnlevel, up the short passageway, motioned to the pilots that he could hear them, but that his microphone had been torn away. His injuries turned out not to be serious, but he was shaken.

Then the pilots saw puffs of dust around the helicopter as the insurgents began firing small arms at them.

"The biggest thing was sort of sticking it out when they started engaging us with small arms fire," Woolley said. "Fortunately the ground guys did return fire, which helped us.

"We were kind of scrambling inside the aircraft in the front, trying to assess Sgt. Rathbun to see what his status was, and also taking a look at the aircraft to see what kind of damage we had sustained.

"All the while the ramp gunner was continuing to load casualties, and he said 'Ah, they're shooting sir, there's rounds popping,'" Woolley said. "I could see 'em, and I said, 'I know, just stick it out, and get these guys on.'"

It took maybe two or three minutes to get everything sorted out in the helicopter, call in close air support to help suppress insurgent fire, and get the other wounded men aboard, but it felt like two or three hours, Woolley said.

Then began a long odyssey to get the five wounded Americans - and later the wounded Afghan troops - to safety, and also get the dead out of the combat zone.

Would it fly?

They weren't sure the helicopter could fly. Their luck held, though, and they zoomed back to the small base nearby and put it down inside. Woolley badly wanted to know where the exit hole was and whether the RPG had hit anything vital.

When the crew couldn't find a second hole, he told them to start looking for something worse: a live grenade inside the chopper. After two or three long minutes, one of the soldiers found the grenade on the floor between a helmet bag and a set of goggles.

The pilots shut the chopper down, and Slover dashed off to find explosives experts and medical help for the wounded soldiers.

The rest of the crew started pulling the wounded off Flipper 76 and transferred them to Flipper 13 for the flight to a medical facility in Herat.

En route, they learned that the RPG had been removed, so after they unloaded the casualties they headed back. Casualties had mounted during the search for the missing paratroopers, and both choppers were needed. For the second trip, they loaded 14 wounded Afghan troops and six dead.

They headed to Herat, but there wasn't room for the wounded there, so they pushed on to another base, where they dropped off the casualties.

After a long night of flying back and forth across western Afghanistan, they headed for a small staging base.

The 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade crews are all flying a new model of the Chinook. After Flipper 76's RPG miracle, a standard joke among them now is that the new version has been equipped with a secret device that disarms enemy munitions.

Inches from death

No one had to tell the Flipper 76 crew how lucky they were. Even when a rocket-propelled grenade doesn't explode, it can tear through a person; and this one passed inches from both pilots and grazed Rathbun.

It wasn't Woolley's first brush with death. A Chinook he was flying in Iraq once took 32 bullets. Another, in an earlier stint in Afghanistan, caught several rounds in the Plexiglas windows of its bulbous nose. In 2007, he was just five helicopter lengths behind another Chinook that was hit by a Stinger anti-aircraft missile and went down, killing all five crew members and a British military cameraman who was aboard.

This time, when he got back to base he called his wife to tell her what had happened.

"Boy, you are crazy," she said. "Quit using those lives up!"

Then she asked if they'd evacuated all the wounded men. He said he had.

Woolley said Thursday that there's some question in the unit about whether flying with him is a bad idea - or really, really smart.

"Either they want to or they don't. The jury's still out on that," he said. "Either I'm lucky or I'm unlucky."

According to this morning’s New York Times, Vice President Biden favors this approach to Afghanistan:

...Rather than try to protect the Afghan population from the Taliban, American forces would concentrate on eliminating the Qaeda leadership, primarily in Pakistan, using Special Operations forces, Predator missile strikes and other surgical tactics. The Americans would also accelerate training of Afghan forces and provide support as they took the lead against the Taliban.

This counterterrorism strategy, as opposed to a counterinsurgency strategy, is predicated on the theory that the real threat to American national security lies in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Some call this proposal the “Pakistan First” option.

Vice President Biden is advocates isolating Afghanistan, monitoring and striking from above using drones, and sending in special operations teams when needed to kill or capture terrorists.  I don’t think “Pakistan First” is appropriate, and prefer dubbing it the “Escape from New York” (or maybe the “Escape from Afghanistan”) strategy.

Escape from New York, the 1981 motion picture starring Kurt Russell, is the story of a future where crime is out of control. The government, unable to cope with the situation, isolates Manhattan Island as a prison for America’s criminals. The inmates are free to roam at will within the city, but automated security systems kill anyone trying to escape. Contingency special operations teams are on standby for “surgical strikes”. In the movie, Air Force One crashes in the city and the special teams are powerless to save the president. The government must send in Snake Plisken (Kurt Russell), a rouge special operations soldier sentenced to death, to save him.

First, this isn’t Biden’s strategy. They’re calling it “Biden’s Strategy” so, when it fails it won’t taint the president. And it will fail. This plan is fundamentally flawed in every aspect.

Biden is not a military strategists. General McCrystal is, and knows what needs to be done: boots on the ground, territory secured, friends protected, and enemies killed. The only plausible objective is to deny Afghanistan as a base and breeding ground for terrorists and insurgents.

McCrystal also understands the Afghan government and military will always be corrupt. We need to work within this reality and we’ can’t do this remotely.

The Taliban and Al Qaeda are fighting a total war. If we continue to fight a limited war we will lose. It doesn’t matter how good our special ops teams are, how many drones we have buzzing over the country, nor how much we try to reform the Afghan government. The enemy will ruthlessly adapt and overcome whatever we throw at them. On the contrary, bad guys can’t adapt if they are dead. The dead can’t recruit new members.   

The Biden Strategy is a double whammy of failure. Not only does it essential cede the ground to the enemy, it’s cornerstone of containment is ludicrous. One cannot contain Afghanistan. It’s the worst possible terrain on the planet for a containment strategy. 

A writer once said “Afghanistan is the land of a thousand Alamos”. When they build a house or settlement, the very first structure is always the wall. They are born with a siege mentality. If we build a virtual wall around them they won’t even notice. Their mountains are walls, and they have no problem scaling them. We will be unable to keep them in or keep them out. The terrorists will move through our containment like a sieve and spread across the world like a plague.

Finally, relying on Pakistan to route out Taliban and Al Qaeda in the Waristan region has been, and will continue to be, a failure. This is for the same reasons the Northern Alliance let the Taliban and Al Qaeda slip away in the early days of the conflict: local political needs, corruption, and tribal blood. In the end, it will be America’s responsibility alone to kill our own enemies. You can’t outsource victory.

No, Snake Plisken can’t save the day for us. It’s going to take real soldiers and Marines, in every village, in every city, in ever mountain pass. We will have to chase them into Pakistan. We will have to chase them to hell, if necessary.

Unfortunately, the administration’s “Escape from Afghanistan Doctrine” is really just that...escape.

This is not an American battle? 3000 Americans died on 9/11. America was attacked on her own soil by enemies based and supported from Afghanistan. Americans were killed in New York, Pennsylvania, and WashingtonD.C.  

American's are grateful to our NATO allies, who make up about 1/2 of the manpower in Afghanistan and have sustained over 500 dead on the battlefield. GOD BLESS YOU. Your great sacrifices are deeply appreciated and needed.  As an American what I'm saying is this: If not one NATO country joined us we would still be there fighting.

Conflicts are defined by the people who actually fight them (not by the politicians or historians) not by who they fight with, but why they fight. In World War II, the Brits thought of the war as a British battle, the Poles thought it was a Polish battle, and the Russians thought if it as a Russian battle, and so on, even as they fought side-by-side with allies. The fact they fought a common foe with allies didn't change the nature of why they fought, for soil and blood. We fight for American soil and American blood. I'm sorry, Mr. President, but it is an American battle and will remain that way long after our NATO allies pack up and go home.

This would be obvious to most common Americans. Why isn’t it obvious to the commander-in-chief?

Several pieces of news caught my eye over the past week. Two were public opinion polls, one was an op/ed piece by conservative columnists George Will, and another op/ed article by liberal columnist Bob Herbert.

Polls by CBS and USA Today/Gallup state half of Americas oppose sending more  troops to Afghanistan, even though General McCrystal, commander of forces in Afghanistan, states without them we risk defeat. In fact, 32% of Americans think US forces should be decreased. Popular support for the mission in Afghanistan is profoundly eroding.

Conservative columnists George Will calls for US withdrawal. His reasons are: 1) Keep faith with the troops, 2) Nation building is impossible in Afghanistan, 3) The government there is too corrupt and democratic reforms are making things worse, 4) We don’t have enough troops to adequately apply a proper counterinsurgency strategy. Will calls for a “comprehensively revised strategy,” - a policy of isolation, containment, and use of remote technology to strike when necessary from beyond Afghanstan (I call this the “Escape From New York” strategy – keep the Taliban and Al Qaeda bottled up and isolated in Afghanistan using UAVs and airpower). 

Liberal columnist Bob Herbert calls for withdrawal because most Americans 1) Don’t know where Afghanistan is, 2) Don’t care to find out, 3) Are too preoccupied with the economy, 3) Believe the war has no impact on terrorism, 4) Many people were too young when 9/11 happened to really care, 5) Have a skewed concept of what war really is, shaped by Hollywood and not reality, 6) Are not prepared for what is required to sustain a prolonged counterinsurgency. Herbert offers no options other than to “explore creative alternatives to endless war and bring the weary troops home.”

The conservative says ,“Victory is not possible with resources at hand. Isolate the enemy and send in Snake Pliskin” The liberal says, “Americas are too dumb, distracted, ignorant, misinformed, unprepared and fickle to do the job. Let’s sit around and come up with a different solution.”

Regardless of their arguments, both say its time to bring the troops home. For various reasons, 50% of the American public agrees.

These facts I know:

1. On September 11, 2001 almost 3000 American’s were killed by Al Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden. Our nation sustained a direct attack in the heart of our government, financial, and cultural centers.

2. Al Queda was based in Afghanistan, under the protection of their Taliban allies.

3. Over 850 Americans have died in Afghanistan trying to destroy our enemies.

4. Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, and Osama Bin Laden are all still there.

How do I define victory in Afghanistan?

1. Our enemies are dead.

2. No one will join their cause because they know they will die, too.

3. No one will fund and supply them, because they know they will die, too.

4. There is no nation building, there is no “hearts and minds” strategy, there is no “democratization process.”

5. America is feared by our enemies, without doubt, reservation or compromise.

Before there was a Marshall Plan, there was Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Germans and Japanese never saw the “hearts and minds” until they saw they “shock and horror.”

Eight years after 9/11, will this definition of victory be discussed in a “comprehensively revised strategy?” I doubt it.

Where am I going with this? In this forum I’ve warned of the impacts of further defense cuts on our ability to defend out national interests abroad. I think I’ve been wrong all these years. It doesn’t matter if we increase our military 10-fold and buy every weapon system the Pentagon says it needs. It’s all irrelevant. All the weapons in the world are useless if there is no will to use them to achieve victory. Maybe we are a fickle, unserious people – unwilling to bring those crush those who murdered our men, women and children. 

No amount of “creative alternatives” or “comprehensively revised strategy” can bring victory to a people unwilling to defend their own vital national interest, let alone avenge their dead. We cannot stomach our own power or place in the world. Our enemies know this, even if we don’t.  Their policy is comprehensive - total victory. Their means are creative, as 9/11 clearly showed. We waffle and rationalize while our enemies fight a blood feud to the end.

Lose Afghanistan, lose our future. May our children forgive us for the bleak future we’re bequeathing them.

Its 2012 and G.I. Joe has returned from fighting America’s enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq. His mission is unfinished and he doesn’t know why he’s been summoned home. Fresh off the airplane, he finds himself in an empty airport. No welcoming committee meets him. In a corner of the vacant airport sits Government Man, disheveled and asleep, holding a hand-printed placard like a limo driver. On it are the words “American Soldier.”

G.I. Joe walks up to him. His boots, fresh with the dust of war, echo ghostlike across the deserted concourse. He moves to wake the man up but steps back. The man reeks of stale alcohol, his face is unshaven and his hair un-kept. Government Man’s tie is half loosened and his shirt stained with beer and wine. G.I. Joe, though gaunt and tired from a decade of combat, is clean shaven and professional. He shakes his head with disgust and nudges Government Man.

G.I. JOE: Hey, buddy, wake up. Wake up!

GOVERNMENT MAN: Uh…what? Where am I?

G.I. JOE: You’re at the airport. I assume by your sign you’re here to give me a lift back to base.

Government man turns the sign around and eyes it though confused, bloodshot eyes. After a few seconds awareness dawns on him.

GOVERNMENT MAN: ohhhh…right. That’s right.

G.I. JOE: Maybe you can tell me why I was called back? There’s still lots of work to do back there in Iraq and Afghanistan.

GOVERNMENT MAN: (runs his hands through his hair and tries not to make eye contact with the soldier) Yea, about that…

Government Man tries to get up and almost falls forward. G.I. Joe catches him and prevents him from falling on his face.

G.I. JOE: Slow down there, cowboy! Are you okay, man? You look like you had a pretty good time last night.

GOVERNMENT MAN: (gains his balance and laughs) You have no idea! Man, I was at the best party, I swear. Chicks, booze, it seemed to last forever.

G.I. JOE: Sounds great. Where was it?

GOVERNMENT MAN: (smiling and animated) It was everywhere, brother! Coast-to-coast and glorious! Non-stop, man, non-stop! And it was all free! A bunch of guys from Wall Street paid for it all. All I had to do was vote their way on a couple of bills and they kept the money flowing. 

G.I. JOE: (smiles sheepishly, almost embarrassed) Uh, sounds great. Funny, I didn’t hear about it but then again I’ve been gone for almost nine years. Maybe I’ll check it out later when my work is done, but I really need to get back to the war zone. So, can you tell me why I’m here?

GOVERNMENT MAN: Uh…well, you’re not going back.

G.I. JOE: (confused) What do you mean ‘you’re not going back?’ The job isn’t finished. We’re making real progress in Iraq and the Taliban and Al Qaeda is still making trouble in Afghanistan.

GOVERNMENT MAN: Well, ya see, I sorta spent all our money on the party.

G.I. JOE: You what??!!

GOVERNMENT MAN: It’s not my fault! I swear! Wall Street Man said he’d take care of everything. I trusted him. I mean, that guy can seriously party. When I woke up this morning I was broke and he was gone. He double crossed me, dude! I was screwed over.

G.I. Joe walks around the waiting area, shaking his head in disbelief.

GOVERNMENT MAN: So you see, Joe, there isn’t any money to keep you in the fight. I had to call you home. Sorry, dude. I think you did a great job, though!

G.I. Joe sets his jaw, narrows his eyes and grabs his ruck sack off the floor. He marches past Government Man toward the door.

G.I. JOE: Get me back to base! If I’m not over there to stop them, those bastards will be here in no time. We have to prepare now for fresh attacks on our homeland.

G.I. Joe reached the door only to realize Government Man isn’t following him. He turns to see Government Man standing where he left him, fidgeting and wringing his hands. He marches back and puts his face inches from Government Man’s trembling face. His next words, measured and controlled, barely mask his rage.

G.I. JOE: What aren’t you telling me?

GOVERNMENT MAN: I’m broke…we’re broke. Dead broke. I…I…uhh…

G.I. JOE: (quietly) Spit…it…out.

GOVERNMENT MAN: (hurried) I gotta let you go! (closes his eyes and prays he doesn’t get hit)

G.I. Joe, silent, stands in disbelief.

GOVERNMENT MAN: I’m sorry! I’m really, really sorry! I had no choice! What little money I had left has to go toward buying votes…I mean medical supplies for all those aging Baby Boomers. Please understand, I hold you in the highest esteem and I’ve tried to support you in the past, but tough times call for tough decisions.

G.I. Joe sits down and rests his chin on his hands.

G.I. JOE: Yea, you’re a real leader. So, who’s going to defend the nation?

GOVERNMENT MAN: It’s all cool. I made some deals with the UN and our allies say they’re going to be there for us whenever we need them. Uhmm…a lot of them were at the same party I was, though. But they promised they’ll do what they can!

G.I. JOE: God help us.

GOVERNMENT MAN: God? Oh, sure, right, God. Okay, well then, it was good talking to you. I hope everything turns out okay. I’ll be leaving now, okay?

Government Man slinks past where G.I. Joe is sitting.

G.I. JOE: (calls after him) Where is everyone? This airport should be packed.

Government Man stops, hesitates, and turns around.

GOVERNMENT MAN: Everyone is sorta somewhere else.

G.I. JOE: I can see that.Where? Home?

GOVERNMENT MAN: Oh…perhaps. Some of them might still have homes, I guess.

G.I. JOE: (angry) You guess?! What the he*l is going on?!

GOVERNMENT MAN: No need to yell! They’re probably out looking for jobs… or food. This time of day, my guess is most are looking for a place to sleep.

G.I. JOE: Dear Lord, what have you done?! I know National Guardsman expecting to come home to their old jobs.

GOVERNMENT MAN: I’m sure some of them still have their old jobs. There’s a chance, anyway. A 75% chance, easy. That is unless they worked in the finance, real estate, services, manufacturing, telecommunication, computer, information technology, medical services,…uhh, I’ll stop there. Look, times are tough, what can I say?

G.I. Joe shakes with rage and stares straight ahead. He gets up, grabs his gear and starts for the door again.

G.I. JOE: I’m going to walk to base. There is no way I’m riding with you. I’ll turn in my gear, collect my pension, and start over. I’m also going to pray, pray hard for our nation.

GOVERNMENT MAN: Pray? That’s a great idea. Hey, look, about that pension…

 Joe whirls around.

G.I. JOE: What about my pension? Are you going to seriously stand here and tell me you blew my pension, too?!

GOVERNMENT MAN: No! Well, not entirely. I had to cut it, but only temporarily! I swear, I’ll pay you just as soon as I can!

G.I. Joe sits down again and puts his head in his hands.

G.I. JOE: This is a bad dream.

GOVERNMENT MAN: I know this is hard to take. I understand. Look, Joe, I’ve got a few quarters. You sit here and I’m going to get you something cold to drink. Just relax, breath, and I’ll be right back.

G.I. Joe says nothing as Government Man slinks away. Lost in thought Joe suddenly realizes almost 20 minutes have passed and Government Man hasn’t returned.

G.I. JOE: (mumbles)Little weasel probably ran off. That figures.

Joe hears whispers and murmurs floating down the hallway from the baggage area. He’s heard whispers like this before, in the dark places of the world. It’s the familiar hiss of conspiracy. He gets up and silently makes his way from shadow to shadow until he finds the source. He spies Government Man and two others. One is Chinese, dressed in an Armani suit with a communist lapel pin. The other is an Arab, dressed in the expensive robes of a Sunni oil sheik. They are handing over vast amounts of cash to Government Man. It looks like a back alley drug deal.

GOVERNMENT MAN: (in low hushed tones) That will cover Wall Street Man’s bar tab, for now anyway. Let’s get the party started!

CHINESE MAN: And this gives me controlling interest and open markets, correct?

GOVERNMENT MAN: Yea, yea. Sure.

ARAB MAN: And no drilling or nuclear plants, right?

GOVERNMENT MAN: (puts on a deep and sincere expression, shakes his head solemnly) “We can’t drill ourselves out of this crisis.” Does that sound right?

ARAB MAN: Perfect! (laughs softly). And you have G.I. Joe under control, correct?

GOVERNMENT MAN: Easy, no problems. He’ll be out of the way soon enough. Those military guys are too stupid to understand anything except brute force. Just slap them on the back and say ‘I support the troops’ and they’ll do what you tell them.

CHINESE MAN: Good, then we’ll keep in touch.

They all shake hands.

GOVERNMENT MAN: (winks) Who loves you baby! (motions with his hand like a phone and mouths ‘call me’)

Chinese Man and Arab Man slip into the shadows, wiping their hands off on their clothes. No one notices a silent shadow slip back down the concourse. With a spring in his step Government Man makes his way back to where he left G.I. Joe.

GOVERNMENT MAN: Hey, Joe, here’s…(suddenly remembers he was supposed to get Joe a cold drink)…hey, you know, the machine was all out of soda. All they had was that nasty diet stuff and I didn’t think a big, tough guy like you drank that diet crap. Any way, let me drop you off at the base, it’s the least I can do…(Government Man trails off)

G.I. Joe is sitting where Government Man left him. He’s holding an ancient parchment in his calloused, scarred hand, and silently reading it.

GOVERNMENT MAN: Whatcha got there, Joe?

G.I. JOE: This? Oh, it’s a little thing called the Constitution. I always keep it with me, folded in my right breast pocket over my heart.

GOVERNMENT MAN: (looking nervous) Wow, that’s great, Joe. Well, look, I gotta go now. So if you want to walk back to base, that’s great…

G.I. JOE: (interrupts) You know, I’ve been carrying this since I can remember. I wept on it at the Battle of First Bull Run. I carried it in the Battle of San Juan Hill and in the Ardennes. During the Battle of the Bulge I burned letters from home to keep warm before I’d burn this. I held it and read it on cold nights in Korea and hot days in Vietnam. It’s stained black with sludge from the oil fires of Kuwait and Iraq. And each time it gets stained red with my own blood.

I once showed it to a captured Taliban warlord. He said mortal men couldn’t be expected to honor a mere piece of paper. He said we were fools. I told him he was wrong. I said America had over two hundred years of proof he was wrong. The old jackal laughed and said 5000 years of experience proved he was right.

G.I Joe stands up and walks toward Government Man, steel in his eye. Government Man slowly backs away, looking behind him for an escape route, afraid.  Joe holds up the Constitution, its pages torn, singed, blacked, and covered with dried blood. The words “We the People…” are still clearly visible.

G.I. JOE: So, tell me, who was right? Was it me or the old warlord? What were you doing down the hall?

GOVERNMENT MAN: (nervous) You don’t understand. What you saw…it isn’t what it looks like!

G.I. JOE: Oh, I understand. I’ve seen it before, many times in every third world country I’ve fought. It happens where the rule of men supersedes the rule of law. It’s what happens when little men betray those who’ve they’ve been entrusted to protect. It’s what happens when men prey on their fellow countrymen.

G.I. Joe continues to steadily advance on Government Man, holding the Constitution ahead of him.

GOVERNMENT MAN: (points accusingly) Alright, I’ve had enough of this. You are WAY out of line, mister. You need to stand-down! This is above your pay grade!

G.I. JOE: (coldly, with justice in his eyes and a clear voice which rings though the abandoned terminal) I, G.I Joe, do solemnly swear I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States…

GOVERNMENT MAN: Joe, put down the Constitution! You’re not qualified to interpret it. I’m a lawyer, I know best. For God’s sake, PUT DOWN THE CONSTITUTION!

Government Man stumbles and trips. He falls backwards over waiting room chairs.

G.I. JOE: …against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…

GOVERNMENT MAN: (pleading) What do you want? Power? I can give you that! I have friends, powerful friends! WHAT DO YOU WANT??!!!

G.I. Joe advances, unrelenting, holding the Constitution up like a cross against a vampire. He continues the incantation.

G.I. JOE:… and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice….

GOVERNMENT MAN: (blubbering in a fetal position on the floor) STOP IT! You can’t do this! Leave me alone!

G.I. JOE:…SO…

GOVERNMENT MAN: I’m a member of the ruling class!

 G.I. JOE:…HELP…

GOVERNMENT MAN: I’m one of the elites!

G.I. JOE:…ME…

GOVERNMENT MAN: I’m entitled! No!!!!!!!

G.I. JOE:…GOD.

PART II: In the last installment, G.I. Joe is unexpectedly called home from overseas by Government Man, who he finds waiting for him at the airport, disheveled and hung over from years of non-stop partying on the tax-payers dime. Government Man tells Joe he isn’t going back into combat, he’s being mustered out, and his retirement has been spent on other programs. In the deserted airport Joe learns Government Man is corrupt and is on the payroll of America’s worst adversaries. At the end of the last episode we left a furious G.I. Joe, a bloody copy of the US Constitution in his hands, looming over the cowering Government Man.

 Joe throws the Constitution on top of the whimpering bureaucrat.

G.I. JOE: Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I’ve read that document, though I doubt you have. No, I’m going out there (points to the world beyond the airport). I’m going to spread the word about you and what you’ve done. Don’t fear me, little man. Fear them, the American people.

Joe turns and heads for the door. Government Man sits up and smiles a sly, wicked smile. His eyes narrow as he calls out after Joe.

GOVERNMENT MAN: They won’t listen to you, Joe.

Joe turns to look at Government Man, now sitting up and looking cocky.

GOVERNMENT MAN: You’re wasting your time.

G.I. JOE: I have complete faith in the American people. They’re what make us great. They’ll rise up and vote things straight. I’ll carry my message to the papers, the internet, television, and talk radio. In the light of day, you’ll be rejected.

GOVERNMENT MAN: You have been gone a long time, haven’t you Joe? Okay, have it your way. (Motions to the door) Go out there, Joe. (forms his hands in quotes) ‘Spread the word’ about me and my kind. When you come to your senses, come find me. I’ll be in Washington D.C., comfortably in power. In the end, you’ll come back to me on your knees. You’re one of us, Joe. Last I checked, the government signed your paycheck. You’re part of the machine. Out there, you’re a freak.

G.I. JOE: You’re wrong, and the government doesn't pay me anymore, right?.

Joe turns away, but feels uneasy. It’s the same feeling he gets when he’d stepping into combat right after learning the intelligence is wrong. He feels naked. 

He steps out into the sunlight. The loading zone in front of the terminal is almost vacant. Trash blows across the dirty concrete. A single taxi waits by the curb. Joe walks up and taps on the window. The back door unlocks. Joe opens it and throws his duffle bag across the seat and hops in. 

G.I. JOE: Take me to the offices of the Daily News, please.

TAXI DRIVER: (in a heavy middle-east accent) Of course, but first I must ask a few questions.

G.I. JOE: uh….like what?

TAXI DRIVER: Are you carrying any pork products or alcohol?

G.I. JOE: That’s none of your business, mister.

TAXI DRIVER: Oh, but it is. The state and federal courts have ruled I can enforce Sharia Law within the confines of my cab. They have also ruled if those around me do not respect this, they are guilty of hate speech. So, my friend, I can ask you this question and many others. I must also know if you are Jewish or have a Bible in your possession. I can deny you a ride for any of this, or if you have a dog, or are a woman not wearing the proper Islamic garb. (the taxi driver turns and smiles like a shark) I have the law on my side…Joe.

G.I. JOE: Abdul. (Joe slowly moves his hand toward his concealed handgun). I captured you two years ago in Afghanistan. What are you doing here?

TAXI DRIVER: Working, of course! (he points to a taxi license on the dash board with his face and real name on it). I was released from Guantanamo earlier this year, given a visa and a job right here in America. What a country!

G.I. JOE: (anger wells as he struggles to control himself) I should have killed you when I had the chance.

TAXI DRIVER: (face becomes expressionless, eyes cold) Yes, you should have. My friends and I, we like America now…and I have many, many friends here, Joe. We are legion. Some you know, some you don’t, but we all represent the Religion of Peace. (the man quickly smiles again and waves his hand dismissively) Bahh! Enough idle chat. Business is business. Since you are an old ‘friend’, I will extend you Arab hospitality and forgo the usual questions. I will have you at the Daily News in no time. We can catch up on old times on the way.

He hacks his meter and quickly pulls way from the curve before Joe can bolt from the cab. 

To Be Continued…

Part III: In the last installment, after G.I. Joe leaves Government Man the airport to go tell his story to the American People, he finds himself trapped in a cab driven by none other than his terrorist nemesis, Abdul, whom he captured years ago in Afghanistan.

We join Joe as he rides in the back of the cab with the Taxi Driver Abdul,

G.I. JOE: What do you plan to do with me, Abdul?

TAXI DRIVER: (laughs) I’ll drive you to the office of the Daily News, of course! Do not fear me, Joe. I am a simple taxi driver trying to make a living, that is all.

G.I. JOE: Forgive me if I don’t believe you. 

TAXI DRIVER: There is nothing to forgive, Joe. You are an infidel, I expect nothing less.  Tell me, why do you wish to go to the Daily News? Are they writing a story on you?

G.I. JOE: It’s my business, not yours.

TAXI DRIVER: Have it your way. I am just curious. You know, the Daily News did a story on the Taliban before you captured me. They sent a young woman reporter. She wore a burka for her interviews and was very respectful. She never called us terrorists, but used the proper term ‘insurgent.’  She wrote about your soldiers, too, about the many innocent civilians the Americans had killed. (his eyes narrow in the rear view mirror as he looks back at Joe).

Joe looks out the window expressionlessly and in silence. "Closed” signs cover many windows. Most gas stations are shuttered and, those still open sell gas at over 5 dollars a gallon. Joe doesn’t understand what’s happened to America since he’s been gone.  Not another word is spoken until, as promised, they arrive at the offices of the media  giant The Daily News.  

TAXI DRIVER: We are here. That will be 25 dollars.

Joe pulls out his wallet and hands over a twenty and ten dollar bill.

G.I. JOE: Keep the change.

TAXI DRIVER: Thank you. You are most generous for an infidel dog. Would you like me to wait for you?

G.I. JOE: Get lost. (turns and walks to the revolving door)

TAXI DRIVER: (laughs) Impossible, infidel! I have a GPS! Ha ha!

As the cab pulls away, Joe looks up and down the street, half expecting an ambush. It doesn’t feel like home, but more like a third world country, like he’s still overseas conducting a covert op. It’s all wrong.

Joe steps into the lobby and asks the security guard to see a reporter. Over thirty minutes later a plain-looking young woman in jeans approaches.

WOMAN REPORTER: Are you…G.I. Joe?  

G.I. JOE: (gets up and extends his hand) Yes, Ma’am. Formerly G.I. Joe, now just ‘Joe’.

WOMAN REPORTER: (doesn’t extend her hand) I see. What can I do for you?

G.I. JOE: (lowers his hand, confused by her curtness) I have information your paper might want.

WOMAN REPORTER: Don’t tell me, it’s about your exploits in Iraq and Afghanistan, right? I bet you’re trying to sell a book or something. I’m sorry, but we don’t give free publicity to self-glorifying veterans trying to make a buck. Peddle it to Fox or the Military Channel.

G.I. JOE: (laughs) It’s nothing like that. It isn’t really even about me or the war. It’s bigger than that. Please, just give me some of your time. Can we talk in your office?

WOMAN REPORTER: Her eyebrow perks up. She looks Joe up and down, rolls her eyes and motions for him to come with her. You’ve got five minutes.

They enter an elevator and emerge on the 15^th floor. As they walk thought the giant space Joe observes dozens of empty cubicles. Here and there a bored reporter quietly types on a keyboard or idly surfs the internet. 

G.I. JOE: This place is almost deserted. Where are all your reporters?  

WOMAN REPORTER: (disgusted) We’re completely converting to a online publication in about a month. No one is buying papers anymore, haven’t you heard? Where have you been?

G.I. JOE: Deployed.

WOMAN REPORTER: Sure, whatever. Anyway, we’ve been staying afloat due to generous investors but we can’t stop the inevitable.

G.I. JOE: What kind of investors?

WOMAN REPORTER:  Concerned and enlightened people from Mexico and Europe. We even received a bailout from the government.

G.I. JOE: (Shocked) You’re receiving foreign funds and government backing?

WOMAN REPORTER: (Impatient and condescending) Investment, Mr. Joe. I’m sure you don’t understand such things..

G.I. JOE: (coldly) No, I’m sure I don’t. (whispers under his breath) I call it state-controlled media.  

She motions for Joe to sit down by her cubicle desk. He scans the numerous journalism awards decorating her wall among photos of her with prominent political figures, mostly eastern liberal Democrats and Republicans. Below her diploma from WellesleyCollege is a picture of her in a burka (her face was exposed) surrounded by smiling Taliban fighters. Below that is a Pulitzer Prize for journalism for a column entitled, “The Other Border Crisis: Life and Death in the Hindu Kush.” He recognizes a younger Abdul standing in the background.  His heart sinks in his chest. Other journalism awards dot the wall for columns on the environment and social causes.  

She opens a drawer and pulls out a single sheet of paper. On it is a checklist with the title: TEMPLATE FOR APPROVED STORIES REGARDING THE US MILITARY.

WOMAN REPORTER: Now, Mr. Joe, tell me which of these categories applies to your story:…Is this regarding gays in the military?

G.I. JOE: No.

WOMAN REPORTER:…abuse or torture of prisoners?

G.I. JOE: No.

WOMAN REPORTER:…outrageous Pentagon spending?

G.I. JOE: No. 

WOMAN REPORTER:…friendly fire?

G.I. JOE: No.

WOMAN REPORTER:…soldiers speaking out against the war? 

G.I. JOE: No, absolutely not, can I please... 

WOMAN REPORTER:…injustices to soldiers inflicted by a Republican administration?

G.I. JOE: (getting irritated) Lady, just let me…

WOMAN REPORTER:…how much soldiers approve of the current administration? 

G.I. JOE: (raising his voice) No! It’s nothing like that. If you give me a chance I’ll explain.  

WOMAN REPORTER: (she drops her pencil, leans back and exhales) Okay, what’s this all about.  

Joe briefly details the incident with Government Man at the airport. While be speaks she examines her pencil and looks at her watch. When he finishes she takes a deep breath and puts the sheet of paper back in her desk.  

WOMAN REPORTER: That is a very interesting tale, Mr. Joe, but I’m afraid our readers wouldn’t be interested. It’s not news.

G.I. JOE: Not news? I’m bring you proof elements of our government are in collusion with foreign powers to undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the United States and you say it’s not news?

WOMAN REPORTER: Do you really have proof? If not, it’s only your word.

G.I. JOE: I can get proof, but isn’t that what you are supposed to do as an “investigative journalist?”

WOMAN REPORTER: Even if you do have some type of “proof” (she raises her hands into quotation marks) what you probably saw was legitimate lobbying and campaign contributions. This is still a free country, Mr. Joe, regardless of what some of your kind think.

G.I. JOE: I see, and who are “my kind?” (he doesn’t raise his hands into quotation marks).

WOMAN REPORTER: Alright, enough of the charade. We’re not going to write a story about this, unless it’s about how paranoid you right-wing reactionary nut jobs are.  

G.I. JOE: Why do you assume I’m a right-wing nut job? 

WOMAN REPORTER: Please, don’t insult my intelligence. You were in the military, right? You all come from backwoods red states, clinging to you guns and religion. Its one thing to join the military because of poverty, but you people stay in. You enjoy it!  

G.I. JOE: Ever heard of patriotism?  

WOMAN REPORTER: Patriotism is the code word your kind uses to justify racism, imperialism and oppression.   Face it, Joe, you just hate who’s running the government right now. Your kind are dangerous. You’re the militias, the Klan, the Minutemen…all homegrown terrorists if you ask me.

G.I. JOE: I got it; you hate me and my kind. Message received. But don’t you care about corruption in our government? 

WOMAN REPORTER: (leans back and crosses her arms smugly) I don’t see corruption. I see a disgruntled soldier sticking his nose in matters well above his pay grade.

G.I. JOE: (gets up to leave) This is going nowhere. I’m sorry you feel this way. I’m also sorry you are the gate keeper to the national media. Before I leave, just one quick question. If I’m a terrorist, who are they? (points to the picture of her and the Taliban).

WOMAN REPORTER: (lifts her chin defiantly) They are the real patriots, Joe, true freedom fighters. They stand against those like you in places like Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela, and Columbia.

G.I. JOE: (smiles) Wow, you a poor, confused soul. I know most of these freedom fighters and I remember you. You came into area of operations expecting the US military shuttle you from one end of Afghanistan to another. And we did, all in hopes you might write a half-way objective piece on our operations.  You didn’t. Did you know these ‘freedom fighters’ planned to ambush you a few days later and hold you for ransom? Our intelligence discovered the plot and killed or captured most of the killers in this picture. They wanted you for as another Daniel Pearl, but only after you printed your glowing story about them. I bet you didn’t know that, did you?

WOMAN REPORTER: (ashen) You’re lying.

G.I. JOE: If you don’t believe me call the Handy Dandy Cab Company and ask for Abdul. (points to Abdul’s picture) He’ll be glad to tell you why they accommodated you only because you would unknowingly lead them to large groups of US soldiers. You were bait, a useful idiot. In fact, it was Abdul who revealed the whole plot, thanks to a little water boarding. Isn’t that ironic, you owe your life, and a Pulitzer, to water boarding. Print that in your dying newspaper or save it for the internet, I don’t care.

 Joe turns to leave without looking back. He finds himself back on the street. Abdul’s cab is nowhere in sight.

G.I. JOE: First the government and now the media. (he sighs) That leaves the people.

Joe puts on his Oakley sunglasses, shoves his hands in his pockets and sets out down the deserted street to find America.

To Be Continued…

Joe passes store after store, most shuttered and closed. He stops in front of a GM dealer to see what this year’s new models look like. The showroom is empty. A faded sign out front says, “Cash for Clunkers...last week!” Joe looks across the street to see a Toyota dealer also shuttered and closed. Next to the closed Toyota dealer is an open gas station/convenience store where gas is $6.00 a gallon.

G.I. JOE:If no one is driving, why is gas so expensive?

 He rummages through some change in his pocket, thinking a cold drink would be nice. He crosses the street and enters the store. A pudgy, bored looking white teenage clerk, covered with piercings and tattoos, sits behind the counter. Leaning back with his feet up on the counter he’s reading a porn magazine. He doesn’t look up as Joe enters he store. Next to him is an older man, possibly from India or Pakistan, ringing up purchases for the small line of customers.

 On the way to the drink cooler Joe stops in his tracks. The price for the 20oz colas start at $6.99. A small bag potato chips goes for $7.99.Candy, and other snacks range from $8 to $15 per item. Mouth agape, he moves from aisle to aisle, stunned by prices.A pack of light bulbs is $49.99. Cigarettes are over $150 a pack (a sign next to the cigarette display states, “The Surgeon General warns smoking makes you a BAD person.”)  The only item he can find which is even close to prices he recalls before he deployed is beer.

 Joe is very thirsty, so he reluctantly grabs a small $5 dollar can of Pepsi and heads to the register. Joe stands behind an old woman in a shabby sun dress, a young black man dressed hip-hop, and a middle aged white man in blue mechanics coveralls. Aside from the mechanic, who had a six-pack of beer, Joe is the only with merchandise.

Joe looks outside at the empty gas pumps and wonders what everyone in line for. Joe reaches the front of the line...

INDIAN MAN: How many lottery tickets would you like?

Joe notices a tray in front of the register filled with a few crumpled dollar bills (which look slightly odd) with a sign ‘Need a dollar, take a dollar. Have a dollar, leave a dollar.”

G.I. JOE: No thank you, just the soda.

INDIAN MAN: (Raises his eyebrow in disbelief. He holds a ticket up with the words “SUPER GIGANTIC MEGADOLLAR EXPRESS) Are you sure? The drawing tonight is for $10 billion.

G.I. JOE: (Almost chokes) Whoa! No, I’m not one for playing lotteries. (looks around, no one is in line behind him). Just the Pepsi, please.

INDIAN MAN: (Shrugs and rings up the drink) Have it your way. That will be $7.68. 

G.I. JOE: But it says ‘5 dollars’ on the sticker.

INDIAN MAN: (Irritated) Yes, it is. But I have to add tax.

G.I. JOE: That’s over 25% sales tax!

INDIAN MAN: No, sales tax is only 8%. Since it is officially designated a junk food, the Federal Obesity Tax is added on, too. Also, since it is considered a luxury the National Greenhouse Emissions Tax is added in as well. I do not write the laws; I am just a humble merchant. Lucky you are not getting gas, Cap and Trade has doubled the price even with so few people driving these days.

G.I. JOE: But why is this drink 5 bucks in the first place? When I left a 12 ounce can of soda like this cost 50 cents, maybe 75 cents tops. What happened?

INDIAN MAN: My tall, clean shaven customer, you are most confused on the ways of the world! See him? (points to the teenager still reading porn behind the counter). He is my only employee. I cannot afford any more because a few years ago I was forced to unionize under the new Card Check law. Clarence here had seniority, so my other employees had to go. Now I must pay him well above minimum wage, and provide him full “free” healthcare I must buy only from the government. He has paid vacations and...oh, I could go on and on. (the teenage clerk shoot the Indian man the middle finger without looking up. The Indian man rolls his eyes and goes on.) Since I’m considered management, I cannot work here alone or I will be fined for unfair labor practices. He cannot work here alone without supervision or I will be fined for unfair labor practices. So, my pool of employees shrank, my labor costs skyrocketed, I now work 18 hour days and I’m can no longer stay open 24 hours. Oh, and these costs are now passed on to you, my most valued customers. (sighs). I should have stayed in Bombay.

Joe hands over a $10 bill. The Indian man looks quizzically at money, and then shakes his head.

INDIAN MAN: I’m sorry, sir, but I cannot accept that money. Dollars are not legal tender anymore.

The teenage clerk looks up at Joe in mild interest, shakes his head and mutters, ‘tard’. Joe resists the urge to put a boot upside the punk’s head.

G.I. JOE: (irritated) What do you mean? This is legal U.S. script!

INDIAN MAN: Have you just arrived from Mars, young man? (points to the sign behind the counter: WE TAKE AMERODOLLARS ONLY! NO LEGACY BILLS ACCEPTED). All of our prices are in Amerodollars, not legacy dollars.

G.I. JOE: When did this happen?

INDIAN MAN: When inflation made the U.S. Dollar worthless.

Joe picks up a dollar from the tray and examines it closely. The color and general design are similar to the dollar he knows, but it is graced with the portrait of the current president, not George Washington. The flags of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are printed on it.

G.I. JOE: (Shakes his head in stunned) You have to be kidding me. I’ve been out of the country for a long time. Maybe too long. Can I exchange my dollars for these...? (points at the new script).

INDIAN MAN: Ameros.

G.I. JOE: Ameros (the word feels dirty on his tongue. He tosses it back into the tray in disgust).

INDIAN MAN: (laughs) Oh, no sir! It would take several truckloads of old money to buy this can of refreshing cola. (after a thoughtful pause he goes on). Come to think of it, it won’t be long before it will take a truckload of the new money to buy it, too.  

INDIAN MAN: (shrugs) I’m sorry. Have a nice day and comeback soon...but with real money.

Dazed, Joe walks to the door. The Indian man grabs a broom and dustpan and moves to the back of the store, shooting the clerk a nasty look. On the way out Joe glances at the magazine rack and stops cold. On every magazine cover, every newspaper (of which there were few), and every tabloid are pictures of the president. Each picture is flattering, each caption glorifying. Joe looks up at the television, and there is the president making a speech. Joe walks back to the counter again.  

G.I. JOE: Can I change the channel for a moment? It will only take a second.

CLERK: (without looking up) I don’t care, it’s all ‘tarded anyway.

Joe reaches up and scrolls through the channels. The president is on every channel. On one network he’s giving speech, on another he’s reading to school children, and on another he’s joking with a group of women on a morning talk show.A cold chill runs down his spine, he’s seen this before.

America was now a third-world backwater, where the money is worthless and politics is a personality cult. Here the people are repressed through excessive taxes, state media, and the numbing drug of socialism. Anger fills Joe’s heart.

G.I. JOE: Hey, buddy, which channel is Fox News on?

CLERK: (finally looks up with an expression of shock and disgust) What ARE you talking about, dude?! That s*it is definitely con-tra-BANDED! They dun outlawed that hate speech, mo-fo! Whut’choo want wid dat? Are you a hater or sump’ing?

Joe steps away from the counter and leaves without a word.

CLERK: (calls out as Joe leaves) Dat’s right, keep walking! Get yo a*s outa here, you HATER!

Joe walks the streets for hours, unable to reconcile what he’s seen this day with the America he loves and cherishes.

G.I. JOE: (Grits his teeth and shakes his fist) How did this happen here!

He comes upon a church, Main StreetMission, nestled among the decaying buildings of downtown.

 Joe has both a spiritual and physical hunger. As the sun sets and the night turns cold he refocuses his mind on his immediate needs: food and shelter. He can live off the land if necessary, but he prefers a warm bed to the cold ground. Maybe the mission will have a spare cot and something to eat. 

Hope rises in heart and his spirits lift as he walks toward the chapel. He’ll go inside and pray. Still, he believes in the American people.

To be continued.