Raging Cynic

There’s an interesting interview with Brig. Gen. Lindell posted on the Department of Defense’s website.

Lindell:

It’ll be beyond three years before we have developed that capability with the Afghan air corps. It’s not just airframes that we have to acquire. It’s obviously the training of the pilots in this close air support role. It’s the development and the interoperation with the Afghan army that needs to be conducted, and that’s through a joint tactical controller concept. We’re making the plans right now on how we will do that, and we hope to have that capability developed in the year ‘13.

In addition, we have — some of those pilots that are flying are sitting out into an English language program. So they may be currently flying today, but we will pull them off the flying schedule to start English language training, so that they can learn an adequate level, comprehension level of English, and then attend Western training and English language to check out in the C-27 program. So it’s a — it’s kind of a — we’ve got to have a lot of pilots to sustain and build capacity with the current aircraft they’re flying yet pull some off the schedule, sit down to attend full-time academics and English language training.

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Something about the tone. Can you hear it? The bland acceptance of a prolonged US occupation, teaching people English - requiring it even? So there’s the side that fights against us and the side that accepts us. Of course, accepting occupation isn’t enough. How could the US Armed Forces give up the chance to make another English speaking country out of Iraq. Here it is, the United States version of “Nation Building.” My prediction, by 2012 military policy will label anyone not on a cellphone, severely overweight, and wearing bluejeans as an insurgent.

I can’t be the only one who sees an eerie parallel in the US business in Iraq to Britain’s attitude toward India in the ol’ colonial days, can I?