[Vision2020] Idaho Family Fights to Help Afghan Immigrate

[bear at moscow.com]

While I admire the Welch family for trying to help Baktash, who for all
appearances is a great fellow and is raising a family under what are very
trying conditions (an I hope he does find a way to the US if that's what
he wants, lets remember that Mr. Welch is over there, not out a sense of
patriotism, but he is a contractor, he is there for the money.  If
captured by what ever we would consider "the other side" to be, based on
the definitions that were put down by the US government, at best he is a
mercenary, at worst, an "illegal enemy combatant".

One of the great failures of the "Rumsfeld doctrine" is the growing need
for mercenaries to carry out duties in a combat zone that should be done
by the military. For a quick, expeditionary use of force, where the forces
will only be on the ground for 30-45 days, the cutback of service forces
in the military makes sense, but once a force is in place, in this case
for years, the ability of the armed forces to sustain itself in place is
greatly degrades and the use of mercenaries for such support is tragically
necessary, and does not safe money.

An example of this is the use of civilian contractors for construction
support in the field. Prior to the Rumsfeld doctrine, construction would
be carried out by military combat engineers, whom, if taken under fire by
enemy forces dropped their spades and hammers and picked up their rifles
and defended themselves.  Now, we bring in civilian contractors to do the
construction, and when they come under fire, the military is expected to
defend them. Same thing with cooks, maintenance, electricians etc etc.  So
we're not just paying top-dollar to the corporations  providing the
workers, but on top of that, the military has to supply the force
protection. And in instances where there is an attempt to bring in armed
mercenaries to provide that force protection themselves, it has been a
disaster. Blackwater is a good example of that.

And the expanded use of such contractors lends itself to long and
protracted conflicts. Rather than trying to get in, get the job done and
go home, a quick engagement and disengagement  results in a loss of jobs.
It is in the best interests of the contractors that the conflict, and
their contracts last as long as possible.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for posting
> The American Legion Magazine had an article on several cases like this
> month.
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: "Tom Hansen" thansen at moscow.com
> Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:01:17 -0700
> To: "Moscow Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Idaho Family Fights to Help Afghan Immigrate
>
>> Courtesy of the Army Times.
>>
>> -------------------------------------
>>
>> Idaho family fights to help Afghan immigrate
>>
>> COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — The sweltering sun sets on another Thursday in
>> Kabul, Afghanistan, and Doug Welch takes his usual seat at the safehouse
>> computer in the Green Zone military base.
>>
>> The screen fizzles, and his wifeÂ’s beaming face appears through the Web
>> cam, their Coeur dÂ’Alene home in the background.
>>
>> “So how was your day?” Marilyn greets.
>>
>> “Fine,” Doug replies, and recounts a book store he visited.
>>
>> “What?” she bristles. “You’re telling me you were out off the base,
>> where
>> you’re not supposed to be? It’s not worth the risk!” And then: “Was
>> Baktash with you?”
>>
>> “Yes, yes,” he assures.
>>
>> “Oh,” she sighs. “Well, OK.”
>>
>> Doug knows why his daily chats with the family have focused less and
>> less
>> on fears of bombs and kidnappings since his contract work swept him
>> overseas last year.
>>
>> Baktash is there.
>>
>> “I was absolutely terrified until I got to know who Baktash was, and
>> that
>> he was with Doug,” Marilyn says of Doug’s assigned translator, a
>> native
>> Afghani. “I know if someone were to try to get my husband, he would
>> fight
>> them off.”
>>
>> In the beleaguered, war-torn country that hasnÂ’t seen peaceful days in
>> 40
>> years, the turf would seem barren for friendship, least of all between
>> an
>> American contractor and a quiet native.
>>
>> Yet after DougÂ’s 13 months training native troops amidst a growing
>> Taliban
>> influence in Kabul, the 55-year-old has forged the most unlikely
>> victory.
>>
>> Side-by-side every day for 12-hour stints, the Coeur dÂ’Alene man and
>> his
>> soft-spoken translator Baktash Afshar have fought more than the
>> ostensible
>> battle of artillery and suicide bombs that still crater the countryside.
>>
>> Bonding as dads, as husbands, as lovers of hard work, theyÂ’ve helped
>> one
>> another fight to salvage a semblance of daily life amidst a war zone.
>>
>> As Doug has learned how so many things are in Afghanistan, the bond is
>> intense.
>>
>> “Once when we were standing on the street and I heard sirens, I joked,
>> ‘Baktash, don’t let them get me!’ ” Doug remembers, speaking over
>> the
>> Internet service Skype. “He turned to me and said, ‘I would stand in
>> front
>> of you and protect you to my death.’ I sincerely believed him.’ ”
>>
>> Now they face the hardest battle yet: Getting Baktash out of the
>> country.
>>
>> Marilyn recently held a rummage and bake sale out of their home to fund
>> plane tickets, but it remains to be seen if Baktash will be able to land
>> visas for himself and his family.
>>
>> “I know he just wants to take his wife and children to a place where
>> they’ll be safe,” Doug says. “He would make a great contribution to
>> this
>> country. I would welcome them as my neighbors.”
>>
>> Doug hadnÂ’t known just what to expect when he accepted the contract job
>> as
>> an operations trainer for the Afghan military a year ago.
>>
>> Addressing classrooms of camouflage-clad troops at the Ministry of
>> Defense, the former lieutenant colonel found the language barrier was
>> the
>> least of his worries.
>>
>> “They have a very different sense of time, a different way of looking
>> at
>> things,” he sighs. “We put everything on a timeline — three months,
>> six
>> months. They’re not used to doing that. They look at this afternoon.”
>>
>> Always at his side, helping unravel lectures and cross cultural chasms,
>> was Baktash.
>>
>> The lanky and polite 27-year-old wasnÂ’t like the other translators who
>> often proved unreliable, spotty at showing up and prone to lie.
>>
>> Instead, Baktash was a quick and efficient translator, never objecting
>> to
>> lengthy shifts.
>>
>> “We [the contractors] think in terms that if we stay late, we can just
>> hop
>> in a car and drive home,” Doug says. “When they [translators] stay
>> late,
>> they may have a 4-hour walk home, and through some dangerous
>> neighborhoods.”
>>
>> Their reliance on one another grew as they swapped histories, finding
>> the
>> duties of father and husband universal.
>>
>> If Doug ventured into crowded marketplaces, Baktash walked beside him,
>> his
>> status as a Kung Fu master enough to protect against kidnappings that
>> are
>> common for Americans.
>>
>> When Doug wanted to meet his wife in India, the young man stood in line
>> for hours at the Indian embassy to ensure Doug obtained a visa, even
>> interceding when a Taliban member tried to cut in line.
>>
>> “I wouldn’t have made it without him,” Doug admits.
>>
>> Back in Coeur dÂ’Alene, Marilyn became a regular at the post office to
>> ship
>> over beans and rice — sometimes 30 pounds of it — when Baktash’s
>> family
>> couldnÂ’t afford the staples.
>>
>> “Thank heaven for the post office flat rate box,” she chuckles.
>>
>> She hastened to ship prenatal vitamins in January, when BaktashÂ’s
>> newborn
>> proved too weak to nurse.
>>
>> “Doug told me the statistics, that one in four children in Afghanistan
>> die
>> before 5 years old,” she says, shaking her head. “I thought, ‘If I
>> can
>> save one child and one little family, it’s a start.’ ”
>>
>> Now healthy at 6 months, BaktashÂ’s baby carries the name Maryam, which
>> translates to Marilyn.
>>
>> “She’s like a grandmother to her,” Baktash said over a staticky phone
>> connection recently, the baby wailing at 5 a.m. “We want to remember
>> her
>> all the time, whenever we are calling to Maryam. I donÂ’t want to forget
>> her.”
>>
>> Baktash knows too well his job could be his undoing — as well as his
>> familyÂ’s.
>>
>> Outside DougÂ’s gated and guarded green zone, Baktash lives with his
>> wife
>> and two young daughters across the city, in the more bomb-strewn chaos
>> consuming his home country.
>>
>> “Every day, I don’t know if I will be coming home safely or not,” he
>> says.
>> “When people find out about you working with Americans, your life is in
>> danger.”
>>
>> In mosques, Taliban threats are painted across the walls that anyone
>> working for the U.S. military will meet a grisly end.
>>
>> “They will kill not only you, but your family, your children,” Baktash
>> said. “I am not so worried about myself, but my family, day by day.”
>>
>> For the past seven years he has ducked below the radar, telling friends
>> he
>> works as a shopkeeper and commuting over two bus rides and an hour walk.
>>
>> It seemed to work, until recently.
>>
>> A few weeks ago his brother — almost identical to Baktash — was shot
>> in
>> the arm outside BaktashÂ’s home, the marksman unseen.
>>
>> Baktash has no doubt the bullet was meant for him.
>>
>> “I report to the police, to the government, and they do nothing for
>> us,”
>> he says. “Corruption is a common thing here. The Taliban just gives
>> money
>> to the security organizations, and they do nothing to help honest people
>> losing their lives.”
>>
>> He speaks of fleeing to America, where he dreams of working for the U.S.
>> military.
>>
>> His daughters, the oldest still a toddler, could go to school and have
>> jobs, he says. His wife could finish high school without fear of
>> harassment.
>>
>> “My family’s concept is different — we want to live freely, I want my
>> wife
>> to be a free woman,” Baktash said. “I want my daughters to live
>> freely,
>> equally with men.”
>>
>> He admits he keeps his mouth shut when other Afghanis talk about such
>> things, though. Rumors travel swiftly of locals with Western
>> allegiances.
>>
>> “In front of a pistol, you can’t use your Kung Fu,” he admits. “This
>> is
>> why I’m always worried and nervous.”
>>
>> For now, BaktashÂ’s application has been tossed into the swirling bingo
>> tumbler that is AfghanistanÂ’s visa application process.
>>
>> He has a chance at landing a visa set aside for military translators,
>> Doug
>> says, but visas are only dispensed to those with thousands of dollars in
>> the bank for airfare.
>>
>> “I think Baktash just lives paycheck to paycheck,” Doug says.
>>
>> But just like the bond between Baktash and Doug, great things can bud
>> from
>> unlikely ideas.
>>
>> “All I can do is pray for them,” says Doug, who returned home June 23.
>> “He’s been the most enjoyable part of being here. He’s a good kid.”
>>
>> Perhaps one day, Doug will show Baktash a sunset in America.
>>
>> And both will know, at last, that their battles are over.
>>
>> ----
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/MarilynWelch
>>
>> Marilyn Welch, left, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, prepares items for a
>> rummage
>> and bake sale June 18 with the help of her 14-year-old granddaughter,
>> Taylor Patrick. Welch, whose husband, Doug, is a contractor in
>> Afghanistan, is hoping to raise enough money to help Doug's Afghan
>> translator, Baktash, get out of the country. He has a chance at landing
>> a
>> visa set aside for military translators, Doug Welch says, but visas are
>> only dispensed to those with thousands of dollars in the bank for
>> airfare.
>>
>> -------------------------------------
>>
>> "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
>> heaven."
>>
>> Thanks to people like Doug and Marilyn Welch.
>>
>> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to
>> change
>> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>>
>> - Unknown
>>
>>
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