Lone Survivor_ The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ( PDFDrive )

prove too strong even for the Taliban and al Qaeda.
But from where I was sitting, in the smoky main room of one of Sabray’s
high houses, talking to the village cop, that’s not the way the tide was running.
And until the United States decides to wield a very large stick up here in support
of the elected government of the people, in Kabul, I’m not looking for any
serious change real soon. The enemy is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve
victory, terrorizing its own people, if necessary, and resorting to barbaric
practices against its enemy, including decapitating people or butchering them.
We are not allowed to fight them on those terms. And neither would we wish
to. However, we could fight in a much more ruthless manner, stop worrying if
everyone still loved us. If we did that, we’d probably win in both Afghanistan
and Iraq in about a week.
But we’re not allowed to do that. And I guess we’d better start getting used
to the consequences and permit the American liberals to squeak and squeal us to
ultimate defeat. I believe that’s what it’s called when you pack up and go home,
when a war fought under your own “civilized” terms is unwinnable.
We’re tougher, better trained, better organized, better armed, with access to
weapons which cannot be resisted. The U.S. Armed Forces represent the greatest
fighting force this world has ever seen, and we keep getting our butts kicked by a
bunch of illegal thugs who ought to be eliminated.
Look at me, right now in my story. Helpless, tortured, shot, blown up, my
best buddies all dead, and all because we were afraid of the liberals back home,
afraid to do what was necessary to save our own lives. Afraid of American
civilian lawyers. I have only one piece of advice for what it’s worth: if you don’t
want to get into a war where things go wrong, where the wrong people
sometimes get killed, where innocent people sometimes have to die, then stay
the hell out of it in the first place.
Because that’s what happens. In all wars, down all the years of history.
Terrible injustices, the killing of people who did not deserve to die. That’s what
war is. And if you can’t cope with it, don’t do it.
Meantime, I was stuck in the house waiting for the old man to show up,
when he was already miles away, walking through the mountains, the thirty or so
miles to Asadabad. Once I wandered outside when no one was looking, and I
tried to find him. But he seemed to have gone missing. Even then I never
dreamed that little old guy was walking to Asadabad by himself.
I couldn’t really tell, but I sensed something was making my guys jumpy.
And about ten or eleven o’clock that night, we moved. They had just brought me