I would like to describe the case of the favourite Mathew Hoh in a bit detail with references so that we may understand that just quoting some one does not make an argument valid. Also we should know how much important is the one who is quoted.
Matthew Hoh is an American former Marine Corps captain and former State Department 3161 contractor. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2009 he resigned from his non-permanent Foreign Service Officer position in Afghanistan in protest of the strategy being used in the War in Afghanistan.
His career as a U.S. Marine included service during the Iraq War. He resigned his commission as a Captain and left the Marines in 2004 to become a civilian contractor in Iraq.
Hoh's position within the Department of State was initially described as a Foreign Service Officer by the media, and Hoh never made any effort to correct this error. However, Hoh was never a member of the career Foreign Service, nor could he be credibly described as a "U.S. Official." Hoh accepted a position as a 3161 contractor with the State Department, which is a temporary, non-permanent assignment to a Foreign Service Officer position.Therefore, members of the diplomatic community were disappointed that his dissent was characterized as that of a career FSO, which would carry considerably more weight.
Additionally, Hoh served a total of four months in Afghanistan, casting significant doubt about his credibility as an authoritative source of information about the war in Afghanistan. Hoh has been criticized by his former colleagues and others for using a temporary position to launch what some see as a self-promoting career as a war critic.
To date, no Foreign Service Officer has resigned in protest over U.S. policy in Afghanistan.We should draw a distinction between his situation and somebody who had been in the Foreign Service and had a stake in the Foreign Service for 20 years or more."
Just see how quoting a contractor who remained only for 4 months was made so important just to belittle the argument of some one else.
Even Hoh himself believes that "There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed," he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys."
He further says that While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted, he said, the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war.
He is suffering from "survivor guilt" and has hust expressed his "doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy,"
He wants people to know that stabilizing the Afghan government doesn't equate to defeating al Qaeda.
"If that's our goal, to defeat al Qaeda, we need to change our strategy because, you know it's the proverbial swatting of the fly with a sledgehammer, all you do is basically exhaust yourself and you put holes in your walls and your floors, and you don't do anything to the fly," he said. "We are still fighting them the way we would have fought in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and we need to change. We need to evolve to actually fight this threat so that we can affect it."
This means he just recommends changes in the strategy but is not against fighting Alqaida and Taliban.
Also he writes in his 4 pages resignation letter that the insurgency is because of Pashtuns who are illiterate, rural, religious, traditional versus others who are secular, modern, educated and urban.
Matthew Hoh Resigns Over U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan - ABC News
U.S. official resigns over Afghan war - washingtonpost.com
Matthew Hoh | Ask.com Encyclopedia
Matthew Hoh is an American former Marine Corps captain and former State Department 3161 contractor. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2009 he resigned from his non-permanent Foreign Service Officer position in Afghanistan in protest of the strategy being used in the War in Afghanistan.
His career as a U.S. Marine included service during the Iraq War. He resigned his commission as a Captain and left the Marines in 2004 to become a civilian contractor in Iraq.
Hoh's position within the Department of State was initially described as a Foreign Service Officer by the media, and Hoh never made any effort to correct this error. However, Hoh was never a member of the career Foreign Service, nor could he be credibly described as a "U.S. Official." Hoh accepted a position as a 3161 contractor with the State Department, which is a temporary, non-permanent assignment to a Foreign Service Officer position.Therefore, members of the diplomatic community were disappointed that his dissent was characterized as that of a career FSO, which would carry considerably more weight.
Additionally, Hoh served a total of four months in Afghanistan, casting significant doubt about his credibility as an authoritative source of information about the war in Afghanistan. Hoh has been criticized by his former colleagues and others for using a temporary position to launch what some see as a self-promoting career as a war critic.
To date, no Foreign Service Officer has resigned in protest over U.S. policy in Afghanistan.We should draw a distinction between his situation and somebody who had been in the Foreign Service and had a stake in the Foreign Service for 20 years or more."
Just see how quoting a contractor who remained only for 4 months was made so important just to belittle the argument of some one else.
Even Hoh himself believes that "There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed," he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys."
He further says that While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted, he said, the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war.
He is suffering from "survivor guilt" and has hust expressed his "doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy,"
He wants people to know that stabilizing the Afghan government doesn't equate to defeating al Qaeda.
"If that's our goal, to defeat al Qaeda, we need to change our strategy because, you know it's the proverbial swatting of the fly with a sledgehammer, all you do is basically exhaust yourself and you put holes in your walls and your floors, and you don't do anything to the fly," he said. "We are still fighting them the way we would have fought in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and we need to change. We need to evolve to actually fight this threat so that we can affect it."
This means he just recommends changes in the strategy but is not against fighting Alqaida and Taliban.
Also he writes in his 4 pages resignation letter that the insurgency is because of Pashtuns who are illiterate, rural, religious, traditional versus others who are secular, modern, educated and urban.
Matthew Hoh Resigns Over U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan - ABC News
U.S. official resigns over Afghan war - washingtonpost.com
Matthew Hoh | Ask.com Encyclopedia

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