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"Into the Valley of Death" is the title of Sebastian Junger's latest investigative article in Vanity Fair magazine in which he follows the redeployment of Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Rock, to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley.

Junger, an experienced war correspondent and author, reported on Battle company's previous deployment in Afghanistan and thought it would be a very good idea to simply document this recent deployment as a follow-up.  Junger certainly has the experience to comment on the bigger picture of the power struggles and strategic decisions concerning Afghanistan.  He weaves that big picture into the narrative of the compelling personal stories of the men of Battle company.

Bushworld "Strategery" ...

One of things that compels me to comment on Junger's Vanity Fair article, "Into the Valley of Death," is that I share some of the opinions that Junger seems to bring up in his article.  It's not just a domestic political partisan argument to say that the Bush administration redirected its focus to Iraq, at the expense of Afghanistan.  That's a well documented fact.  It's going to be a strategic foreign policy nightmare if Afghanistan becomes a failed state once again from inattention. 

Not even going into the foolishness of Charlie Wilson's War and the blowback that became 9-11, we (the U.S.A.) then outsourced the overthrow of the Taliban to tribal leaders of the so-called Northern Alliance in contact with our CIA.  And now we're outsourcing the reconstruction to our N.A.T.O. allies because Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld had their own ambitions for the future of Iraq since their first day at work in 2001.  This outsourcing relieves Bush of direct responsibility for the outcome of his own decisions.

The other very obvious common sense point Junger makes in his article is that al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders are safe and sound and living in nearby Quetta, in Pakistan.  Politicians and U.S. media tend to make things sound too complicated.  It's over there in Central Asia, it's confusing.  We spend a trillion dollars to accomplish nothing as long as no one takes any responsibliity.

We scattered al-Qaeda and Taliban, we didn't defeat them militarily or politically.  They don't live in caves.  They live in nice apartments in Quetta, Pakistan.  Wahabbi extremists fly into Pakistan, train, and then deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq.  They are funded by the same oil money that funded 9-11.  It's a disconnect between elite political allies and the people of these countries.  Bush and Musharraf may be dictator buddies, but that doesn't mean that people on the ground in each of their countries don't work constantly toward regime change.

Personal Stories

The other reason I recommend "Into the Valley of Death" to you is to check out the photography of Tim Hetherington.  As I was reading Junger's article, I had Hetherington's portrait photographs of the men of Battle company in another window to put a face on the stories and I clicked back and forth ...

Other than my strategic ranting, I don't want to characterize or summarize the article.  It's very well written.  It's compelling, and I prefer you just click through and read it for yourself.

"Into the Valley of Death" is only a six page article on the web, but if you need a teaser to convince you to read it, check out the short video here.

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