First U.S. Official Resigns Over Afghan War

[TheSarge]

WASHINGTON -- A former Marine who fought in Iraq, joined the State Department after leaving the military and was a diplomat in a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan has become the first U.S. official to resign in protest of the Afghan war, the Washington Post reported early Tuesday.

Matthew Hoh, who describes himself as "not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love," said he believes the war is simply fueling the insurgency.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," Hoh wrote in his resignation letter, dated Sept. 10 but published early Tuesday. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."

The move sent ripples all the way to the White House, the paper said, where officials immediately appealed for him to stay out of fear he could become a leading critic.

U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry brought him to Kabul and offered him a job on his senior embassy staff, but Hoh declined. He then flew home and met with Richard Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Holbrooke told the Post he disagreed that the war "wasn't worth the fight," but did agree with much of Hoh's analysis.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/27/official-resigns-protest-afghan-war/

[Airwolf]

When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.

A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department's head of personnel. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009102603447

[TheSarge]

I guess he's disappointed that the toops didn't come home on January 20th.

[Airwolf]

Hard to say,But it's looking like someone needed cover for his plan to not send the 40k troops to Afghanistan

[NHSparky]

A captain at 36?  Something ain't right there.  Even as a mustang....

[TheSarge]

A captain at 36?  Something ain't right there.  Even as a mustang....

Reservist?  They seem to be the only ones over the last 8+ years with a need to make political statements.

[Crazy Horse]

A captain at 36?  Something ain't right there.  Even as a mustang....

Pull your head out and quit nuking it...............actually seems rather old to be a Captain in the UNITED STATES MARINNE CORPS unless h was a mustang

[NHSparky]

Pull your head out and quit nuking it...............actually seems rather old to be a Captain in the UNITED STATES MARINNE CORPS unless h was a mustang

Put your head back.  I said that even for a mustang, 36 is old for a Captain (O-3 or O-3E).

[Crazy Horse]

Put your head back.  I said that even for a mustang, 36 is old for a Captain (O-3 or O-3E).

Okay I nuked it

[docstew]

A captain at 36?  Something ain't right there.  Even as a mustang....

Why do you say that?  dutch is only a major, and he's way older than that?

[TheSarge]

Why do you say that?  dutch is only a major, and he's way older than that?

That's cause Dutch has been around since the rank was created and he's kinda fond of it. 

[Chris_]

That's cause Dutch has been around since the rank was created and he's kinda fond of it. 

I always thought that it was because he was like those rare Petty Officers you hear about on occasion in the Navy:  they get promoted up to chief 4 - 5 times in their careers because they're exceptionally good at what they do for their units, and regularly get busted right back to PO just as often, usually because the extent of their idea of the social graces is to say, "how do you do" before they take a swing at ya.

[Mustang]

Mustang? Did someone call my name?

I get really annoyed by troops or former troops who oppose the wars. Although I do feel the war in Iraq is much more important than Afghanistan, from a strategic standpoint.  
I also find it silly that he was a Marine and opposes the mission. I guess he doesn't understand the meaning of Semper Fidelis.

Wanted to go into the Air Force enlisted myself, but can't due to certain issues.

Although I haven't been in the military, I think veterans that trash the motive or objective of the mission shouldn't have signed up in the first place.
It's against the creed of every branch of the military, your objective is to win and represent the United States, behave like it.
And if a veteran was in "the shit", go see a psychiatrist, it's much more effective than bashing W., insulting the United States, and going against the military creed. If a psychiatrist can help bi-polar's, schitzo's, and rape victims, I'm sure they can help you cope with your experience.  

A captain at 36?  Something ain't right there.  Even as a mustang....

Maybe he graduated or went to college late, went in enlisted and did OCS. If he was an officer since he was like 21/22, then yeah probably a "Mustang" . From my understanding of officer ranks, a second lieutenant gets automatically promoted to a first lieutenant in 2 years or less, and if they don't it's because of their behavior or incompetence, and I think if you don't get promoted to first lieutenant after a certain period of time, you can get booted. I think it's a big leap from Captain to Major to Lt. Colonel., and any rank higher than that requires exceptional service. I think it's pretty damn hard to retire as a full bird colonal, partly due that those positions are preferably reserved for groomed academy graduates.  

I was thinking of being commissioned to be an Air Force officer, until I realized that they have less than a 10% acceptance rate and require excellent math skills which I lack. And all the pilot, intelligence, and high priority jobs are given to the A.F.A. graduates and then to the ROTC. Figuring that I didn't have it for the test, I decided to go in enlisted but couldn't due to health problems.

So in other words, if you weren't an Academy cadet, moving up the officer ranks is much much harder.

[Crazy Horse]

Mustang? Did someone call my name?

Maybe he graduated or went to college late, went in enlisted and did OCS. If he was an officer since he was like 21/22, then yeah probably a "Mustang" .

No

You know that old adage about "Best to remain silent and thought a fool, then open your mouth and remove all doubt"

Best to stay silent on issues you don't understand, also that Marine has earned his right to support or oppose anything he wishes, you are not a person who has eared the right to question him

[Mustang]

also that Marine has earned his right to support or oppose anything he wishes, you are not a person who has eared the right to question him

Semper Fidelis? So he can forget that when he has done his time?

With all due respect, he disrespects the Corp. and the other Marines who died on that Afghan theater

I think we would be a much more effective war machine if we had a starship troopers mentality about the war on terror.

"The only good bug is a dead bug."

[Crazy Horse]

Semper Fidelis? So he can forget that when he has done his time?

With all due respect, he disrespects the Corp. and the other Marines who died on that Afghan theater. 

You really don't want to go down this road.  That Marine knows more about what Semper Fidelis means than you ever will.........again you haven't earned the right nor have you earned the respect

[Mustang]

You really don't want to go down this road.  That Marine knows more about what Semper Fidelis means than you ever will.........again you haven't earned the right nor have you earned the respect

Earned the right for what? To express an appreciation for our troops fighting in Irag and Afghanistan? I believe Semper Fidelis means Always faithful.
He sure doesn't seem faithful, does he?

TBH, I don't have the guts to be a marine, I know that from having family members who served in the Corp. That's why I have great respect for them. And you have yet to explain how my understanding of officer ranks is wrong. If he was an officer for 15 years and was a Captain, it's  possible he was a "mustang". I wasn't calling him that, although it would seem odd considering being a first lietenant is autematic within 2 years.
So moving up only one rank for 15 years of service is suspect. Although, like I said, maybe he entered late.

[NHSparky]

Mustang,

Did you ever consider that he's questioning not his brother Marines and other service members, but the commitment of this administration?  Did you ever think to yourself he'd rather resign with honor than be a party to a process which fights a war in a half-assed manner and hogties our troops, serving only to get them needlessly killed?

I'd consider that possibility FIRST.

[Mustang]

Mustang,

Did you ever consider that he's questioning not his brother Marines and other service members, but the commitment of this administration?  Did you ever think to yourself he'd rather resign with honor than be a party to a process which fights a war in a half-assed manner and hogties our troops, serving only to get them needlessly killed?

I'd consider that possibility FIRST.

You read my mind. That was my initial reaction. But then he said this: "my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end"

Maybe I'm reading to much into that, but it sounds like he is questioning the justification for the Afghan theater.

[Mustang]

The Obama administration is to blame for the Afghan debacle for 2 main reasons, as I see it:

1. It was Obama's meaningless blather about the Afghan war being the war of necessity, "the good war", that shifted the War on Terror from Iraq to Afghanistan. Iraq, a good battlefield for the U.S. with strategic resources, geography-terrain, and pro-western educated populace to Afghanistan a tribal, tough-terrain, anti-western uneducated populace with no resources.  

2. We may have not needed extra troops for Afghanistan, maybe if Obama's administration did not throw Bush's analysis of the Afghan theater in the toilet and kept Afghanistan as a non-primary conflict war (Again Iraq being the main focus), Obama risks political defeat in Afghanistan.
We should have not taken our eye off the ball, that being Iraq. The war in Afghanistan went to shit on Obama's watch like clockwork and it was not a coincidence.  

[Crazy Horse]

Earned the right for what? To express an appreciation for our troops fighting in Irag and Afghanistan? I believe Semper Fidelis means Always faithful.
He sure doesn't seem faithful, does he?

TBH, I don't have the guts to be a marine, I know that from having family members who served in the Corp. That's why I have great respect for them. And you have yet to explain how my understanding of officer ranks is wrong. If he was an officer for 15 years and was a Captain, it's  possible he was a "mustang". I wasn't calling him that, although it would seem odd considering being a first lietenant is autematic within 2 years.
So moving up only one rank for 15 years of service is suspect. Although, like I said, maybe he entered late.

He resigned his commision years ago or left active duty for the reserves.

All he did was resign from his job with the State Department

[Mustang]

The Obama administration is to blame for the Afghan debacle for 2 main reasons, as I see it:

1. It was Obama's meaningless blather about the Afghan war being the war of necessity, "the good war", that shifted the War on Terror from Iraq to Afghanistan. Iraq, a good battlefield for the U.S. with strategic resources, geography-terrain, and pro-western educated populace to Afghanistan a tribal, tough-terrain, anti-western uneducated populace with no resources.  

2. We may have not needed extra troops for Afghanistan, maybe if Obama's administration did not throw Bush's analysis of the Afghan theater in the toilet and kept Afghanistan as a non-primary conflict war (Again Iraq being the main focus), Obama risks political defeat in Afghanistan.
We should have not taken our eye off the ball, that being Iraq. The war in Afghanistan went to shit on Obama's watch like clockwork and it was not a coincidence.  

Just curious, does anyone agree with me on this?

[Crazy Horse]

Just curious, does anyone agree with me on this?

No

[dutch508]

That's cause Dutch has been around since the rank was created and he's kinda fond of it. 

True. That and the fact I puched out another officer in front of the DCO slowed my promotion cycle down just a wee bit.

[NHSparky]

True. That and the fact I puched out another officer in front of the DCO slowed my promotion cycle down just a wee bit.

Oh, you smoothie you!