Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Is it all Lies? Date:   8/22/2021 5:29:51 PM

You know, all of my adult life I have been hearing that we are the greatest military in the world.  We have the best and most expensive weaponry, great discipline, an effective fighting machine. We have nuclear weapons that we can anilliate our enemies.  I spent 32 years working for the DoD, I've known a lot of military members over the years.  Good people, smart people.  Ive been around the Generals. 

I have believed that the politicians tie the hands of our military by rules of engagement that don't really allow them to fight and win.  If we are so great, why couldn't we have stopped or slowed down the Taliban as they went about capturing the provinical capitals?  We are seeing the the plans of the politicians are weak and useless, but they are supposed to take advice from their military advisors.  Have they turned into very effective "yes men"?  It would seem to me that they should have pointed out the error of pulling out the troops before we got the civilians out.  Now we seem mired at the airport and according to Biden "we're expanding the perimeter".  

But when I let my mind wander, I wonder "suppose our greatness is really just a big lie"?  Suppose they have know this for years and just never told us?  We have already found out that there were lies about the size of the Afghan military - up to half the force were ghost soldiers and they knew it.  They knew abou the corruption, but we continued to poor billions of dollars in.  

So what if we have been lied to about the status of our military readiness?  Would we know?

Any thoughts?