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Posted on 09/28/2006 5:57:07 AM PDT by kronos77
All of this is a far cry from the lessons NATO and the United States gleaned from their successful peacekeeping operations in the Balkans. There we learned that we needed strong legal authorities, overwhelming military power, a comprehensive political and economic plan and close coordination with a high representative or special representative for the U.N. secretary-general to link nation-building activities on the ground with our military security operations. We put more than 40,000 troops into tiny Kosovo in 1999, with one tenth the population and one sixtieth the area of Afghanistan. In Bosnia, we had an international donors organization that measured progress and held contributing nations accountable. We knew that if the political-economic mission failed, NATO would fail. And we were determined not to fail.
The mission in Afghanistan is far larger, more distant and more difficult. And make no mistake: we are not winning. Instead, we are at a crossroads. If we persist in failing to face up to the profound economic and political requirements, if we neglect the need for strong coordination, if we think the mission is only about
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
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Yes, and someone should have "flushed him" a long time ago, but instead he got gigs on MSNBC, Fox -- and much worse, a chance to corrupt future generations and teach them military failure at UCLA!: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-clark18sep18,1,1544088.story
God help us from our own stupidity!
All these "retired" Generals and ex-military officers are bor-ring....
Then we must be losing. What day is good for you to sign the surrender papers to the Taliban?
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