Is there a single public official who is examining -- who cares about -- the murder spree by Afghan security forces against Western troops and security contractors in Afghanistan? I can list well over 40 such murders in the past two years. These incidents even have their own phrase in military jargon -- "green-on-blue" shootings -- but the color we should all be seeing is red. Does Obama see red? Pelosi? Romney? Newt? Anyone?
In the last several months, there have been six separate attacks on Western forces by uniformed Afghan army members. The toll includes three Australian soldiers killed (as they ended a regular, weekly parade) and 10 wounded; six French troops killed and 16 wounded; and one American killed and seven wounded. The American fatality, 20-year-old Army Pfc. Dustin Paul Napier of Kentucky, was shot in the head earlier this month by an Afghan service member during a game of volleyball on base.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) didn't offer that painfully vivid detail about the volleyball game; the media did. Official details on these shootings are scarce, and, according to ISAF's "new policy" reported this week by USA Today, will become nonexistent now that ISAF plans to withhold information on such Afghan shootings of Western forces. (Outrageous!) Meanwhile, follow-up investigations are practically unheard of. Only a Freedom of Information Act request by the Air Force Times pried from the Pentagon's clutches the September 2011 report on the murder of nine Americans at Kabul Airport in April 2011 by an Afghan air force officer.
The military's findings? The killer, Ahmed Gul, 46, "acted alone." Reading through the Air Force report, I get the impression that collaboration with "the Taliban" is the only hypothesis the investigators consider worth exploring. It is as though the military believes infiltration by hostile forces is the only conceivable threat posed to U.S. and other allied personnel on their bases in Afghanistan. Having failed to dig up concrete evidence of a more or less conventional enemy conspiracy, military investigators close their eyes to anything else -- such as good, ol'-fashioned Islamic jihad. As Muslims, Afghans and Taliban alike are subject to its call. Fact. Sorry about that, but I didn't write the Quran.
The report states: "The information collected regarding SUBJECT (shooter) and his background does not support his involvement in insurgent activity. (Air Force) analysts, in concert with other analysts and agencies, have reviewed multiple intelligence documents, investigative reports, and Open Source reporting to determine SUBJECT's motive for the attacks. This analysis is not stating that there are no insurgent connections to SUBJECT, but that none have been established thus far during this investigation. Additionally, there are multiple reports that indicated SUBJECT may have had mental issues that were possibly compounded by alleged financial problems."
I may not have read every word of the 436-page report this statement sums up, but I've already picked up a few clues to support the hypothesis that Gul was simply on a jihad.
Gul was said to have returned from Pakistan in 2008 because he "wanted to kill Americans."
Gul frequented a mosque known for being anti-American and pro-Pakistan. (Reminds me of Shafiullah, the volleyball jihadist.)
Gul stayed up all night before his rampage, praying and cleaning his gun. (Reminds me of Maj. Hassan, the Fort Hood jihadist.)
During the melee, Gul shouted to Afghan security forces from a window: "Good Muslims -- please stay away! Muslims don't come close or you will be killed!" (Reminds me of the Mumbai jihadists.)
In a hallway outside the carnage, Gul dipped his finger in blood and wrote on the wall in the Afghan tongue of Dari: "Allah is one," and "Allah in your name."
One witness apparently heard the gunshots as Gul committed suicide, then a voice moaning, "Allah, Allah," then silence.
Silence is right. According to our Inspector Clouseaus with wings, money problems and other stress must have been the murder motive. Some 1,500 Afghans turned out to pay respects to Gul at his funeral. No doubt they all shared similar financial setbacks.
Shame. Jihad is the secret these investigators are keeping, but only from themselves. It drives the murder spree against infidel troops. It also is part of the culture that renders U.S. utopian plans to train an Afghan army and police force dead on arrival. Not saying so doesn't make it go away. It just wastes the lives of our people. Does anyone care?
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