War in Afghanistan: 'The Truth Has Become Unrecognizable'

February 15, 2012 from Democracy Now!

"Senior ranking US military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the U.S. Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable." That's the assessment of a damning new report by Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis who returned in October from his second year-long deployment in Afghanistan and says military officials have not leveled with the American public about how poorly the the decade-long war is going. He argues that local Afghan governments are unable to provide the basic needs of the people and that insurgents control virtually all parts of Afghanistan beyond eye shot of a US base. We speak with Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone, who obtained a copy of the full report and published it last week. "Lieutenant-Colonel Davis is on the right side of history and the fact [is] that he believes in this and is willing to risk [his career]," Hastings says.

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In This Video

Afghanistan War

The War in Afghanistan began on 7 October 2001, when the armed forces of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Canada, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom. The U.S. organized the operation in response to the terrorist attacks of ... Explore this topic

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis

Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis is a 17-year army veteran and the author of "Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leaders' Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort," a report on the War in Afghanistan. In February 2012, the report was published in its unclassified form by the Ne... Explore this topic

Dereliction of Duty II

"Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leaders' Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort" is a report on the War in Afghanistan written by Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, a 17-year army veteran. The report was published in its unclassified form by the New York Times, and the cla... Explore this topic

Afghanistan

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked sovereign state forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and to some extent Western Asia. It has a population of around 30 million inhabiting an area of approximately 647,500 km², making it the 42nd ... Explore this topic

US Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services. The modern army has its roots in the C... Explore this topic

Taliban

The Taliban, alternative spelling Taleban, is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan. It spread into Afghanistan and formed a government, ruling as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until December 2001, with Kandahar as the capital. Ho... Explore this topic

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree... Explore this topic

ISAF

The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan that was established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001 by Resolution 1386, as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement. Its main purpose is to train the Afghan National Secur... Explore this topic

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is an American magazine published every two weeks and focused on music, liberal politics, and popular culture. In 1967, Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco, California, by Jann Wenner – who is still the magazine's chief editor – and music critic, Ralph J. ... Explore this topic

Michael Hastings (journalist)

Michael Hastings is an American journalist, writer and reporter for BuzzFeed. He was a regular contributor to Gentlemen's Quarterly and now is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine. From 2002 - 2008, he was a journalist for Newsweek magazine, famous for his Iraq War ... Explore this topic

Also See

Afghanistan War

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis

Dereliction of Duty II

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