We have another encouraging statement from our ally, Afghan President Hamid Karzai who told Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and other top Western officials in Kabul that one of his greatest enemies is the United States and that he wished he had gone with the Taliban when he had a chance. Previously, if you recall, Karzai stated that he wanted to actually join the Taliban in fighting the United States, so this is just a reminder.
So, just to keep track, our loss of life and limb in Afghanistan is sharply increasing. We have burned through hundreds of billions of dollars in this war as our cities and states are cutting back on public education, parks, and basic services. Yet, we continue to sacrifice our soldiers and treasure in a country where the President is a corrupt lunatic who dreams of joining the Taliban and killing U.S. troops. Of course, he will first have to find one. Recently it was disclosed that our geniuses in the CiA and military have been negotiating with a perfect fraud — a man who falsely claimed to be “Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour,” one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement. In addition to giving him a fortune, he was flown to meet with Karzai and our top commanders. The U.S. now says that he was just a guy trying to make some cash.
In his latest diatribe, Karzai said his three “main enemies” – the Taliban, the United States and the international community. Then added, “If I had to choose sides today, I’d choose the Taliban.”
The problem is that many are saying that the Taliban are winning — in part because of Karzai’s corrupt and inept government. Why should they want Karzai? They would much prefer that we carry him. He has proven one of their greatest assets.
In the meantime, we continue to substitute ideological allies with openly corrupt officials — corrupted by the CIA itself.
Afghanistan has become an example of “path dependence” in economic theory — we have invested so much on this gambit that we cannot get ourselves to consider changing course — or at least no politician is willing to take responsibility for such a decision. The result is that we our losses mount as a lunatic leader fantasizes of joining the enemy. The only good thing is that we must be confusing the hell out of our allies, but I know I am confused.
By the way, our latest published loss was Lance Cpl. Michael Geary, 20, of New Hampshire. Geary had wanted to be a marine since he was 14. He fought the Taliban while Karzai routinely call him the enemy and expresses his desire to join the men who killed him. While Karzai debates what side he is on, Geary’s mother has to deal with the loss of this wonderful son as well as losing her job shortly before Thanksgiving and the recent death of her mother from a long battle against lung cancer. I can only imagine what she is thinking when reading these statements from Karzai. I cannot imagine a more tragic series of events for this poor lady. Obviously, Michael did not die for the likes of Karzai and his lack of appreciation does not reflect the sympathy of all Americans for her and her family. Reading about Michael was very hard – he was clearly a very special person who was a credit to both his family and his country.
Source: Washington Post
Jonathan Turley
Glad your back Blouise. I noticed your cowboy even if FFLEO did not.
anon nurse
1, December 17, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Blouise,
lol re: the “biker bar” comment on the “birdwatching” thread
(A couple of the threads have become too long and my limited/ somewhat challenged computer can’t handle them. The Ron Paul and Global Warming threads will go on without me…)
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I figured you’d like it since I know you appreciate Biker Bars 😉
Former Federal LEO
1, December 17, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Thank you Blouise. Good to see you back (although for a grammah, you sure can be a blawg instigator at times…maybe that is why I noticed your absence).
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🙂 When you’re not posting I console myself with a mind picture of you sitting on a tipped-backed chair enjoying the desert air while chomping on a root (I posted this vid to you on another thread but it’s here for you again)
Blouise,
lol re: the “biker bar” comment on the “birdwatching” thread
(A couple of the threads have become too long and my limited/ somewhat challenged computer can’t handle them. The Ron Paul and Global Warming threads will go on without me…)
Thank you Blouise. Good to see you back (although for a grammah, you sure can be a blawg instigator at times…maybe that is why I noticed your absence).
FFLEO:
Thanks for your kind words.
Mike Appleton,
That was a very good, concise synopsis of the Afghanistan debacle.
Rafflaw:
I wish your son Godspeed and echo the comments of FFLEO regarding the service of honorable men and women in dishonorable wars.
Afghanistan is not a nation. It has never been a nation. It is a geographical area with more or less artificial boundaries inhabited by multi-ethnic tribes united only by hostility toward foreign occupiers. Its people are largely illiterate and have no concept of a strong central government, let alone of democratic institutions.
As Lottakatz noted earlier in this thread, our purpose and our goals in Afghanistan are as fluid as Pres. Karzai’s commitments. We talk about creating a safe and stable nation, but refuse to honestly admit that that is not a possibility. We talk about creating an Afghan society in which people live in freedom and women are treated with respect, but refuse to honestly admit that we do not have the capacity, let alone the right, to impose cultural transformation on a people. And we pretend that these sorts of tectonic shifts in the lives of a scattered, uneducated population can be accomplished in a space of time measured by years rather than by generations.
The military will continue to insist that we are making “progress” because the American military mind cannot conceive of anything less. The political establishment will continue to assert the necessity of our undefined mission because it fears that withdrawal will brand the decision makers as the party that lost Afghanistan. And those who argue vehemently against the continuation of the whole benighted enterprise will be criticized as unpatriotic and indifferent to the sacrifices of our troops.
It is and has always been a pathetic, cynical and immoral venture.
Are you sure this isn’t just a bit hyperbolic?:
“the President is a corrupt lunatic who dreams of joining the Taliban and killing U.S. troops.” How do you know what Karzai’s dreams are?
This war is suffering from extreme mission creep. We are supporting the Drug War-lords AKA the Northern Alliance an men like Hekmaytar Gulbadin against the Taliban. Al Queda was the enemy and is the size of a fly and is no longer in Afghanistan.
The Taliban stopped things like this:
WikiLeaks: Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan Cops
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/12/wikileaks_texas_company_helped.php
“Another international conflict, another horrific taxpayer-funded sex scandal for DynCorp, the private security contractor tasked with training the Afghan police.
[I]f one of the diplomatic cables from the WikiLeaks archive is to be believed, boy howdy, are their doings in Afghanistan shady.
Many of DynCorp’s employees are ex-Green Berets and veterans of other elite units,… commissioned by the US gov. to provide training for the Afghani police… over 95 percent of its $2 billion annual revenue comes from US taxpayers.
[A]ccording to the leaked cable, that money was flowing to drug dealers and pimps. Pimps of children, to be more precise.
[T]his DynCorp soiree was a bacha bazi (“boy-play”) party, much like the ones uncovered earlier this year by Frontline […] bacha bazi is a pre-Islamic Afghan tradition that was banned by the Taliban. Bacha boys are 8- to 15-years-old. They put on make-up, tie bells to their feet and slip into scanty women’s clothing, and then, to the whine of a harmonium and wailing vocals, they dance seductively to smoky roomfuls of leering older men.
After the show is over, their services are auctioned off to the highest bidder, who will sometimes purchase a boy outright. And by services, we mean anal sex: The State Department has called bacha bazi a “widespread, culturally accepted form of male rape.” (While it may be culturally accepted, it violates both Sharia law and Afghan civil code.)
”
Click through on the video to see the whole series. It’s some sick stuff.
“There’s no way to win an occupation.”
Even more amusing, I don’t believe the 9/11 AUMF authorizes it either.
Thanks Former Fed and Blouise. And thanks to eniobob too as he has experienced this. It is a hard time of the year for any family member to be away from home, but when your son or daugher is in harms way, it is harder. His mother and I are looking forward to his safe return and we are confident that he and his fellow Marines of the 2/3 will come back in June with their heads held high knowing that they served their country with honor and courage.
Lotta,
“We haven’t “won”, we aren’t going to “win” and “win” isn’t even defined, except to whatever extent the Administration throws up an ever-shifting goal to justify the then-current political aim of remaining.”
There’s no way to win an occupation.
Former Federal LEO
1, December 17, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Rafflaw,
Including your son’s duty as a Marine officer in Afghanistan, I submit that dishonor never exists amongst or against soldiers who honorably fight in otherwise dishonorable wars.
You are obviously and justifiably proud of your son. Whatever the Afghanistan outcome shall be, the pride all of us should display for our military service personnel must never falter.
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That was beautifully said
rafflaw:
Being on both sides of that situation I know the feeling.
Anon nurse,
I love the Carly Simon link. That is one great song.
Thanks, Anon nurse!
rafflaw,
I echo FFLEO’s words…
Well sai, FFLEO.
Rafflaw,
Including your son’s duty as a Marine officer in Afghanistan, I submit that dishonor never exists amongst or against soldiers who honorably fight in otherwise dishonorable wars.
You are obviously and justifiably proud of your son. Whatever the Afghanistan outcome shall be, the pride all of us should display for our military service personnel must never falter.
Talk of the good ole days brought back memories of some of them…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDJ_Mz8ftqI&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]
“The way things are shaping up,we may look back a year from now and say those were the good ole days.” -eniobob
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eniobob,
I’m already sayin’ “those were the good ole days” but, I’m afraid you’re right. From my vantage point, it’s only going to get worse, unless there’s some sort of miracle…
rafflaw,
No nap for me either, as much as I want and need one… 🙂