July 23, 2008

Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Club July 23rd Meeting Report -

The meeting was called to order by President Eddie Robinson and the invocation given by Patty Cavanaugh. Fred Splittsberger, a frequent visitor from the St. Andrews Rotary Club was welcomed back. It was announced that past President Beetle Baily was still in the hospital but is doing well and expects to be out of the hospital and back with us by next week.
Candidates for Rotary Scholarships were acknowledged and Lyman Whitehead shared some humor with us before our speaker for the day was introduced.

The morning's speaker was Hon. James E. Smith Jr. who is in the SC House of Representatives from District 72. Mr Smith is also a Captain in the SC Army National Guard, recently returned from a year of active duty in Afghanistan. He shared with us his experiences in Afghanistan and offered many insights into the problems being experienced in that part of the world. He displayed a map of Afghanistan, specifically Zabul Province where most of the conflict is concentrated owing to the actions of the Taliban combatants. Kumar Province is also the site of Taliban attacks on both civilian and military targets. No conflicts exist in much of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is largely primitive with poor roads and lacking in many basics such as schools, wells and many of the basic needs of life. The U.S. Military is trying to address these matters in constructive ways by building schools, establishing wells for potable water and building trusting relationships to counter the destructive influence of the Taliban.

Working with the people requires interpreters which creates a problem because the enterpreters become targets for beheading by Taliban groups. Complicating matters is the illegal drug trade and widespread corruption among influential Afghans. Marijuana and opium can be legally grown in most of the country and is a widespread source of corruption and lawlessness.

U.S. Military operations in Afghanistan are plagued with problems such as improvised explosive devices "ied's" and rifle propelled grenades "rpg's". The so-called MRAPS, vehicles fitted to be non-vulnerable to ied's and rpg's are of limited value because so much of the terrain is extremely rough lending itself to attacks by the ied's and rpg's.

Mr. Smith makes a strong case for more troops to deal with the problems in Afghanistan and concentrating on things such as building schools, drilling wells and building mutually beneficial relationships with the people.

Respectfully submitted

Bill Brooks