The April 2010 report to Congress on Afghanistan was 150 pages of gobbledygook, but Cmdr. Jeff Huber points out that it could have been quite readily summarized with the following bullet-pointed Powerpoint slide:
- Badtux the Baffled Penguin
It's as if Japan attacked Pearl Harbor... and we declared war on Mexico!
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It's as if Japan attacked Pearl Harbor... and we declared war on Mexico!
ReplyDeleteAnd then lost the war.
I've got really mixed feelings about Afghanistan. To have let the Taliban continue their reign of terror against the country as a whole but especially against women.....well, it just seems so wrong, on such a basic human level. But we don't seem to have much chance of achieving any long term peace or stability. Can we just turn away, say 'its not our problem, let them sort it out themselves'? Knowing what we do about the way women and girls are mistreated? How does the phrase go:'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men [and women] to do nothing'.
ReplyDeleteI know the world is too big a place for us to solve all it's problems; but does that mean we shouldn't even try?
SeDress, women are treated even worse by our "allies" the Saudis. And women were treated much better in Iraq before we blew the secular Saddam regime away and replaced it with a religious zealot regime. For that matter, women are treated better by the "evil" Iranian regime than by the "friendly" Saudi regime -- in Iran, women can drive, become doctors and scientists, etc., in Saudi Arabia they're basically locked in the harems.
ReplyDeleteThe United States Government is not a charitable organization and is elected to represent America and Americans, not Saudis or Afghanis, and behaves accordingly. Anybody who believes that U.S. actions in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, or anywhere else is for the benefit of people living in those regimes, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd love to sell you, only slightly used...
- Badtux the Observant Penguin
That is. Females are treated according to Sharia. Westerners has no business in that world.
ReplyDelete"No Blood for Opium
Posted by John Jiggens on April 21, 2010
It was common during the opening of the Iraq war to see slogans proclaiming “No blood for oil!” The cover story for the war – Saddam’s links with Al Qaida and his weapons of mass destruction – were obvious mass deceptions, hiding a far less palatable imperial agenda. The truth was that Iraq was a major producer of oil and, in our age, the Age of Oil, oil is the most strategic resource of all. For many it was obvious that the real agenda of the war was an imperialistic grab for Iraqi oil. This was confirmed when Iraq’s state-owned oil company was privatised to western interests in the aftermath of the invasion.
Why then are there no slogans saying “No blood for opium!”? Afghanistan’s major product is opium and opium production has increased remarkably during the present war. The current NATO action around Marjah is clearly motivated by opium. It is reported to be Afghanistan’s main opium-producing area. Why then won’t people consider that the real agenda of the Afghan war has been control of the opium trade? ..."
http://www.disinfo.com/2010/04/no-blood-for-opium/