#  The Real Story Behind the Military in Afghanistan. Uh Oh.

     Details    Liz Amsden   ![logo](https://www.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         September 30 2021      [  ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Sept-2021/078z12.png)    ](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/22701-the-real-story-behind-the-uh-oh-in-afghanistan)

  [VOICES](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices)   - [  Previous Article **The Glendale Dump Wars** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22705:the-glendale-dump-wars&catid=375)
- [  Next Article **Budget Reconciliation Could Provide Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22697:budget-reconciliation-could-provide-path-to-citizenship-for-millions-of-immigrants&catid=375)

  ###### Typography

- [](# "Smaller Font")  ****Smaller** **Small** **Medium** **Big** **Bigger****  [](# "Bigger Font")
- [](# "Previous Font Style")  ****Default** **Helvetica** **Segoe** **Georgia** **Times****  [](# "Next Font Style")

- [ Reading Mode](# "Reading Mode")

> <a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a><a class="a2a_button_print"></a>[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
>
>  [Comments](#disqus_thread)

>
>
>
> COMMENTARY-Reports of generals testifying before Congress that Biden withdrew the military from Afghanistan faster than they had recommended seems to smell a lot like after-the-fact CYA and self-serving in the extreme.

 After all, it’s in the generals’ best interest that they come out of any disengagement smelling like roses to better promote their own careers. Either remaining within the armed forces or cycling into better-paying jobs with military contractors, helping their new employers rack up huge sales for overpriced material to sell to foreign and domestic plutocracies.

And yes, that is domestic. You thought you were living in a democracy?

Well, who do you think pays for those Congressmen and women and Senators to get elected?

The American war machine spreads its largesse far and wide, to every Congressional District in the nation. And as we’ve seen, too many of our elected officials pay their sponsors back in full by voting for further Pentagon budget bloat.

So, after that brief word on their sponsors, the generals are now blaming Biden for having the guts to do what Georgie Shrub didn’t have the cojones to do years ago just because 13 service members died?

Uh, didn’t those guys volunteer? Didn’t they know that they were going to fight an illegal war in a foreign country where the United States was uninvited (except for the puppet government they put in place) and unwanted?

Didn’t they realize that going to war means the possibility of getting killed?

How many more Americans would have died if the generals had stayed the course? Would they then be counselling Congress that the president should have taken their advice and pulled American forces out earlier?

Sure as shootin’, the Pentagon would have laid out a host of scenarios so that their collective asses could remain well-covered.

But what about U.S. “retaliation” for the men who died?

What about the ten members of one family that a drone operated by the U.S. military murdered in Kabul?

Read their names and weep:

Hayat Ahmadi, age 2

Malika Ahmadi, age 3

Somaya Ahmadi, age 3

Benyamin Ahmadi, age 6

Arwin Ahmadi, age 7

Farzad Ahmadi, age 10

Faisal Ahmadi, age 16

Zamir Ahmadi, age 20

Naser Ahmadi, age 30

Zemari Ahmadi, age 43

 I do not weep for the Pentagon or the war-obsessed American generals.

I weep for the people of the United States and the people of Afghanistan.

*(Liz Amsden is an activist from Northeast Los Angeles with opinions on much of what goes on in our lives. She has written extensively on the City's budget and services as well as her many other interests and passions. In her real life she works on budgets for film and television where fiction can rarely be as strange as the truth of living in today's world.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.*

  - [  Previous Article **The Glendale Dump Wars** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22705:the-glendale-dump-wars&catid=375)
- [  Next Article **Budget Reconciliation Could Provide Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22697:budget-reconciliation-could-provide-path-to-citizenship-for-millions-of-immigrants&catid=375)
<div data-id="1" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-emailform eb-1 eboxContentLocker"
	data-options='{"trigger":"onPageLoad","trigger_selector":"","delay":3000,"early_trigger":true,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":1,"reverse_scroll_close":true,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":10000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"slideInDown","animation_close":"fadeOutDown","animation_duration":400,"disable_page_scroll":true,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #1 - Global Email Signup Form","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog eb-formVer" role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog1" aria-label="dialog1">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<form action="https://citywatchla.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=34d69f33624fd058ee9b56516&amp;id=4bfa422f51&amp;f_id=00d6c2e1f0" class="eb" method="post" id="mcform-1" name="mcform-1" target="_blank">
			<div class="eb-form-header"><p><img src="/images/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png" alt="be a city watcher" width="350" height="97" loading="lazy" data-path="local-images:/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png"></p>
<p>Sign up to receive our special e-news blasts on Monday and Thursday evenings!</p></div>
	
					<div class="eb-field-row">

			
			
			
			<input class="eb-input" type="email" name="EMAIL"  placeholder="Email address"  id="EMAIL" value="" required>

			
		</div>
										
	<div class="eb-footer">
    	<button class="eb-btn" type="submit" name="subscribe" style="background-color:rgba(93, 183, 93, 1);color:rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">
    		Sign up    	</button>
    </div>
</form>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>
<div data-id="3" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-yesno eb-3 "
	data-options='{"trigger":"onScrollDepth","trigger_selector":"","delay":0,"early_trigger":false,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":2,"reverse_scroll_close":false,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":1000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"fadeInUp","animation_close":"fadeOut","animation_duration":300,"disable_page_scroll":false,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #3 - Yes \/ No Donation Popup Box","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog " role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog3" aria-label="dialog3">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<div class="ebox-yes-no">
	<div class="ebox-yn-text">
		
		
		<div class="ebox-yn-headline" style="font-size:22px;color:#888888">
			<p>If you only give once a month, would you consider giving to CityWatch?</p>
<p>Your support fuels our mission to promote and facilitate civic engagement and neighborhood empowerment, and to hold area government and its politicians accountable.</p>
<p>Would you like to help? Even if you can only give $5, it will make a difference.</p>		</div>
			</div>
	
	<div class="ebox-ys-buttons" style="font-size: 16px;">
		
<a
					data-ebox-prevent="0"
		data-ebox-cmd="close"
				target="_self"
		href="https://www.citywatchla.com/donate"
		rel="noopener"
	
	
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#2ec664;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Yes
	</a>
<a
	
	
			data-ebox-cmd="close"
		href="#"
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#ef2345;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Not Right Now
	</a>	</div>

	</div>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>