Obama's War: A Frontline Rough Cut Preview

PBS's Frontline presentation of Obama's War on October 13th (check your local PBS for times)is previewed in a 24 minute video with an advance warning about the use of language and imagery.

Among features on the site relating to the US involvement in Afghanistan are readings and we have selected a few:

READINGS

Facts and Stats: The Marines in Helmand Province

23,000 square miles: Size of Helmand Province in Southern Afghanistan. Population: more than 1 million.

4,000: Number of US Marines inserted across Helmand in early July '09 as part of Operation Strike of the Sword offensive.

40 to 50: Number of Marines in Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment at Combat Outpost Sharp at any given time. The rest of the company -- there are roughly 120-150 Marines in a company -- is pushed out to other positions, some very close by. The Marines frequently rotate out and back to COP Sharp, their main base. (The 2/8 is known as "America's Battalion.")

Lance Cpl. Charles Seth Sharp's Funeral - NPR Transcript: The US Marines are fighting alongside the British in southern Afghanistan. We've been following one battalion there. Shortly before they began their current operation in Helmand province, one Marine wrote a letter to his grandmother.

Lance Corporal Charles Sharp wrote that soon he'd be fighting in a mission his grandchildren would learn about in history class. Well, just days after he mailed that letter, Sharp died in battle, the first Marine killed in the offensive.

Interview: Photojournalist Danfung Dennis (who shot the opening sequence of the program)

Do they call in a lot of air support? That seems to be the main advantage NATO and American forces have over the insurgency.

The commanders were initially quite concerned about this company because they were deployed so far south they were out of artillery support range. They did have air support. When they called in for support the first day, their support was denied, in fact, three times, and it wasn't until the Marine was killed that their requests were approved.

The Irresistible Illusion - Rory Stewart in the London Review of Books

"These connections are global: in Obama’s words, ‘our security and prosperity depend on the security and prosperity of others.’ Or, as a British foreign minister recently rephrased it, ‘our security depends on their development.’ Indeed, at times it seems that all these activities – building a state, defeating the Taliban, defeating al-Qaida and eliminating poverty – are the same activity. The new US army and marine corps counter-insurgency doctrine sounds like a World Bank policy document, replete with commitments to the rule of law, economic development, governance, state-building and human rights. In Obama’s words, ‘security and humanitarian concerns are all part of one project.’"

"This policy rests on misleading ideas about moral obligation, our capacity, the strength of our adversaries, the threat posed by Afghanistan, the relations between our different objectives, and the value of a state. Even if the invasion was justified, that does not justify all our subsequent actions. If 9/11 had been planned in training camps in Iraq, we might have felt the war in Iraq was more justified, but our actions would have been no less of a disaster for Iraqis or for ourselves. The power of the US and its allies, and our commitment, knowledge and will, are limited. It is unlikely that we will be able to defeat the Taliban. The ingredients of successful counter-insurgency campaigns in places like Malaya – control of the borders, large numbers of troops in relation to the population, strong support from the majority ethnic groups, a long-term commitment and a credible local government – are lacking in Afghanistan."

Obama's War: A Frontline Rough Cut Preview

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