American Heroes

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Springtime. Back home, Congress is in recess, the kids are out of school and the redbuds, dogwoods and cherry trees are about to bloom. Here, south of the Hindu Kush, opium poppies are in full blossom, the harvest is about to come in and it’s the start of what the locals call “fighting season.” Though people in both countries have come to accept those conditions as “patterns of life,” some here intend to change the archetype for the people of Afghanistan. If their plan succeeds, it could prove to be the undoing of the Taliban — and mark the beginning of the end of this long war. And most of the so-called mainstream media will have missed the moment.

Last week, three high-profile visitors came to Afghanistan, and all talked about the future of the fight. Our commander in chief came for six hours of meetings at Bagram Airbase and in Kabul. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was here for two days of briefings and meetings with U.S., coalition and Afghan commanders and troops. In both cases, major media reports focused on U.S. and civilian casualties, the upcoming “final offensive” here in Kandahar and the alleged corruption of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brother Ahmed, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council. But the visitor who may have made the most important contribution to bringing an end to the Taliban was the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michele Leonhart.

Leonhart, it should be noted, is a DEA special agent and the first administrator of the agency to make an official visit to an active war zone. More than 90 of her special agents and support personnel are deployed here, and in the past six months, three of them have been killed in action, and another was wounded. During her three-day inspection tour of Afghanistan, she conferred with U.S., coalition and Afghan officials to review and approve next steps in taking down what she calls the “Taliban narco-insurgency.”

In Afghanistan, farmers, insurgents and corrupt officials all rely on income derived from the spring poppy harvest. The goal of the plan — developed by Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson’s Marine expeditionary brigade based at Camp Leatherneck, DEA specialists on the ground and “in-country” U.S. agricultural and development experts — is to undermine the networks that finance the Taliban and abet the corruption of Afghan government officials, without disrupting the livelihood of poor farmers who may have been coerced into growing opium by insurgent networks.

Breaking these connections without alienating the civilian population in what has been a Taliban stronghold is no small task. More than seven U.S. Marine and Afghan national security force battalions have been committed to the mission. So have significant resources of the DEA and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which will provide micro-grants to farmers who do not harvest the poppies they planted last fall. Cash will be given to stimulate small businesses and encourage repairs to economic infrastructure damage incurred during combat operations.

Our Fox News team accompanied Leonhart; Ambassador Anthony Wayne, coordinator of U.S. development and economic assistance in Afghanistan; and Thomas Harrigan, DEA’s chief of operations, to Marjah. There they met with those who will be the final arbiters of whether the plan succeeds — local officials and civilians.

“We all have a lot to do in this effort, but I’m optimistic. These are very entrepreneurial, hardworking people,” Wayne told me as we walked down a street where gunfights raged just a few weeks ago. The provincial governor, Gulab Mangal, widely regarded as one of the most competent in Afghanistan, has signed on, said one of the Marine officers involved in developing the plan. “That’s what we need,” the officer added.

There is more that is needed, as well, e.g., a hospital or at least a clinic, schools, roads, bridges, electricity, improved irrigation — the basic services government is supposed to provide or assure. And there is another element that is crucial for success — showing the people that their government is serious about cleaning up corruption. That’s a key part of what the DEA brings to the fight.

“The most effective judicial system in Afghanistan is the special narcotics court,” a Marine officer noted. “Marines prosecute enemy targets with bombs and bullets. The DEA, Afghan National Interdiction Unit and special investigative units collect evidence to prosecute targets differently but just as effectively.”

Leonhart agrees. Standing beside me on the dusty streets of Marjah, she said, “The DEA is completely committed to winning this battle. Our blood has been spilled here. Locking up corrupt officials involved with narcotics is not only good for the people of Afghanistan; it’s good for these Marines and the American people, too.” She’s right.

Until mid-February, the area known as Marjeh in southern Afghanistan was a sleepy agricultural area somewhat removed from the battles that had been fought in this country to date But the area had two big problems – it was Taliban-controlled and the majority of its “agriculture” was Opium. On 12 February, Marines descended from the sky in heavily-laden helicopters and began an offensive to drive out the Taliban. A month later, Marjeh is safe enough for Hamid Karzai to walk down the main street of the village and meet with its elders.

Secure: Check.

Next to the “hold” phase. Two battalions of Marines and four battalions of Afghans have set up shop in the area, and will remain there for the foreseeable future.

Now for the “build” phase. Here’s where we run into a small problem. Opium has, for years, been the foundation of Marjeh’s economy. The opium trade is highly profitable on a per-acre basis, and, unfortunately, is tied directly to our enemies, the Taliban. Local farmers normally have to borrow the money for the seed – loans called “salaam” that repaid at the end of the season in the real currency of this area: opium paste.

Years ago the US decided on a “poppy eradication” program. The state department shipped a fleet of helicopters to Afghanistan from Colombia, specially outfitted with chemical sprayers intended to kill off fields of poppy. But it didn’t take long to realize that this wasn’t the best plan – killing the poppies meant devastating the farmers, which doesn’t exactly fit with the US goal of winning hearts and minds. So the military shifted its tactics to hunting down the drug traffickers, those who collect and transport the opium to the rest of the world. This strategy has been fairly effective – with the help of agencies like the DEA, the military has rolled up thousands of mid-to high level drug runners in Afghanistan and has destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars of opium paste, heroin and precursor chemicals.

This brings us to the thorny problem being faced in Marjeh and elsewhere: what to do now? The farmers are still growning poppy: this year’s crop is almost ready for harvest. But we’re arresting or killing those who buy the opium from the farmers, which means the farmers won’t get paid for their opium, and won’t be able to pay off their loans or get money for next year’s crop.

The Marines have been attempting to circumvent this problem by handing out wheat seeds in Marjeh – trying to get the farmers to plant something besides opium. But the amount of wheat a man would have to grow to replace his income from opium would likely require lots more land, and more importantly, lots more water, which isn’t easy to come by in this desert climate. And if they DO manage to cultivate wheat on a scale that will make it profitable, how will they harvest it without heavy machinery? And to whom will they sell it?

All of a sudden, it’s looking like this will require much more than just substituting one crop for another. Its looking more like a complete overhaul of this country’s economy, and yes, even its culture.

One quick solution: Marines are offering farmers in Marjeh $500 a hectare NOT to harvest this year’s opium crop. Most of that money will likely be used to pay off salaam. The lenders? Well, you might have guessed it…the Taliban. So in order to win hearts and minds, we’ll be indirectly funding our enemies, at least for this Poppy season.

As you can see, the solutions aren’t cut and dried. But let’s hope this year’s poppy harvest won’t be either.

Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan

I’m back in Afghanistan for my third month-long embed in nineteen months. When I visited Helmand province in the summer of 2008, Camp Bastion was a small forward staging base in the middle of the most miserable and inhospitable desert I could ever imagine.  The Afghans call the area “the desert of death.”  Leave it to the military to see that as a good place to build a city larger than my hometown.

Back in 2008, one could walk from one end of the base to the other in a few minutes, and the most exciting reason to visit was the fact that there were cold showers (in tents) and a field hospital (in tents) that saved the lives of many men injured on the front lines.

Last year when I returned, the base had seen incredible growth with the addition of Camp Leatherneck – a tent-city erected to house thousands of incoming Marines.

The trend has continued in the six months since that visit – today, the combined camps Bastion and Leatherneck span thousands of acres and it takes nearly half an hour to drive from one end to the other.  The headquarters building actually has a lawn – the only living green for probably a hundred miles. There is a thai restaurant, a Pizza hut, a coffee house and an Afghan-run everything store called the “Smily Suppling and Survice Company.”  

Outside the gate, a village has sprung up where the thousands of afghan workers who do most of the menial labor at the base (building, cleaning, etc.) sleep in hastily erected tents. Today, the bases house nearly 20,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.  The airfield, aside from being one of the busiest military airfields in the world, now even hosts commercial flights.  This now-sprawling base is ground-zero for the “Afghan Surge” and the capital of what some are now calling “Marinestan.”

All this growth makes me wonder.  What will this area look like in ten years?  Will the “camp followers” outside the gate take up permanent residence?  Maybe someone will decide to build a beach resort.  There’s definitely no shortage of sun and sand.  And parking.  Lots of room for parking. 

They’re going to have to do something about that “desert of death” designation, though.  Not exactly good marketing. <

I’ll be traveling the country with the DEA and Special operations for the next month.  Stay tuned.

I ran across the following video on a military aggregator site today – it shows in raw detail what life is like for many of our troops in Afghanistan these days.  The video begins immediately after a vehicle is struck by an IED – shot from the point of view of the troops INSIDE the vehicle that was hit. 

They are all surprisingly calm, a testament to their high level of training and to the incredible survivability they now have with the new MATV’s that are being rolled out as fast as possible. The MATV is a smaller version of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles that helped win the war in Iraq. 

Now, the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicles carrrying our troops in Afghanistan are, in my estimation, poised to do the same in Afghanistan. When the Taliban realizes (and they are already) that the game has changed – that the roadside bombs they litter the roads with just aren’t killing our soldiers very often anymore, they’ll start to adjust their tactics – which means that in six months or a year, the roads will be much, much safer. 

This is a good thing, but it also carries risk. In Iraq when the insurgents could no longer kill us on the roads, they began wiring up entire houses with explosives – “house-borne IED’s” they were called. And too many men were killed searching houses on patrol.  But that increases the civilian casualties, and so it led to the local populace turning against the insurgents. 

If we persevere, this will happen in Afghanistan, too. Be sure to watch to the end of the clip, when the soldiers hold a small worship service at their remote outpost. Watching our warriors giving praise to their creator is something that should warm your heart, and give you hope for America. Our men aren’t just tough, they’re GOOD.

Last night my friend Erick Stakelbeck reported that some soldiers at Fort Jackson, SC are under investigation for trying to poison the food supply at the base.  Chris Gray, the public affairs officer for the US Army’s Criminal Investigative Division confirmed yesterday afternoon that these soldiers were a part of a fairly new Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) called “09 Lima.”

Every soldier in the Army carries an MOS.  I was 11 Bravo, which is the designator for an infantryman.

The 09 Lima school is centered at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and it’s a special school that falls under the “Civilian Acquired Skills program“  This program is put in place for people who already have a skill or profession and want to do that job in the military.  X-ray technicians, firefighters, or even journalists like me could enlist under such a program.

What makes the 09 Lima program stand out is that it is specifically geared towards non-US citizens who bring to the table one very in-demand skill – the ability to speak fluent Arabic, Dari, Pashto, or some other needed language.  But these recruits also have a handicap – their grasp of the English language is not sufficient to allow them to make it through basic training.  So the 09 Lima program puts them through a sort of pre-basic basic, where they learn American culture, Army culture and work on their English language skills.  Once they finish the course, they are then able to enter normal basic training.  It’ is a very small program, with something less than forty recruits in each class.

Here’s the interesting part.  According to Lt. Col. Frank Demith, these recruits are offered an “expedited citizenship program, once they serve one day of honorable active duty.” 

Military service has always been a way for non-citizen US residents to obtain citizenship, and thousands have performed honorably in service to our country before it actually became their country. 

though the Army must certainly have a thorough vetting process in place to try and avoid a scenario like that described by Erick Stakelbeck’s recent blog, in the case of the 09 Lima program, the ability to receive “expedited American citizenship” must present a tempting opportunity for jihadi extremists with ulterior motives.

In this case, however, the military is obviously keeping a sharp eye on things to keep anything like that from happening.  Whatever happened with the “Fort Jackson Five” – and the details are very sketchy at this point – it appears that the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division was on the ball.

In the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake that all but leveled Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the U.S. military sprung into action with a flotilla of ships and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary unit, among other things. 

In the month since that day, the U.S. Department of Defense has contributed over $200 million to the relief efforts, and combined with other USAID contributions, U.S. taxpayers have given just over half a billion.

I spent a week on the USS Bataan and went into Haiti with the U.S. Marines. They delivered aid, secured landing sites, and treated critically ill Haitians, not to mention delivering hundreds of tons of supplies to our own Operation Blessing.

In the weeks since then, I’ve heard several media personalities remark on how well our Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen are executing their missions in Haiti. The insinuation is that delivering aid really isn’t in their job description. One blogger put it this way, “The military is not about providing humanitarian relief.” 

Really? These assertions show a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the U.S. Military. 

Just because soldiers carry guns doesn’t mean killing is the only thing they know how to do. In fact, in today’s world, humanitarian assistance is a more powerful weapon than artillery because the fight is rarely for ground or sky, but for hearts and minds. Kindness is our most powerful weapon, and one that todays soldiers, sailors, airmen Marines and guardsmen wield well. 

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the vast majority of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan – probably 70 percent or more – will never fire their weapons in anger. Does that surprise you?  Probably because we in the media don’t do a good enough job of giving you one very important factor that good news reporting requires: Context.

You can easily find out how many troops were killed on any given day with a simple web search. But how many roadside bombs were found and de-fused? How many schools were opened? How much aid was delivered? These rarely get much attention because they’re not as sexy as bombs, bodies, and bullets – staples of the nightly news.

Case in point – you may not have heard about the huge avalanche that killed nearly 200 people in northern Afghanistan last week. But coalition forces were there right away, pulling people out of the snow and, by some accounts, rescuing more than 3,000 travelers who were stranded by the disaster.

Today’s American military is, by necessity, expert at being the savior to millions around the world. 

Yes, they carry guns. And yes, they can be incredibly lethal when necessary. But remember this: the single most important factor in making America great is that America is good. The men and women serving in today’s military know that. And you should, too.

One of the questions I’ve been asked repeatedly over the last two weeks is this:  What can we do to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti?

The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. 

Americans – and especially American Christians are the most generous people group on the planet.  When we see people in trouble, we do what we can to help – it’s part of who we are.  But in addition to being generous, we need also to be wise – so that the money we send will do the most good for the most people.

 PLEASE DON’T GO TO HAITI ANYTIME SOON. 

Thousands of churches across the United States are already planning short-term missions’ trips to Haiti in the near future.  This is a mistake.  Here’s why:

1.  Haiti’s infrastructure is almost non-existent.  You aren’t going to find a hotel that will be able to accommodate your group, those that weren’t destroyed by the quake are completely full of aid workers, journalists, and are even being used as makeshift hospitals.  

2.  Resources are scarce, and getting scarcer – any food, water, or toilet facilities your group would require are desperately needed by Haitians.  When I was in Haiti last week, I was shocked to meet dozens of Americans who, with the best of intentions, simply hopped a plane to the Dominican Republic and made their way into Haiti to “help.”  Unfortunately, they were spending most of their time wandering around the airport mooching food, water and internet off of more established ministries like Mission Aviation Fellowship, which has been working in Haiti since 1986.

3.  Well meaning, but stupid Americans are making things harder on everyone.  I must have run across a half-dozen couples in the last week who came to Haiti after hearing a rumor that the doors to international adoption had been thrown wide open in Haiti.  These naive couples hotfooted it to Port-au-Prince looking for a baby to bring home.  Unfortunately, this is causing major problems with those who were in the process of legal adoption, and is causing tensions between the Haitians and the world community.

Adoption is a wonderful thing – but human trafficking is human trafficking.

Aid is not the answer.

The Haitian people are in desperate need of physical aid right now – but that’s not what will fix their problems long term.  Haiti has received over a billion dollars in foreign aid every year for nearly three decades – and even before the quake, it’s ten times worse now than it was when I first visited there in 1986.  This is due to several issues. 

1. Corruption is endemic in Haitian culture.  A vast majority of the aid sent to Haiti does not reach the intended recipients – those most needy of the population, but is first filtered through government corruptucrats who, as often as not, SELL the aid they are supposed to be giving away.  And with billions flowing in all at once, the opportunity for fraud is higher than it has ever been.

2.  The UN is worse than worthless.  I’ve arrived at this conclusion after spending much of the past decade traveling to places that have been suffering under UN “peacekeeping” operations for years.  The UN is often as corrupt as the Haitian government, and the Haitian people call them “criminals.” 

One unfortunate thing I saw this trip was the US military taking tons of aid into the country – and then turning it over to the UN.  The Haitian people I interviewed were livid when they learned this.  “We’ll never see that aid!” they cried.  They told me the only way the MINUSTAH troops will help them is if the people give them something – money, favors, or labor – in return. 

On a trip to Haiti in 2008 I saw UN troops SELLING aid in the marketplace.  The stuff they were supposed to be giving away.  The people were surprised that I was surprised.  “That’s how it always is,” they said.

The UN is, in my opinion, nothing more than a hopelessly corrupt, bloated bureaucracy whose liberal elite’s visions for world peace are constantly thwarted by reality, not to mention “peacekeepers” who hail from countries who have never known peace.

3.  Welfare doesn’t work – even in Haiti.  The welfare system in the US is good at one thing – fostering an “entitled victim” mentality that squelches work ethic, incites class warfare and discourages productivity.  But for some reason we think it will “fix” what’s wrong in Haiti.  It won’t.

What the Haitians need is a heart change. 

The only thing that can change a culture for real and for good is redemption – the saving power of submitting to the will of our creator.  Only Jesus can change the hearts of men.  And Jesus is already at work in Haiti.  Since the quake, over 11,000 people have called the country’s evangelical radio station to pledge their hearts to Christ. 

And therein lies our opportunity.  If you are a Christian and would like to donate to help Haiti -please do so.  But while the country has the eyes of the world’s governments upon it, while billions in aid are pouring in from nations around the globe – let’s focus OUR giving on the thing that will matter most – changing people’s hearts.  Let’s focus our prayers and giving on church planting and evangelization. 

Is meeting physical needs important?  Absolutely.  And Christians are foremost among those who meet physical needs around the world.  But let’s try to see beyond the physical needs and meet the deeper, spiritual needs that will, in the long run, fix many of the problems that Haiti (and the rest of the world) faces today.  My prayer is that through this incredible tragedy, God will make the Haitian people “more than conquerors,” taking this horrible event and making it the beginning of a new country that will bring glory to God.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 

Romans 8:37

Could you eat while everyone around you went hungry? Could you drink while thousands of thirsty people stood watching?

That was the dilemma I faced today. I flew into the town of Logane with a company of Marines from the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Marine Division. We made ourselves at home in a cow pasture (complete with cows) that was big enough for the gigantic CH-53 helicopters that would deliver tons of supplies for the beleaguered residents of the area.

In a short time we had food. Tons of it. And water – thousands of gallons. Piled up in boxes in the center of the field. This brought thousands of hungry citizens out of the woodwork. The Marines established a perimeter around the field with armed sentries to keep anyone from rushing the helicopters and possibly getting hurt. And the fierce rotowash of the ‘53’s did the rest. After the first came in and blew anything not nailed down (including people on bicycles) into the fields behind the road that encircled the field, the guards were largely redundant. Every time a helicopter came in to land, the Haitians ran away – falling facedown on the road or hiding in ditches to escape the rotorwash. It became, for them, a sort of entertainment.

Here were thousands of people who hadn’t had a decent meal in over a week, and who had to gnaw raw sugar cane (which is grown in that area) to satisfy their thirst, because there is no clean water. Their belongings are scattered, their loved ones dead or injured. Many of them pointed to their flattened houses and spoke of family members crushed inside – but without heavy machinery there is no way to recover their bodies. And so the dead remain entombed in the ruins of their homes.

I couldn’t help but wonder as I watched them wait patiently around the field, not knowing when or even if the tons food they could plainly see would be distributed – would Americans stand and wait quietly, or would we be rioting in the streets? Images of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina came to mind, and I fear we would not be so understanding and long-suffering.

I walked among them and exercised my rusty French, finding more than a few who spoke passable English. So many of them spoke of their faith in God. One man put it this way – We have faith that God will provide. And God bless the United States Marines.

The day grew long and the sun was painfully hot. I never saw any of them eat anything but stalks of raw sugar cane. I became desperately thirsty and realized that it was past lunchtime, so I walked to my bag, which I’d set near a Mango tree in the clearing, and dug for the MRE and Nalgene bottle inside. I found them and took a sip of water – it was wonderful. I was just about to dig into my MRE when I happened to look around. On all sides were the piercing stares of starving, thirsty people. All of them asked the same question:

What about us?

I put the food and water away.

It’s not up to me what happens with the aid we delivered today. Something in me would just like to see the Marines throw open the boxes and throw food to the throng, in the frenetic fashion of Christmas morning. But someone wiser than me made the decision that to try and distribute it from the landing zone would likely result in mayhem that would compromise the entire mission. So the supplies were turned over to the local contingent of UN peacekeepers – these from Sri Lanka.

This decision almost DID cause a riot.

The second time I approached the crowd they were noticeably agitated. “Why are you giving it to them?” they wanted to know.”The UN are criminals!”

Apparently the UN isn’t popular around here. I’m not surprised: last year when I visited Haiti, I filmed UN soldiers in the marketplace selling the aid they were supposed to be giving away. The “peacekeepers” are notoriously abusive and the people claim you can’t get anything from them without “paying” in some form or fashion.

You’d think that with the entire country in ruins, the crooks and corruptocrats would take a holiday. But corruption is so endemic in Haitian culture that I fear a good portion of the aid flooding into the country right now will end up NOT getting to the people who need it most.

The military is taking a very measured approach to this problem, and after being on the ground today, I got a better idea of the scale and the difficulty of it. While it’s tempting to want to just throw food and water out of the helicopters at the first needy people we come across, sometimes caring must have a harder, more calculated edge.

Pray that well-meaning agencies and governments involved in Haiti will be wise in the distribution of aid – and that they would do it quickly. There are children with empty bellies in Haiti tonight.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

 USS Bataan, West of Jamaica

This Amphibious Assault ship is headed south, bursting with men and materiel.  We’re a part of the US response to the historic earthquake that devastated the island of Haiti just under one week ago. 

A ship like this normally requires 96 hours to get underway when called up for an emergency – just bringing the enormous engines online can take an entire day.  But despite the fact that the crew of the Bataan only returned from a seven-month deployment five weeks ago, these remarkable men and women responded in record time, pulling away from the docks in just under 48 hours.

During the two-day run down the eastern seaboard to the beleaguered island nation, the ship continued to collect men and supplies via huge CH-53 helicopters.  The almost 2,500 sailors and Marines now aboard are all chomping at the bit to get on the ground in Haiti and start the business of recovery.  Televisions in the boardroom keep them abreast of the state of things on the ground – and the news isn’t good.  There is talk in the corridors about how best to handle the desperate crowds of hungry people who mob helicopters whenever they land.  The staff of the level-2 hospital has been conducting mass casualty drills, and young Marines are being briefed by the chaplains as to how the carnage could affect them psychologically. 

It’s a dirty job, but Marines specialize in dirty jobs, and the attitude here on the Bataan is “let’s get on with it.”