Oliver North has a fascinating new book out, a tribute to our Special Forces operators. Wonderful stories, superb photos, and a great tribute to our silent heroes. I’m giving a copy to my 13-year-old son. For those looking for a great Christmas gift I highly recommend it. As an added bonus, you can get a copy signed by Ollie from his website: OliverNorth.com.
Ollie took some time yesterday to chat about his assessment of what is going on in Afghanistan.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he told me. “When I was there in the Spring, things were not going well. I was a pessimist. But General Petraeus, with a new strategy in hand, has really worked to turn things around.” North just came back from another visit to Afghanistan in October/November where he spent considerable time with special operators and met with Petraeus. “He’s making an enormous personal sacrifice to do this,” said North. He points about that Petraeus actually took a step down to take command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He could have sailed into retirement as a bone fide hero. But he took the Afghan assignment this summer. “He told me that over the past nine years he’s missed six Christmases with his family.”
The new counterinsurgency strategy is working, says North, because we’ve freed the Special Forces–American, allied, and Afghan–to really take the war to the enemy. And to those conservatives who say that nation-building is a terrible idea? “I say respectfully, they are wrong. We’ve been in the nation-building business since World War I, and especially since WWII. The goal is not a Jeffersonian Democracy in Afghanistan. But a representative government that respects human rights, protects its own people, and is a friend of the west. These are very realistic–and necessary–goals.”
So is he totally optimistic? Doesn’t he have any concerns? He is concerned about two Presidents. One in Kabul, the other in Washington. “Corruption is a huge problem. Karzai’s administration is rife with corruption. Part of it is there fault, on a personal level with Karzai and also with the tribal culture. But the other part of the problem is that they have been told that we’re leaving on a timetable. So the mindset of many in the government is we better take care of ourselves before the Americans leave.”
North’s biggest concern is with the leadership in Washington. “A Commander-in-Chief needs to do two things,” he told me. “One–tell us who the enemy is. And two–say we are fighting to win. President Obama has done neither. He can’t utter the words ‘Islamic extremist’ and he won’t use the word ‘victory.’ FDR had no problem doing that during World War II. He could name the enemy. And proclaimed victory as the goal. I don’t understand why the current occupant of the White House can’t do the same.”
Pick up the book. And look for a forthcoming documentary on special operations in Afghanistan.