There is still hope for the embedded format. Spencer Ackerman, who cut his teeth at The New Republic and The American Prospect and is now writing for The Washington Independent, is on the ground at FOB Salerno, the very base from which Ms. Marlowe found her stories about the magical security-causing roads of Afghanistan. One can hope the military’s tune has changed somewhat in the last few months.
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brain transplants for these moronic journalists might help too. What a ridiculous notion.
Posted by hugh jasse on Thu 11 Sep 2008 at 12:24 AM
This is a good piece, but it should be noted that "meme" is a polite word for the sorry chain of events that Foust examines. The reporting from Afghanistan is exactly the kind of work that's made American news coverage of events in both of today's wars so awful. Remember the malignant "meme" that went from the Department of Defense to NYT reporter Judith Miller and out to the public with respect to WMD in Iraq.
Posted by tommy amano-tompkins on Thu 11 Sep 2008 at 12:26 PM
True, there probably is not a direct link between roads and security, but there sure as hell are indirect effects which are saving lives. Come to Afghanistan and find them out for yourself, or continue your witch hunt for journalists you despise.
Posted by Matt on Sat 13 Sep 2008 at 10:26 AM
I am really surprised you continue to publish articles by this "analyst". He has a history of unsubstantiated, vicious attacks against anyone who doesn't fall into line with many of his improvished views. He has NEVER stepped a foot in Afghanistan nor has ever spoken a word of Pashtu or Dari yet he is a self proclaimed Afghan "expert".
What Foust really represents is a cheerleader for the controversial, failed and ill-thought Human Terrain Syhstem where he fronts as an Afghan "analyst". Yet he fails to ever admit his role to his blog readers. Shameful in my eyes and one reason his posts are usually rubbish.
Posted by Tracy Beal on Mon 15 Sep 2008 at 03:56 AM
Kudos Tracy! I'm afraid someone is going to think I hire Foust to keep my name in the news.. but I would hire someone smarter and less patently unstable.. Foust is paid by the US Army, indirectly, as a contractor supporting the Humain Terrain Team program. He apparently doesn't have the guts to do an embed himself, so he savages those who do. His words here are a distortion of my op ed for the Washington Post. I never said roads would bring security in the absence of good governance and the many other requirements for it. Paved roads are universally agreed to be better for the local economy and for health, as less dust is raised by traffic. The Army and Afghan National Police universally say it is more difficult to plant IEDs in them. Judge for yourself, this is what I actually wrote:
One reason may be Ghazni's new roads. Roads are development magic, and the U.S. Army is building them like crazy. In Ghazni alone, 10 roads have been funded at a cost of $5 million, and an 11th is in the approval process. Freight truck traffic along Highway 1, which runs from Kabul through Ghazni City to southern Zabol province, more than quadrupled in 2007.
In March, the Army paved a seven-kilometer stretch near Four Corners. This road, nicknamed "Route Rebel," used to be the second worst in Afghanistan for IEDs, which kill far more Afghan civilians and police than they do coalition troops. Daily traffic on "Route Rebel" has gone from 20 to 200 cars. There hadn't been any roadside bombs in eight months when I visited in late November -- it's much harder to plant them on asphalt.
Posted by Ann Marlowe on Fri 20 Feb 2009 at 01:57 AM
There is another reason why ISAF favors roads over other infrastructure projects. Roads, unlike clinics and schools, do not become the same kind of security problem. Yes, they have to be secured but you generally don't have to add more troops to security LOCs than you did before. Also, a school or clinic destroyed by the enemy becomes a propaganda victory. Mining roads with IEDs is what they already do...
Posted by Defense Linguistics on Fri 13 Mar 2009 at 10:22 AM