Monday, September 28, 2009
Afghanistan
Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama all, to one degree or another, supported the invasion of Afghanistan. Gore said he would've done it.
Besides harboring bin Laden, the Taliban were a continous source of horror stories, from treatment of women to blowing up the great Buddha cliff statues of Banyan.
Were we ever sure what we were going there to do? Yeah, kill bin Laden & destroy al-Qaeda camps. But what else? Was "nation-building" part of the plan? The Russians tried that. How would we know when we had finished the job? Where was the exit?
The Bush adminstration was planning to oust the Taliban before 9/11. The plans were so well advanced that the Taliban government abandoned Kabul within days after our campaign began on 11/7 & before an American life had been lost. We had them on the run for an entire year.
I don't see how President Obama can avoid increasing our ground forces, with the resulting expenditures of American lives & treasure.
President Obama will have to remind us why we went to Afghanistan in the first place. He will have to explain what it was we wanted to accomplish there after the Taliban were driven from power, that we did not accomplish. Then, he has to convince us that this goal can still be reached , or offer some other rationale & goal.
Besides harboring bin Laden, the Taliban were a continous source of horror stories, from treatment of women to blowing up the great Buddha cliff statues of Banyan.
Were we ever sure what we were going there to do? Yeah, kill bin Laden & destroy al-Qaeda camps. But what else? Was "nation-building" part of the plan? The Russians tried that. How would we know when we had finished the job? Where was the exit?
The Bush adminstration was planning to oust the Taliban before 9/11. The plans were so well advanced that the Taliban government abandoned Kabul within days after our campaign began on 11/7 & before an American life had been lost. We had them on the run for an entire year.
I don't see how President Obama can avoid increasing our ground forces, with the resulting expenditures of American lives & treasure.
President Obama will have to remind us why we went to Afghanistan in the first place. He will have to explain what it was we wanted to accomplish there after the Taliban were driven from power, that we did not accomplish. Then, he has to convince us that this goal can still be reached , or offer some other rationale & goal.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, George W. Bush, in the news
Comments:
<< Home
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The destruction of the buddahs have already occurred. When the world was silent about that, I knew we were entering darker times. The 9/11 bombers were Saudi Arabian. Who cares about Afghanistan, with respect to having a "war" going on! Let's just leave. It's not like this war accomplished a damn thing except cost us American lives. However, since the guvment seems to take action that is generally the exact opposite of public sentiment, I am sure more young soldiers will be heading off to nowhere land and risking there lives for ... (chirp, chirp, chirp).
A war, however protitable it was for death merchants, would eventually end. The point of ending was usually implicit in the beginning, even before the adoption of strategic goals. Independence. The submission of rebellious states to federal government. The surrender of Japan. No more.
Post a Comment
<< Home
