You were warned, it totally says "Political Post" right up there.
Why would an anti-war president, one whose personal convictions lead him to want to end the war entirely, today, send more troops to Afghanistan in a near mirror-image of the surge policy used by his predecessor, who everyone hated?
Because he's GOT TO.
Conjure up Michael and the Prince of Persia, if you don't believe me. They'll tell you.
Is Obama an idiot, or a highly intelligent man? Based on what I know about him, he's not an idiot. If he's reaching the same conclusions Bush reached about fighting wars over there, then there's probably a reason for it.
That said, I still think he should start bringing the troops back home now. Doesn't anyone else remember the role Afghanistan played in bringing down the USSR? It's a death trap, a money pit. Fuck that shit.
[Edit: Ok, so he was for the war in Afghanistan. I hope he wants out now.]
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
He was for the war in Afghanistan during his presidential campaign at least.
ReplyDeletehe was, but i do agree with you: Afghanistan brought down the Brittish emire, the soviets, and it will bring you down too, if you are not carefull
ReplyDeleteAfghanistan is a political black hole, consuming money and lives at a frightening rate.
ReplyDeleteObama has to be wise about the withdrawal-if it isn't done right, with at least an attempt at shoring up the government there, we've wasted years and trillions on that foolishness.
Afghanistan has long been known as "The Graveyard of Empires." Alas, with an abrupt withdrawal of our troops, we would be lucky to end up with images similar to the pictures of those last helicopters leaving Saigon, the likely reality would be far worse. We need a thought out and stratetic withdrawal.
ReplyDeleteI'll be frank with you. I WANT to believe in Obama, but I've had my doubts about his integrity ever since he hired the 911 Commission member Lee Hamilton to be a national security advisor for his campaign. The report that commission put out was nothing but lies that justified the corrosion of democracy and human rights worldwide. I was shocked that he'd have anything to do with Hamilton. Most of what the right wing nuts say about Obama is nothing but red herrings; side shows and distraction. My question is: does Obama realize who the real enemy is? And I'll tell you this, it's not Al Qaida. Is there really an Al Qaida? How shocked was he to find out what's really going on once he started getting the daily intelligence reports?
ReplyDeleteIsn't the real enemy the billionaires who sucked all the money out of the economy, and are now sitting on their fat portfolios while the majority of mankind is struggling to make ends meet? Wonder how much of a stake they have in the international heroin trade? Wonder how how much it is in their interest to keep wages low by keeping unemployment high? Wonder how much they have invested in the weapons industry?
Big can of worms you opened here.
So, what do Michael and the Prince of Persia have to say on the subject?
Beware of the Military-Industry Complex and the Intelligence-Industry Complex.
ReplyDeleteHi Frater, ive heard it being touted around that the Prince Of persia is Allah what have you found. I know he was over that entire region. Theres some interesting information about Mohammed (PBUH)& his father and the moon Gods and what not, i wonder where could i find the seal for the Prince of Persia .
ReplyDeleteHazeab
The last guy started an unnecessary war in Iraq. Iraq was not connected to 9/11 as he tried to tell us. There were no weapons of mass destruction, his administration made it up. This was proved when our British ally's intelligence service wrote that memo to Tony Blair. It made everything he did suspect.
ReplyDeleteThe difference in Afghanistan now is that in theory we don't want to take it over. We want to rid of Taliban. A significant portion of their population is behind us on that. Unfortunately, not enough. Tough call. I'd advocate saying their until the cows come home simply to stamp out any taliban camps that try to reopen. My problem is that since I never served, I have little to no ethical position that allows me to advocate anyone else go to war.
Maybe the reason were in Afghanistan is because Pakistan has nuclear weapons.If Afghanistan were to slide into chaos the unrest could spill over into Pakistan.The thought of nuclear weapons in the hands of Islamic extremist must keep Oboma up at night ....
ReplyDeleteI'm an Australian, so I'll accept if people just ignore what I say (though I should point out we are in Afghanistan too, so it's all related).
ReplyDeleteThe difference is one that few people at home will believe, but is true nonetheless: the Afghani government, and a large portion of the civilian population, want the Coalition forces there to help. It is not Afghanistan VS The Bad Guys like it was with the USSR and other invading forces. It's true that civvy support is going down, but it still exists - what you need to find out is *why* it is going down.
The troop surge in Iraq was definitely contentious, but the question is whether you want to follow military advice or public opinion. Of course it's not clear to what degree the Iraq surge was even successful (depending on what the aims were). I've got a book lined up for reading, The Gamble by Pulitzer Prize winning author and former reporter Thomas E Ricks, which discusses General Petraeus and the Iraq troop surge which comes highly recommended. Others might want to look into it too.
Anything justified by 911 is suspicious to me. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the reason the US is in Afghanistan has nothing to do with anything we read about in the news, and all arguments pro and con using facts and information from governments and the media just miss the point altogether.
My sympathies go to the people who are living their lives in war zones. I feel for the people who have to live the horror first-hand serving in the military.
But I am certain the reasons these things are happening are NOT the reasons we are being told.
Frater POS says "The difference in Afghanistan now is that in theory we don't want to take it over." Whose theory is that? Isn't the Karzai family in power because of their connections to the oil industry?
That's the problem with arguing about this subject. Whatever you argue about, that's not what it's really about.
I still want to hear what Michael and the Prince of Persia have to say about this.
Actually Obama has to send troops to Afghanistan, no doubt about it, it was a mess created by Bush, why? Because instead of destroying Irak Bush should have committed himself 100% to get rid of the Taliban problem once and for all, but under Bush Afghanistan became the forgotten war, under-resourced and under-equipped, at that moment(2001) with a full popular support the Taliban could have been eliminated from planet earth for good. Now, I don’t know if 40 thousand troops, or 400 thousands troop will be able to solve that problem…I ‘m afraid to say that this will end as another Vietnam and US looking for quick “negotiated” exit at one time or another, no offense.
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