U.S. Military Secrets for Sale at Afghan Bazaar

In case you were wondering what's going on in Afghanistan these days, it appears capitialism is taking root.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — No more than 200 yards from the main gate of the sprawling U.S. base here, stolen computer drives containing classified military assessments of enemy targets, names of corrupt Afghan officials and descriptions of American defenses are on sale in the local bazaar.

Shop owners at the bazaar say Afghan cleaners, garbage collectors and other workers from the base arrive each day offering purloined goods, including knives, watches, refrigerators, packets of Viagra and flash memory drives taken from military laptops. The drives, smaller than a pack of chewing gum, are sold as used equipment.

The drives contain classified information covering everything from troop placement to US plots to discredit disfavored Afghani officials to private information about US soldiers. There is supposed to be a security system to prevent theft from the base. The drives are said to be taken out in various ways, such as being hidden behind the photo IDs but that doesn't explain refrigerators. That of course requires active participation by inside personnel supplementing their stinky military paychecks with a little black market action. The idiots probably don't even realize they're sabotaging their own operations by making a quick buck.

This is what happens when you have to lower your recruitment standards to get "boots on the ground." A greater percentage of those boots are going to be academically and ethically challenged. And who ultimately will pay? You and me, the taxpayer.