Let’s try a series called weekend reading, and this one will be #1 (in hopes that there will be more).  It’s our foray into instantly-blogging rather than trying to carefully craft single article releases for our readers.  It may succeed, or it may fail due to lack of discipline.

First off, there is a relatively new blog called The Afpak Channel with the AfPak Daily Brief.  They have a long list of notable bloggers, and were kind enough to link The Captain’s Journal.  We appreciate the link, and the AfPak Daily Brief is certainly worth checking out.

Second, Reuters is carrying a concise but well done history of the Taliban.  Sit down in a hardback chair with a cup of coffee and take this one on.

Third, The CSM has a piece taking on the issue of drones, and whether the direct targeting of Taliban and AQ leaders is legal?  The Captain’s Journal has absolutely no problem with targeting Taliban and AQ leaders, but let’s perform a thought experiment for a moment.  The whole tactic rests upon death from above targeted towards known HVTs, while those HVTs themselves aren’t holding a weapon or posing a threat.  Didn’t General Kearney want to charge a couple of Army snipers with murder a while back who did the same thing?  How about this idea.  Let’s apply the same rules of engagement to the generals and CIA chieftains making the decisions during drone strikes as we do the Soldiers and Marines in the field.  That’s fair, isn’t it?  If not, then why not?  Can you make a case that this isn’t fair?

Fourth, Richard North at Defence of the Realm is required reading every day.  His latest piece awaits the howls that are sure to come when the Brits lose their 200th soldier in Afghanistan.  Neither we nor Richard likes tracking this, and Richard doesn’t like to see British casualties.  But that’s why Richard always argues for more troops, better equipment and better strategy.  Richard is the conscience of the military bloggers / new media in the UK.  You can always turn to him for unvarnished prose.

Fifth, there is our own loyal reader Warbucks who might have to change his vacation plans to the mountains of Afghanistan based on our advice to chase the Taliban into the mountains.

Sixth, I had wondered how long it would take PETA to weigh in protesting the practice of using live pigs to train Marines on the amelioration of battle injuries (see also this).  No, advancements in technology would be be able to replace this.  No amount of technology can be used in lieu of the use of live anesthetized pigs due to the anatomical similarities.   What would PETA have us do – lose more Marines and keep the pigs alive?  Nothing these people do is serious.  They’re good for entertainment, and that’s about it.

Lastly, enjoy Dave Matthews telling us about Stella and Alligator Pie.

In Follow and Kill Every Single Taliban we covered and commented on the view of the local Afghans we are trying to protect in this population-centric counterinsurgency campaign in which we are engaged in Afghanistan.  Thus far, we haven’t the troops and helicopters to engage in the chase.  God must be very patient with us, because we get yet another example and object lesson of why we must chase the Taliban (Operation Eastern Resolve).

Day two of Operation Eastern Resolve is drawing to a close. We are with Golf Company, with the 2/3 Marines, they have had a pretty busy day. And camera man Mal James and I spent some time with the Marines in this very dangerous town. It got off to a little bit of a rough start.

We’ve been hearing Taliban fire all around us, coming into contact with the Marines. I can hear it right now.

These Marines are working with another squad, another platoon as they work their way down this village trying to clear this place. But the Taliban aren’t giving up.

The Marines are going house to house, they’re going compound to compound to make sure that there are no militants remaining and they’re doing it while the Taliban that the Marines didn’t kill yesterday try to kill these Marines today.

Morning patrols faced some fairly stiff resistance — the Taliban firing from positions in the mountains surrounding the town, as well as sniping positions in town as well.

Not an easy job, but they’re doing it, and the sense today is that a corner has been turned. Hot temperatures here today though, and some very tired Marines here tonight.

The snipers in the city are one issue.  If they stick around they will be killed by the Marines.  The firing positions in the mountains are a different issue.  Protecting the population will be impossible if we don’t give chase.

We must use our technological advantage – night vision, air power, sniping skills, infantry patrols – to kill them in the mountains.  Night time patrols into the mountains, along with pre-deployed Marine scout snipers, would be just the ticket.  And the ROE must be robust, where offensive actions can be taken (i.e., Marines don’t have to wait for the Taliban fighters to brandish a weapon).  No one – NO ONE – is backpacking for recreation in these mountains.  Give chase and kill the insurgents.  This is the best protection of the population that can be effected.

There is discussion about whether to target the population centers in Afghanistan with counterinsurgency forces, or focus on the rural areas and smaller villages.  Really, this discussion and debate have been going on for years, starting back during the Russian campaign.

The Russians focused on the population centers (e.g., Kandahar, Kabul, etc.).  The Taliban owned the roads, the villages, and the mountains.  Thus they were able to recruit, train, raise funds, and interdict logistical lines.  In short, the cities became like prisons for the Russian troops.  Focusing on the cities was a losing strategy for Russia, and it will be as well for the U.S.  On the other hand, a winning strategy doesn’t relegate the population centers to Taliban control either.  Enough troops must be deployed to address the needs of both the rural and urban areas.

The case of Now Zad is especially unique, in that the population has deserted Now Zad and the Taliban control it as their R&R getaway.  It isn’t even necessary to work to separate the insurgents from the population – they have done that for us in Now Zad.  We can kill Taliban in Now Zad unhindered.  Yet the campaign in the Now Zad district remains under-resources, at least until now.

Hundreds of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers have moved into southern Afghanistan to protect citizens during upcoming elections, military officials said.

Afghans will go to the polls on August 20 to vote in second presidential election since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Provincial elections also will be held that day.

About 400 Marines and 100 Afghan soldiers moved to the Now Zad district in Helmand province Wednesday morning, a U.S. military statement said.

“Our mission is to support the Independent Election Commission and Afghan national security forces. They are the ones in charge of these elections. Our job is to make sure they have the security to do their job,” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commanding general of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Afghanistan.

“While we encourage every Afghan to exercise his right to vote, who he or she votes for is none of our business.”

The area in which the operation was launched has been known to be a Taliban stronghold, and American, British and Afghan forces have been involved in fierce battles with Taliban militants there in recent weeks.

The Captain’s Journal has rejected population-centric counterinsurgency in favor of lines of effort.  But if we’re not conducting population-centric counterinsurgency at the moment, we are conducting election-centric counterinsurgency.  There is much focus on the upcoming election – too much, in fact.  The election will prove to be far less important than the campaign against the Taliban and other important issues such as corruption within the Afghan National Police.  Furthermore, the question for Now Zad will not be whether the election comes off, but what happens to the additional troops once the election is over.

In other parts of the Helmand Province, Marines are entering Dahaneh for the same reasons – the election.

The Marines are in the Now Zad district so that the people can vote.  They should be there to kill Taliban and make sure that the people can return to their homes and be about their lives.

From the Washington Post in a very interesting article.

Standing by the wreckage the next morning, Murphy explained that while several vehicles have been destroyed this way, the logistical challenges mean that replacements are slowly arriving. Indeed, Castle said Lasher and the other Marines had had to ride in a Humvee because one of their team’s mine-resistant vehicles had been disabled. “If they had been in an MRAP, they probably all would have survived,” Castle said.

Even as losses from roadside bombs mount, Marine commanders know they can bypass main roads for only so long. It is a matter of time, they say, before insurgents target the desert routes and foot patrols. Ultimately, they know the solution lies in dismantling the networks of Taliban bombmakers, and that, in turn, will come only with help from a wary Afghan population.

For now, if units such as Echo Company want to travel even small stretches of road, they must commit to the manpower-intensive work of keeping watch 24 hours a day. As they scrutinized the moonlit road leading to the desert last week, Friis and the other Marines reflected with some bitterness over the loss of their friends, and questioned whether many Americans appreciate — or even know of — their daily grind in the windswept purgatory of Helmand.

“People need to know these guys were heroes. They were fighting so the people living in Potomac and Fairfax in their million-dollar houses don’t have to,” said Friis, a dark-haired, soft-spoken enlistee who is the dog handler for a bomb-sniffing black lab named Jenny.

Paar and Davila, who had a leg amputated, are recovering at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. Xiarhos’s wake was recently held in Massachusetts.

Long time readers of The Captain’s Journal know that we are big advocates of foot patrols.  Operation Khanjar has progressed based on aggressive dismounted patrolling through the countryside of Helmand as opposed to the roads.  Also, there are plans in the works for UAV support of Marines in lieu of logistics via roads.  TCJ supports the idea of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force more than we support the sea-based amphibious assault concept based around the EFV.  Yet the roads must be confronted, and in order to do this, more troops are necessary.  Enough troops must be present – and their commitment long enough – to ensure that the population turns over those who emplace IEDs to the Marines.  The Marine Corps awaits the administration?

God has not made any normative promises to keep everyone safe in war, any more than He has given normative promises that no one will lose their jobs in a bad economy.  He has given us a firm and fixed promise that He will be with His people no matter what they go through.

Religious symbols don’t convey some sort of magical powers, and thus the symbols taken into war by this Marine is more a statement of who he is and what he stands for than it is of anything else.  It’s a statement of his religious belief and character.  His gun makes him feel safe.