« 2008Central.net’s Presidential Election Podcast (02/21/08)
Want To Know Where Your Money Goes? »

Obama’s Afghanistan Weapons Story

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Afghanistan, Barack, Iraq, Military, Video

Do any of you remember this moment in the debate last night?

A LOT has been made about this on the right wing blogs today about. I think this is mainly because many right wing blogs fancy themselves experts in anything that has to do with the military. So here’s a taste of the experts…

Flopping Aces:

I’m gonna call shenanigans (codeword for he is lying through his teeth) on these charges by Obama.

Weekly Standard:

The idea that our guys were scrounging weapons and ammo because they were short is ludicrous. How much ammo you carry is done on a “per man” basis in the infantry–each solder carries a “basic load,” which is backed up by reserve supplies at company, battalion, and above. It is possible to run out of ammunition, temporarily, in the midst of an intense firefight. [...]

To the best of my knowledge, no U.S. forces in either Afghanistan or Iraq ever ran out of ammunition for more than a few hours at most. [...]

Overall, I think Obama would be better sticking to his “message of hope”–hope that nobody will ever ask him to make any substantive statements on military affairs, ever again.

Ace of Spades:

Really, Jesus 2.0?

Really?

You really going with that, buddy?

You sure of that?

Really?

Really?

Well, Obama’s story checks out. So yes Ace…really.

I called the Obama campaign this morning to chat about this story, and was put in touch with the Army captain in question.

He told me his story, which I found quite credible, though for obvious reasons he asked that I not mention his name or certain identifying information.

Short answer: He backs up Obama’s story.

The longer answer is worth telling, though.

Go read the longer answer. It actually personalizes the story of us taking the focus off of Afghanistan in favor of Iraq in a very real way.

Then there’s this from somebody who served in Iraq…

In light of my experience in Iraq, Sen. Obama’s comments last night are eminently believable. Sen. Obama is also absolutely right to use this anecdote as a critique of the administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq. It is incontrovertible that the war in Iraq diverted scarce military resources (manpower, equipment, etc.) from Afghanistan to Iraq. The cost for that diversion was paid by America’s sons and daughters, and our Afghan brethren, who continue to fight in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. We owe our troops better.

Indeed.


This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Afghanistan, Barack, Iraq, Military, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Obama’s Afghanistan Weapons Story”

  1. Rich Horton Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 4:27 pm

    There is a difference between A) Proving that there was a Capt. who told Obama what he related, and B) Proving that what the CAPT. said was TRUE. Calling Obama a liar on this is simply wrong, but that doesn’t mean the Capt.’s story might not be BS.

    I also am skeptical when someone tells me that this or that particular anecdote should be taken as a valid general criticism, when logically anecdotal evidence should NEVER be used to make general conclusions.

    When someone claims that they are really saying “This anecdote backs up what I’d like to believe…so YOU should too.”

  2. Dos Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    I generally agree with Phil Carter and he is a very capable military lawyer and scholar. However, he post has some internal inconsistencies, namely:

    These stories are timeless; you’ll see similar ones in the narratives from WWII, Korea and Vietnam vets too. Anyone who’s dealt with the Army supply system – particularly at the pointy end of the spear – ought to be able to sympathize.

    But then,

    Sen. Obama is also absolutely right to use this anecdote as a critique of the administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq. It is incontrovertible that the war in Iraq diverted scarce military resources (manpower, equipment, etc.) from Afghanistan to Iraq. <blockquote)

    Well, which is it? The military supply system or the diversion of scarce resources to other theatres of war. I suspect that Carter would answer it is both.

    Also, several commentators have pointed out, particularly SF, prefer using local guns as they there is more ammo available and they are fighting along side locals. So it is easier in terms of getting parts and ammo rather going through the military system. Obama is misrepresenting this situation as a pure result of over-exention. A point that Carter points out:

    The answer is that we’re not smart about the way we divvy up and distribute what we’re purchasing with all that money. I can’t tell you how many times I saw a Fobbit walking around with a Gucci’d out M4 carbine – despite the fact that many never, ever left the FOB. (To “Gucci” a weapon means to outfit it with all kinds of extra gear, i.e. close-combat sights, infrared aiming lights, extra grips, etc.) Or how many staff officers I saw driving brand-new up-armored HMMWVs around their FOBs, which were never used for a single combat patrol.

    Okay, well that doesn’t sound like an over-extension. That sounds like mismanagement. Well, he does have a point though: Under an Obama administration we would have to worry about mismanagement, because we’d just pack-up and come home.

  3. Jimmy the Dhimmi Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    John Warner has asked for an investigation. If Obama’s sources cooperate, then we will see if we couldn’t manufacture enough guns and ammo to send to our troops because the funding was diverted to Iraq.

    If they don’t cooperate, then shenanigans may be called. The Blackfive bloggers, as well as the QandO guys, all military veterans, seem to think something is fishy.

  4. Dos Says:
    February 23rd, 2008 at 9:02 am

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/obama022208.pdf

    Oh no, John Warner is a little testy with Jesus 2.0 – call it fact-checking the parables — you know, considering he was chairman and ranking member of the Senate Arms Services Committee in 2003, it seems he takes issue with sloppy political points being made on nothing more that a very holey anecdote — by a Captain of a PLATOON (humm, someone check that).

    Note to Jesus 2.0 – maybe a story like this should be vetted some other place than a national debate. Oh, but somethings are so tempting they can not be resisted…like maybe a Dukakisan tank ride. Please Jesus 2.0 get in a tank…

Leave a Reply


NOTE TO COMMENTERS:


You must ALWAYS fill in the two word CAPTCHA below to submit a comment. And if this is your first time commenting on Donklephant, it will be held in a moderation queue for approval. Please don't resubmit the same comment a couple times. We'll get around to moderating it soon enough.


Also, sometimes even if you've commented before, it may still get placed in a moderation queue and/or sent to the spam folder. If it's just in moderation queue, it'll be published, but it may be deleted if it lands in the spam folder. My apologies if this happens but there are some keywords that push it into the spam folder.


One last note, we will not tolerate comments that disparage people based on age, sex, handicap, race, color, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry. We reserve the right to delete these comments and ban the people who make them from ever commenting here again.


Thanks for understanding and have a pleasurable commenting experience.


Related Posts: