"roughly 6,000 to 8,000 truck missions per month. The trucks carry food, supplies, fuel, ammunition, and even Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs)."
The Subcommittee writes:
"Military logistics officers are responsible for providing the troops with the food, water, shelter, weapons, ammunition, and fuel they need to perform their duties. To put the scope of the logistics operation into perspective, U.S. and NATO forces required 1.1 million gallons of fuel per day in 2009. That year, as troop levels grew from 31,800 to 68,000, U.S. military and contractor planes delivered 187,394 tons of cargo. Given that the backbone of the military's distribution network is overland, the cargo transported by trucks is nearly ten times that amount. Eighty percent of goods and materiel reach Afghanistan by land."
The Tierney report detailed how the massive quantities of goods
entering into Afghanistan can only reach its destinations as a result of
pay-offs to insurgents to not attack the convoys. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress in 2009:
"You offload a ship in Karachi [Pakistan] and by the time whatever it is -- you know, muffins for our soldiers' breakfasts or anti-IED equipment -- gets to where we're headed, it goes through a lot of hands. And one of the major sources of funding for the Taliban is the protection money."
What is abundantly clear is that there is no lack of "means available to" the US to meet its responsibilities under Articles 55 through Article 60 of Geneva, especially when the afflicted populations are in the most secure part of the country.
Temperatures early this week in the Kabul refugee camps where dozens of babies froze when temperatures were in the teens, are forecast to drop to the single digits, down to 7 degrees F. In such temperatures, every northern city in the US will issue "dangerous cold" alerts and open emergency shelter and warming facilities to residents, especially homeless populations.
There is no doubt that within short distances of the camps, at Camp Phoenix outside of Kabul, for example, warehouses are stacked high to the rafters with blankets, sleeping bags, Meals-Ready-to-Eat, heat tabs, and insulating material which are normal stocks for an occupation of 100,000 soldiers. The $2 billion per week in war spending which flows into Afghanistan every single week makes Afghanistan the most expensive war in American history. Camp Phoenix, one of the largest American bases in Afghanistan, offers many amenities, according to Wiki:
"[Camp Phoenix offers] a small selection of electronics. The PX also sells some military clothing and tactical goods for the war on terror. The PX area has a Green Bean Coffee shop. There are also pool and ping pong tables available. The Dining Facility (DFAC) offers a large menu, including short order, weekly "surf and turf," Americanized versions of "Mexican" food, "Chinese" food, and "Italian" food, soft drinks, and ice cream. Just outside the PX is a Pizza Hut which opened 2/19/11. A Burger King also opened 7/4/11."
NBC News has now reported definitively what aid workers and many
others have long known in Afghanistan: Millions of children are starving
rapidly, and millions more people are starving more slowly, even in
secure population centers little affected by the war. NBC News reports:
"This crisis that is now at emergency levels, killing 30,000 children every year. Drought and poverty are at its root. According to Save the Children, who are working in the country, 60% of children - more than 15 million - are chronically malnourished."
Development is not technically the concern of an occupying power, at least according to the Geneva Conventions, although as Truman showed, making it one is wise. But adequate food, shelter, and basic needs are.
As Commander-in-Chief, Obama, or Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, can give an order and start trucks loading and rolling before single digit temperatures hit, or make provisions to open a center, such as Kabul Stadium, where refugees can go and avail themselves to heat sources, blankets, clothing, and food. The Geneva Conventions, to which the US is signatory, is crystal clear on this. Where it can be helped, people freezing and starving to death cannot be allowed to happen.
NBC News: Starvation Among Children in Afghanistan Reaches Epidemic Proportions
The following video was published as a Flash video, which are no longer allowed. Here is the video link: VIEW VIDEO (in a new browser window)
Photojournalist Andrea Bruce covering the story:
The British Afghan Women's Society
will be taking donations of blankets, winter clothing for children and
adults, and other emergency items at collection points across the UK, in
a modest relief effort which will not come anywhere close to the total
need, but which will save some lives. The cargo will then be loaded
onto an air cargo transport destined for Kabul. Monetary donations are
being accepted. American credit cards can be used even though donations
are denominated in British pounds. A small conversion fee may be
charged. Please reference donation with the note "winter012."
British Afghan Women's Society online donation link.
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