Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
NBC
June 12, 2008
NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM
BRIAN WILLIAMS: And here in Afghanistan where, after all, the war that grew out of 9/11 is being fought – more than 500 Americans have been killed – that death toll has been ticking upwards in recent months. We spent this day with U.S. Special Forces, an outing designed to show how they are trying to change this war by better training the people of this country to fight it.
We were loaded aboard twin Blackhawk helicopters, the workhorses of the air in the American military effort. We flew over a land where actual workhorses are still in regular use. After a trip over some rugged and breathtaking territory, we circled down into an outpost with a name we were asked not to report in a place we were asked not to reveal, though the Americans are more than anxious to publicize what goes on here.
This outpost, 7,000 feet up in the mountains, is the new front in the so-called other war, the one that was a direct outgrowth of the 9/11 attacks. It’s proof that the fight is spreading out into the Afghan countryside. American Special Forces are recruiting and training young men who grew up in the Afghan countryside.
So the sad truth is, many of these men have grown up with war since they were small boys?
AFGHAN SOLDIER: As myself. We grew up – these great guys, they witnessed the Soviet invasion, they witnessed the terrorism invasion, they witnessed the civil war, and now they are living in a moderate, democratic state, Islamic state of Afghanistan.
WILLIAMS: Afghan commandos, entire battalions of them being trained, then deployed into the fight in a land where some sort of fight has been going on for a long time.
There is history in the landscape here and there is history in the hardware, and the hardware is all over the countryside. This is a graveyard full of old Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers. A lot of them still have Russian markings on them. That means that men died in these vehicles and they died in part underestimating the strength of the Afghan fighters. So fighting is nothing new to these men. They just see this as the latest fight.
Sergeant Major, how many times have you been wounded?
AFGHAN SOLDIER: Seven times, sir.
WILLIAMS: Seven times.
AFGHAN SOLDIER: Yes, sir.
WILLIAMS: Helping run the show for the Americans is a Special Forces veteran of combat in Iraq now assigned to this war. He’s a married father of two young kids from the mountains of Pennsylvania with a master’s degree in business who turned 35 today. He’s a highly-motivated major with an almost romantic view of what’s possible here.
AMERICAN SOLDIER: This is my life. This is what I do for a profession. It’s real. I can only base it on my experiences, but I’ve seen these guys come from unskilled, untrained warriors, and I see them go out of here as professionals – as true Afghan loyalists. They come here, they volunteer, and they are doing it for their country. They’re doing it for the guy standing next to them. They’re making Afghanistan better. And it’s only from my perspective, but I see it. I see it personally. Every one of my guys sees it.
WILLIAMS: In this war, however, just like in Iraq, winning hearts and minds can mean risking life and limb. As we prepare to go into a local village in body armor and moving around in armored SUVs, it’s tense. So is the ride into town when the major switches to his more ominous radio call sign of “skull 41.”
Once on the ground we walk along a busy road lined with market stalls on both sides. That’s an Afghan first sergeant walking up front. It’s important that his is the first face they see, and there are some forced smiles on both sides. A cab driver tells me he’s happy to see the heavily-armed men here.
How old are you?
And a young boy talks about his jobs fixing bikes. The Americans give out pens and pencils to the local kids, but the big ticket item today is the school backpacks with supplies inside. Genuine happiness seems to break out until it’s decided we’ve been there long enough.
This is the new face of the Afghanistan military effort, even if some don’t show their faces. The ambitious American in charge says this will pay off.
So what do you see as the end game in this war for the United States in your effort?
AMERICAN SOLDIER: It’s a safe and secure Afghanistan, an Afghanistan that’s free from outside influences, it’s free to make its own choices, it’s free to have economic prosperity that we see everywhere else in the world. That’s the same thing these people want, just like we want in the United States. Just freedom. Freedom to do what they think is correct for their own country.
WILLIAMS: A 35-year-old major, one of the Americans fighting alongside the people of this country from our day here in Afghanistan.
June 12, 2008
NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM
BRIAN WILLIAMS: And here in Afghanistan where, after all, the war that grew out of 9/11 is being fought – more than 500 Americans have been killed – that death toll has been ticking upwards in recent months. We spent this day with U.S. Special Forces, an outing designed to show how they are trying to change this war by better training the people of this country to fight it.
We were loaded aboard twin Blackhawk helicopters, the workhorses of the air in the American military effort. We flew over a land where actual workhorses are still in regular use. After a trip over some rugged and breathtaking territory, we circled down into an outpost with a name we were asked not to report in a place we were asked not to reveal, though the Americans are more than anxious to publicize what goes on here.
This outpost, 7,000 feet up in the mountains, is the new front in the so-called other war, the one that was a direct outgrowth of the 9/11 attacks. It’s proof that the fight is spreading out into the Afghan countryside. American Special Forces are recruiting and training young men who grew up in the Afghan countryside.
So the sad truth is, many of these men have grown up with war since they were small boys?
AFGHAN SOLDIER: As myself. We grew up – these great guys, they witnessed the Soviet invasion, they witnessed the terrorism invasion, they witnessed the civil war, and now they are living in a moderate, democratic state, Islamic state of Afghanistan.
WILLIAMS: Afghan commandos, entire battalions of them being trained, then deployed into the fight in a land where some sort of fight has been going on for a long time.
There is history in the landscape here and there is history in the hardware, and the hardware is all over the countryside. This is a graveyard full of old Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers. A lot of them still have Russian markings on them. That means that men died in these vehicles and they died in part underestimating the strength of the Afghan fighters. So fighting is nothing new to these men. They just see this as the latest fight.
Sergeant Major, how many times have you been wounded?
AFGHAN SOLDIER: Seven times, sir.
WILLIAMS: Seven times.
AFGHAN SOLDIER: Yes, sir.
WILLIAMS: Helping run the show for the Americans is a Special Forces veteran of combat in Iraq now assigned to this war. He’s a married father of two young kids from the mountains of Pennsylvania with a master’s degree in business who turned 35 today. He’s a highly-motivated major with an almost romantic view of what’s possible here.
AMERICAN SOLDIER: This is my life. This is what I do for a profession. It’s real. I can only base it on my experiences, but I’ve seen these guys come from unskilled, untrained warriors, and I see them go out of here as professionals – as true Afghan loyalists. They come here, they volunteer, and they are doing it for their country. They’re doing it for the guy standing next to them. They’re making Afghanistan better. And it’s only from my perspective, but I see it. I see it personally. Every one of my guys sees it.
WILLIAMS: In this war, however, just like in Iraq, winning hearts and minds can mean risking life and limb. As we prepare to go into a local village in body armor and moving around in armored SUVs, it’s tense. So is the ride into town when the major switches to his more ominous radio call sign of “skull 41.”
Once on the ground we walk along a busy road lined with market stalls on both sides. That’s an Afghan first sergeant walking up front. It’s important that his is the first face they see, and there are some forced smiles on both sides. A cab driver tells me he’s happy to see the heavily-armed men here.
How old are you?
And a young boy talks about his jobs fixing bikes. The Americans give out pens and pencils to the local kids, but the big ticket item today is the school backpacks with supplies inside. Genuine happiness seems to break out until it’s decided we’ve been there long enough.
This is the new face of the Afghanistan military effort, even if some don’t show their faces. The ambitious American in charge says this will pay off.
So what do you see as the end game in this war for the United States in your effort?
AMERICAN SOLDIER: It’s a safe and secure Afghanistan, an Afghanistan that’s free from outside influences, it’s free to make its own choices, it’s free to have economic prosperity that we see everywhere else in the world. That’s the same thing these people want, just like we want in the United States. Just freedom. Freedom to do what they think is correct for their own country.
WILLIAMS: A 35-year-old major, one of the Americans fighting alongside the people of this country from our day here in Afghanistan.