Father hopes son's death helps change Afghan policy

[frogcycle]

Source: www.honoluluadvertiser.com

1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, of 'Aiea, was one of nine soldiers killed on Sunday in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced today.

...

Brostrom's father, David Brostrom, a retired Army colonel, praised his son and fellow soldiers for the work they are doing in Afghanistan, but said they are not getting the resources they need.

...

"The conditions changed and we did not change our strategy. The military term is 'economy of force' in Afghanistan. While we fight the war in Iraq, Afghanistan is on hold. Soldiers are doing a great job with very little attention from our leadership in Washington, D.C."

"Unfortunately, we have not put in all of the resources required in order to stop this from happening, so the enemy has slowly gained a foothold and they're probably stronger than they were when we went right after 9/11, as my son found out. It took something like this, nine soldiers killed, to be a wake-up call. I just hope my son's death drives some policy to do what we need to do right in Afghanistan in order to protect our soldiers. "

Read more: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/BREAKING01/80716037

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All nine names have been released; they are on Zeitlangers with links to hometown paper articles, three with photos.

The nature of this father's comments seem to be more and more the norm lately.

One of the other articles describes an Alamo-like stand by these soldiers in hand-to-hand combat protecting their newly-occupied (one day old) base from an attack by a much larger force.

The base was ABANDONED the next day as undefensible, and the Taliban have occupied it.

[gateley]

1. Oh, God, I hope it will too.

YOU know that Biden has been BEGGING for troops and funding for Afghanistan for a long time -- he was told we 'didn't have the money'.

There's already been a change -- the rest of our troops in that area packed up and got the hell out of Dodge. How we've abandoned our military in that hellhole of a region is horrifying.

[gratuitous]

2. Two words: Not. A. Chance.

I hardly think the administration has been hingeing its Afghanistan policy on whether 1st Lt. Bostrom lived or died.

[LynnTheDem]

3. 42 Afghan civilians at wedding killed by US bombs; 37 women & kids.

17 Afghan civilians killed by US bombs.



While these civilians are non-American and of no import whatsoever to the vast majority of Americans, they are as important to their loved ones as our loved ones are to us.

Americans' superiority complex and habit of viewing all others as inferior and perhaps less than human is a very large part of why we are so deeply fucked up as a nation.

[fbahrami]

4. the point is

not to have more American soldiers invading other countries, but to leave others in peace.

I'm sorry for those dying in American wars and I feel the pain of the father, but less sympathetic to the *aggressors*.