Afghanistan
I'm with Moyers, and firmly against what I believe President Obama will do.
www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/23-3
The war in Afghanistan was initially against the people and organization who attacked us on 9/11. When the US Army was ordered to pull back at Tora Bora, it should have been recognized by everyone that the war planners were not actually interested in al Qaeda as their main target. For the next 7 years, the war in Afghanistan was allowed to plod on without leadership, and was fought contrary to the recommendations of real military experts in the field. The focus was on the war against Iraq, a target with far richer resources.
Mr. President, you have inherited a disaster that was allowed to fester for years, starved of leadership from the very office that you now hold. Quite frankly, it was knowingly and willingly designed to become a quagmire. There are only four reasons that I can see to remain.
1) Prevent a resurgence of al Qaeda - a true reason to remain. However, the problem was given free passage to Pakistan. If you really want to prevent a potential resurgence, then you'd have to also occupy Sudan, Somalia and other countries. Foolhardy.
2) To give the Afghan people a better life - a fine goal, but impractical. They're fighting a civil war, and they know full well that Karzi is a US puppet - they have no loyalty to him. If we want our military to provide better lives around the world, how many countries would we need to wage war on? North Korea? Belarus? Turkmenistan?
3) Momentum - we're there now, so we should stay the course. I certainly hope your foreign policy is better than Bush's.
4) Corruption - continue to "bleed the beast". One of the reasons the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were so costly is because they were designed to cost a lot, even where completely unnecessary. Vast fortunes were made by insiders, and the US government was weakened fiscally for a long time to come - both central goals of the political party that you're not in.
So, leave. Now.
www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/23-3
The war in Afghanistan was initially against the people and organization who attacked us on 9/11. When the US Army was ordered to pull back at Tora Bora, it should have been recognized by everyone that the war planners were not actually interested in al Qaeda as their main target. For the next 7 years, the war in Afghanistan was allowed to plod on without leadership, and was fought contrary to the recommendations of real military experts in the field. The focus was on the war against Iraq, a target with far richer resources.
Mr. President, you have inherited a disaster that was allowed to fester for years, starved of leadership from the very office that you now hold. Quite frankly, it was knowingly and willingly designed to become a quagmire. There are only four reasons that I can see to remain.
1) Prevent a resurgence of al Qaeda - a true reason to remain. However, the problem was given free passage to Pakistan. If you really want to prevent a potential resurgence, then you'd have to also occupy Sudan, Somalia and other countries. Foolhardy.
2) To give the Afghan people a better life - a fine goal, but impractical. They're fighting a civil war, and they know full well that Karzi is a US puppet - they have no loyalty to him. If we want our military to provide better lives around the world, how many countries would we need to wage war on? North Korea? Belarus? Turkmenistan?
3) Momentum - we're there now, so we should stay the course. I certainly hope your foreign policy is better than Bush's.
4) Corruption - continue to "bleed the beast". One of the reasons the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were so costly is because they were designed to cost a lot, even where completely unnecessary. Vast fortunes were made by insiders, and the US government was weakened fiscally for a long time to come - both central goals of the political party that you're not in.
So, leave. Now.
posted by zblog at
7:00 AM
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