Posted on 10/02/2006 3:29:40 PM PDT by Roscoe Karns
Edited on 10/02/2006 3:49:15 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Bill Frist: "I’m currently overseas visiting our troops in Afghanistan, but I wanted to take a moment to address an Associated Press story titled, “Frist: Taliban Should Be in Afghan Gov’t.” The story badly distorts my remarks and takes them out of context.
First of all, let me make something clear: The Taliban is a murderous band of terrorists who’ve oppressed the people of Afghanistan with their hateful ideology long enough. America’s overthrow of the Taliban and support for responsible, democratic governance in Afghanistan is a great accomplishment that should not and will not be reversed.
Having discussed the situation with commanders on the ground, I believe that we cannot stabilize Afghanistan purely through military means. Our counter-insurgency strategy must win hearts and minds and persuade moderate Islamists potentially sympathetic to the Taliban to accept the legitimacy of the Afghan national government and democratic political processes.
National reconciliation is a necessary and an urgent priority … but America will never negotiate with terrorists or support their entry into Afghanistan’s government. "
Related thread: U.S. Senate majority leader calls for efforts to bring Taliban into Afghan government
Good. I loathe him a little less.
There are a lot of people in Afghanistan who "support" the Taliban. There's a major tribe, the "Pashtun" tribe, which was largely supportive of the taliban, has 30 million members, and has been fighting the coalition forces.
We need to bring THEM into the government, rather than having them at WAR with their government. Just like we had to get the Sunni, Kurd, and Shia people together in afghanistan, even though the Sunni people supported the Batthists .
We can't simply wipe out everybody who doesn't think like we do. The Pashtun tribe isn't a terrorist organization, and we shouldn't treat them like it. They are a group of people who had their tribe divided in two by the British, and they want a say in the government they have to live under.
We need to bring them to the table, and get them involved. If we do, they will stop supporting the Taliban, and will work FOR Afghanistan instead of against it.
Frist is getting ready to give up his Senate Leadership. His term ends in January and he is not running for reelection.
THANK GOD!!!
Amen...now if someone would only wake Hastert up and tell him Dunkin Donuts is offering free samples to regular Congressmen.
Sounds like you have a MSM IV in your arm.
The lamestream media along with the dimwits coming upon this election is in NON STOP lying....as I remember this happened in 2004...shouldn't surprise any of us.
Frist should keep his lips clamped shut if he can't do better than this.
Number one, you don't telegraph to the other side that you recognize you can't win a military victory. Number two, you do NOT even hint that you want the Taliban to be a part of the government, which is the only way those sympathetic to the Taliban are going to sign on board a deal.
What this clarification amounts to is an acknowledgement of defeat and the hope we can get the Taliban to make nice.
Frist is NOT the developer of foreign policy. He's a Senate hack that can't get it right more often than not.
Next time I wish he'd stay home when he gets the urge to dip his fingers in something to fix it.
Amen!
I'm with you on that one.
Perdogg- You had it right on the original thread!
"Sounds like you have a MSM IV in your arm."
I re-read the original and retracted that comment in post 20. I did however include a rant that will probably ruffle some feathers as well. :)
Good. I knew there was an explanation.
This is exactly what was said about the Sunni insurgents in Iraq. They can enter the government....those who haven't been terrorists.
Unless of course, the PC crap gets us first. Totally possible if we don't toughen up.
Sorry to burst your little bubble here folks, but Frist's "clarification" of his statements are not that different from what the AP has reported on his statements.
Yes, the AP article was much more harsh, but the difference is semantics. Frist clearly says we cannot win the war in Afghanistan militarily, and that instead we should "win hearts and minds" (a liberal approach to the War On Terror if there ever was one).
Since we cannot win the war militarily (according to Frist) and since the Taliban and Afghan Muslims will never accept us as an authority we cannot win "hearts and minds" either.
Frist is basically saying we should try a different approach with the Taliban. Why? Because many Afghans think the way they do and many Afghans support them.
Let us be very clear on one thing. The Taliban harbored, protected, supplied and directly supported Al-Qaeda, the same terrorist organization responsible for almost 3,000 american citizens dead and many thousands all over the world. If we even think about allowing the Taliban to join any kind of future government of Afghanistan then we can call the WoT off right now. At the same time, I'd like to see this administration face the families of the fallen soldiers who have fought on behalf of America in this War On Terror.
The question that remains is simple. Do we seek to democratize Islamic nations or not? Obviously there are two ways to handle this problem. One is cleaner, but impossible in my opinion. The other is messier, but doable if one takes into account the moral sacrifices which will have to be made. Will we force fascist regimes to democratize themselves? Will we seek to empower Muslim "moderates"? (if there is even such of a thing, I'm doubtful). Or, will we eradicate Muslim fundamentalism by striking massive blows to the heart of the Islamic world until they will eventually surrender or be annihilated? Whatever we must do, let this administration choose a serious course of action and stick with it. Make no mistake, if current trend continues we will lose this war and our dead body count will be unimaginable.
Consider this:
Allow the Taliban to rule in Afghaninstan.
Allow Hezbollah to have a stronghold in Lebanon.
Allow Syria to be a rampant terrorist aiding regime.
Allow Iran to acquire nukes and thus encouraging other Muslim nations to acquire nukes as well.
Allow Muslim fascists to take control of Somalia, which in turn will expand Muslim fundamentalism further in Africa.
Allow Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to play us for fools while clearly supporting terrorist organizations financially and otherwise.
Allow the Muslim world to extort us using the almighty "black gold".
And all of this without even mentioning North Korea, China, dictatorships such as Venezuela and Cuba, and even Russia who is not to be trusted under any scenario.
If we don't get serious about this monumental endeavor right now, our children and grandchildren will have to.
I'm sorry to say Frist has screwed the pooch. You may stick a fork in him, he is done.
How is this much different then what he said before? It may be massaged to not be as bluntly defeatist, but it's sure there inbetween the lines.
We CAN stablize through military means. The trouble is that our military is being restrained for fear of "world opinion".
No, Senator, you don't have my vote in '08. Unfortunately I've yet to stumble on anyone I know is running that deserves it either.
Having discussed the situation with commanders on the ground, I believe that we cannot stabilize Afghanistan purely through military means...
National reconciliation is...
Reading between the lines hes spouting demotalk.
Maybe I'm just being dense here, but how does Frist's new statement differ significantly from the AP story? He's still saying that we must appease supporters of the Taliban. The [i]only[/i] way that such people can be appeased is by supporting the policies of the Taliban, with their fundamentalist mindsets and mistreatment of women. It's still letting the islamofascists win.
The only difference is that his clarification is more vague, and the AP story made the integration of the Taliban sound more formal - which, given their dreamworld, they may very well have thought he was saying.
FYI Ping
Those tags you used for italics don't work here. However, they are type of tag that work over at DU. Just an observation.
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