Over a Year After Invasion, US Claims ‘Progress’ in Marjah
Thousands of Marines Still Occupying Fictional City
It has now been over a year since the US ground invasion of what was at the time being touted as the “major city” of Marjah. At the time officials were touting it as the biggest offensive yet in the war and a test for a new “clear and hold” strategy.
The number of troops was so overwhelming that NATO was keen to predict a rout, and troops were supposed to be replaced by Karzai-appointed rulers within a matter of days. Even though it turned out Marjah wasn’t even a real city, the offensive was still presumed to be a short one.
Yet here we are, some 370 days into a US Marines occupation, officials are trying to spin the replacement of some of the poppy crops with wheat and cotton crops as “big gains,” and lauding a “huge injection of aid.”
But the real story is, of course, that some 2,000 Marines are still occupying this tiny farming village and that there is absolutely no end in sight. Clear and hold has failed, and the continued possession of a village of a few hundred people is dependent on thousands of heavily armed occupation forces.
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tommauel
February 20th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
A US general is claiming the US has forced the Taliban to the fringes of Helmand province.
However a US soldier died in Helmand as recently as Thursday Feb. 18. Two more US soldiers have died this month, one on Feb. 5th and one on the 7th. Dozens more were killed in the previous months.
If the US is claiming success in Helmand it has come with an extraordinary level of combat deaths in the province since last spring. Since Sept. of 2010 nearly 60 US soldiers have been killed in Helmand province.
thedissenter
February 21st, 2011 at 8:59 am
I could have sworn that read some place that the insurgents had already retaken Marjah. I'm dead serious.
VietnamWarVet
February 21st, 2011 at 12:09 pm
"Progress is being made" – so say the generals in Afghanistan.
"We see light at the end of the tunnel" – so said the generals in Vietnam.
And the LIES by the generals continue!
John_Muhammad
February 21st, 2011 at 2:58 pm
"We will lure them in and destroy them" – so said the officers commanding Dien Bien Phu.