Posted on 10/19/2010 3:51:19 AM PDT by Ronbo1948
"May his name be blotted out!" declares the most terrible Hebrew curse. History has devised a curse more terrible still, that is, to have one's memory blotted out, all except for a name that popular usage links to disaster.
Schoolchildren no longer learn about King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who won battles against Rome at such heavy cost that he lost the war, but everyone knows that a "Pyrrhic victory" is to be avoided. Few remember Grigory Potyomkin (1739-1791), Catherine the Great's statesman and lover, but everyone knows the idiom "Potemkin Village", a facade constructed to deceive passing inspection.
Why not call it "Petraeus village"? General David Petraeus....
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
In this case the truth is that our nine year old military campaigns in Southwest Asia have failed with billions of dollars poured uselessly into the sand, and the lives of the flower of the American military have been destroyed or wounded.
Your homepage claims you are a writer??????? I smell a zot.....
And you know what is REALLY going on because?
So says the PRC Propaganda mill called the Asia Times, a PRC Goverment owned enterprise...
Please name for me the winners of BOTH World War I and World War II based on the military out comes of the first quarter of the war’s length.
World War I’s initial winner was Imperial Germany who surrendered a little over 4 years late.
Do you remember the beginning of World War II in Europe? Nazi Germany ran rampant in 1939 - 1941 but had to surrender May 1945.
Do you want to talk about World War II in the pacific? Pearl Harbor December 1941 ended in Tokyo Bay less than four years later.
Irregular Warfare (IW) is called the Long War because it runs for decades not years. For those you study IW both professionally and personally realize this and will quote numerous historical examples. If this current example of IW runs for a generation (30 plus years) like most professional papers suggest we are still in the first quarter of this war - roughly equal to the Summer of 1942.
If you know your history we were still loosing at that point.
So, let's surrender early and avoid the rush.
Tripe.
The removal of Saddam in Iraq & the Taleban gov’t in Afghanistan were very successful. It needed doing, & it got done. It is this dopey idea of nation building that has utterly failed, & will continue to fail even if we keep it up 1000 years.
islam is completely incompatible with democracy & the rule of law. There is not one democratic muslim country. The rule of law & equal protection under the law are nonexistent in predominately muslim countries, which are primarily characterized by corruption, tyranny, violence, poverty, & ignorance.
It is a waste of blood & money to try to “civilize” these people. They are beyond redemption. It is certainly NOT in our national interest IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY to continue this waste. And it is beyond stupid to train their military & provide them weapons.
If we need to maintain bases in Iraq & Afghanistan to kill & defeat our enemies, I am fine with that. But we don't OWE Iraq or Afghanistan anything more than we gave them years ago: Freedom from a tyrannical gov’t. Let's take the money being wasted proping up Karzai & the Iraqi Gov't & spend it on killing al-Queda & destroying the Iranian nuke facilities. This is a far more worthy use of our money & military.
Ronbo
You are correct. But you are going to be slammed here; it’s the old kill-the-messenger thing.
The outcome in both of our Asian wars will be very much like the sad outcome in Vietnam.
And just like in Vietnam, this outcome will not be the fault of our military, but entirely due to huge mistakes made by our politicians.
The only difference is that the loss of Vietnam turned out not to have impacted the West much.
But the loss of Iraq and Afganistan will embolden the enemy. We are in for a very rough ride going forward.
Nip
I sure hope you’re right and we’re now in a 1942-WWII type situation. But what matters ultimately is not what the professionals think, but what the voting population thinks.
We have lost our will, so I fear it’s much more like 1972-Vietnam.
I’ve believed it would come to WW III - Iran is the Nazi Germany that has to be taken out, yet for the last nine years the USA has been in the appeasement mode, so sooner or later Iran will go nuke...Then...Launch an attack.
TOTAL WAR! THE BLACK FLAG! NO QUARTER ASKED OR GIVEN!
GWB made two serious mistakes after 9/11 (1) No Declaration of War against Islam. (2) Nation building.
We don’t want rebuild Islam - WE WANT TO DESTROY IT!!!!
WW I should have taught the West that only total war works against collectivist nations, yet GWB chose to fight WW I against Islam.
I think we are pretty much on the same page.
Thank you!
I’ve never called a “zot” before!
BTW, I loved your take on the article!
I don’t.
I wasn’t the author of the article.
Proof?
I wasn’t aware the CHICOMS owned Asia Times.
I thought it was cat fish...
They are nicknamed the PRC’s Pravda.
Have been forever...
Not to be rude - but do you have a source?
I did a search and didn’t find anything about Asia Times being the propaganda ministry for the PRC.
The author seems to be a leftist moron. Between his speaking of Bush’s “impressionable” mind and “right wing” think tanks, I don’t belive anything this idiot has written. Maybe I just can’t see the nuance. It seems to me like the author of this peice is pulling for the US to fail, like the good socialist he no doubt is. I am not an expert but it has been very quiet in Baghdad lately, like the last two years or so. I was here when it was definitely not quiet so I know the difference. In case you have not noticed, leftists mediots lie; always and about everything.
Look at the bottom of the AT page. Where is their HQ?
Hong Kong is not under the UK and has not been for over a decade.
If you think that a PRC based Paper is not under the PRC’s control, then you are very nieve...
All the non-PRC controlled press left HK before the take-over.
OOPS!
I thought Asia Times was based on Taiwan...
Very likely you are right.
I will post no more of their articles at FR.
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