tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post3888261289253719397..comments2024-01-22T18:22:29.391-08:00Comments on hedera's corner: More on Afghanistanhederahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01696592301686568456noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-65403971919671925562009-12-08T08:48:47.305-08:002009-12-08T08:48:47.305-08:00Hedera:
We need to step back and ask some very ...Hedera: <br /><br />We need to step back and ask some very objective questions. <br /><br />What are our ultimate aims in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and how might we go about realizing them?<br /><br />What has always seemed perfectly obvious to me is that none of these three countries is a fertile ground for democracy. Islam has strong roots in all three places, and a theocracy or a dictatorship are very likely the only alternatives for national unity. I say this with the full cognizance of the consequences for these peoples under such regimes. <br /><br />Okay, if we can't reasonably expect to create cute little democracies in these places, what would we like to have as a consolation? Probably we'd be satisfied if we had something like what obtains in Saudi Arabia--those folks don't like us, but we need each other (the loving death-grip of mutual prosperity (need that oil)). <br /><br />I think we should simply leave these countries to their own devices, with one caveat: If the U.S. really believes that nuclear weapons can't be allowed to go "untended" in Pakistan, then we should simply go in, take them or dismantle them, and be done with it. Pakistani "sovereignty" by damned. <br /><br />As for Afghanistan, those folks don't want us there. Our puppet government is just an empty husk. Let it go. If the people lack the will to resist the Taliban, we may have to live with that. <br /><br />We've had at least two clear chances to grab Bin-Laden since 2001, and we simply refused to act. What does that say about our will? Al Quaeda is a stateless entity, carrying out plots with cell phones and off-shore accounts. Nothing (Nothing!) we do in any of these three countries will have any effect whatsoever on their ability to terrorize or plot or foment unrest. In fact, the United States has fallen directly into the trap that had been set for us, expending our treasure and soldiers on wasting guerilla operations whose end-result is the demonization of American presence in the Islamic world; we did exactly what Bin-Laden wanted us to do, what he predicted we'd do. How stupid are we? <br /><br />Russia--a much more cold-blooded and efficient fighting military than ours--couldn't prevail in Afghanistan, and neither will we. <br /><br />Three weeks (or three months) after we leave Iraq and Afghanistan, everything we thought we were "building" there will simply collapse or melt away. That's a fact that everyone should face squarely. It has nothing to do with American "face" or America's "reputation" in the world: The British and French and Russians and everyone else knows that--just as everyone knew that we would eventually "abandon" Vietnam. But Vietnam today is perfectly fine. We have "normalized" relations with them. <br /><br />We can no longer afford these delightful little foreign adventures, and there's no solid justification for our continued involvements. Obama never had the will to follow through on all his hazy campaign promises, and this is just another example. Ultimate compromiser, my ass. It's definitely now "his war" and his Presidency will likely go down the drain as a result--fully deserved, in my opinion.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20417751.post-40276900541506341682009-12-06T22:30:57.632-08:002009-12-06T22:30:57.632-08:00Gen. McChrystal's "40,000 more troops&quo...Gen. McChrystal's "40,000 more troops" was to prevent the US from losing the war. "Winning" the war in Afghanistan would require, what, 400,000 soldiers?RONWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com