In the President's recent address to cadets at West Point and the world, he dismissed the comparisons of Afghanistan to Vietnam with simplistic rationale (see here for more reasonable comparison). Consider the following quote from page 209 of David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest.
"What the president was learning, and learning to his displeasure (once again, the Bay of Pigs had been lesson one), was something that his successor Lyndon Johnson would also find out the hard way: that the capacity to control a policy involving the military is greatest before the policy is initiated, but once started, no matter how small the initial step, a policy has a life and a thrust of its own, it is an organic thing. More, its thrust and its drive may not be in any way akin to the desires of the President who initiated it. There is always the drive for more, more force, more tactics, wider latitudes for force."
In this quote the President was John Kennedy who started the Vietnam conflict and allowed it to get out of control. This quote describes exactly how the Afghanistan situation is like Vietnam. How can you expect those who believed you to be a rational man, to continue to follow along with this utter nonsense? Either you have been completely buffalo'd by the Military Industrial Complex or, as I have described previously, you have taken the twisted route to accomplish your social agenda. Either way, it confirms my belief our great ideals are impaired by our dysfunctional implementation of government. It is a sorry situation indeed.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Obama's War
I'm disappointed with Obama's decision. The goal is political expediency - just like Kennedy's mistake with Vietnam. I feel sorry for him and for the soldiers that are going to die or be maimed needlessly.
There's only one journalist who has been telling it like it really is and that's Michael Ware of CNN. He's not the polished kiss ass journalist that the rest of them are. He's very primitive looking - but he doesn't mince his words and in his opinion this is all about the conflict between Pakistan and India. And if you can't stop them from meddling in the Afghan affairs, there's never going to be any stability - and how long has the conflict between Pakistan and India been going on? Whoa! That's a very interesting history that goes back to the control of the region by Great Britain! When the British were considering withdrawal of their colonial control, they imposed a solution by dividing the country into parts for Muslims (Pakistan) and parts for the rest of the religions which were mostly Hindu (India). This is when the conflict began over Kashmir which didn't want to be in either country. This goes back to the end of WW II ... There are so many problems that currently exist that are the results of wars – WAR! what is it good for? ... absolutely nothing!
It is clear that Al Queda is inactive in Afghanistan. The Taliban and Al Queda are two completely separate entities. Our presence in Afghanistan does nothing to stabilize the region. The Taliban is going to come back again and again. The Afghans do not trust us or their own government. Have you seen the Frontline documentary called Obama's War? It's excellent. As an Afghan peasant points out in the documentary, how can we (Afghan peasants) beat the Taliban when you (US soldiers) can't beat them with all your weapons and I haven't even a sword? Afghan peasants are ignorant but they aren't stupid. They are not going to jeopardize their lives for us or their corrupt government. That's why I recommend seeing the Frontline documentary, the truth is right there coming from an Afghan peasant telling it like it is.
It's sad to see the mistakes of a previous administration (Kennedy) repeated in the Obama era. The Bush administration isn't even worthy of consideration - they were on par with Neanderthal-level mentality .. ala, let's go kick us some Al Queda butt! But Obama is smart and so are his people. Nevertheless, they have other goals and they aren't going to let this terrorist-Afghan thing get in the way of achieving these other goals - thus the political expediency. This lame move of putting in thirty thousand troops and at the same time announcing a withdrawal time table is only something to keep those who might vote against the health care bill placated. Shamefully it's the only way to accomplish goals in our impaired system; another example of our foreign policy being held hostage to the agenda of one of our political leaders. The world doesn't need another short term solution that leads to even bigger / worse long term problems.
We need to get our act together on the home front. We need to rebuild the infrastructure of our own country, not Afghanistan!
There's only one journalist who has been telling it like it really is and that's Michael Ware of CNN. He's not the polished kiss ass journalist that the rest of them are. He's very primitive looking - but he doesn't mince his words and in his opinion this is all about the conflict between Pakistan and India. And if you can't stop them from meddling in the Afghan affairs, there's never going to be any stability - and how long has the conflict between Pakistan and India been going on? Whoa! That's a very interesting history that goes back to the control of the region by Great Britain! When the British were considering withdrawal of their colonial control, they imposed a solution by dividing the country into parts for Muslims (Pakistan) and parts for the rest of the religions which were mostly Hindu (India). This is when the conflict began over Kashmir which didn't want to be in either country. This goes back to the end of WW II ... There are so many problems that currently exist that are the results of wars – WAR! what is it good for? ... absolutely nothing!
It is clear that Al Queda is inactive in Afghanistan. The Taliban and Al Queda are two completely separate entities. Our presence in Afghanistan does nothing to stabilize the region. The Taliban is going to come back again and again. The Afghans do not trust us or their own government. Have you seen the Frontline documentary called Obama's War? It's excellent. As an Afghan peasant points out in the documentary, how can we (Afghan peasants) beat the Taliban when you (US soldiers) can't beat them with all your weapons and I haven't even a sword? Afghan peasants are ignorant but they aren't stupid. They are not going to jeopardize their lives for us or their corrupt government. That's why I recommend seeing the Frontline documentary, the truth is right there coming from an Afghan peasant telling it like it is.
It's sad to see the mistakes of a previous administration (Kennedy) repeated in the Obama era. The Bush administration isn't even worthy of consideration - they were on par with Neanderthal-level mentality .. ala, let's go kick us some Al Queda butt! But Obama is smart and so are his people. Nevertheless, they have other goals and they aren't going to let this terrorist-Afghan thing get in the way of achieving these other goals - thus the political expediency. This lame move of putting in thirty thousand troops and at the same time announcing a withdrawal time table is only something to keep those who might vote against the health care bill placated. Shamefully it's the only way to accomplish goals in our impaired system; another example of our foreign policy being held hostage to the agenda of one of our political leaders. The world doesn't need another short term solution that leads to even bigger / worse long term problems.
We need to get our act together on the home front. We need to rebuild the infrastructure of our own country, not Afghanistan!
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