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
Jim Webb? When did you get a freeper name?
Other than being completely contradictory?
He flatly says that he would never support entry of the Taliban into the Afghan government, which was the entire thrust of the AP article.
You can believe the AP, or you can believe what he himself is saying in an article he controls, but you can't say there's no difference between the two.
If they can't distort, they simply make something up and ignore what the Republican actually said.
The Islamofascist strength and core will be whittled away at.
A total wasting of time and energy!
When I see the letters "AP" my doubting antennas ALWAYS go right straight up!!
Would be wise to use President Reagan's slogan: "VERIFY" first!!!
The proper italics HTML tags that I used at first interfered with my paragraph structure - I had thought that perhaps [i][/i] tags also worked. I hit the post button instead of the preview button by mistake when I tried it.
What are the proper tags for paragraphs, again? It's been a while since I was on a site that requires them.
And there's no call for insults, I'm simply new here.
Would you instead rather plot and plan to have them impeached?
What an excellent post you've written. Good synopsis of the situation and current matter.
"...I believe that we cannot stabilize Afghanistan purely through military means."
Thanks for the comments.
Did we defeat Germany by asking them to join a coaltion goverment? How about Japan?
If he and Hastart really wanted to do this nation a service they would give up their (lack of) leadership positions.
Who would you replace them with???
My apologies.
Paragraph tag is: < p > (without the spaces of course)
Your points are valid in consideration. I have absolutely NO doubts that those in leadership positions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, alongside the citizenry, share your concerns. And are quite clear about what the terms of engagement are.
I never said that there wasn't a difference; I said that the difference wasn't significant.
Appeasing the supporters of the Taliban is the same as appeasing the Taliban itself, because it means pandering to the infantile and repressive desires of those that the Taliban appeals to.
If we follow this path, it will be every bit as bad - it doesn't matter if it's Ahkmed or Ajidi in charge, if they're going to institute the same policies.
We're fighting a mindset here, not individuals. We need to defeat Islamofascism as a whole, and any degree of appeasement will simply be seen as weakness.
Frist's clarification hasn't changed a thing, because even if the details are different, the message is the same - namely, "If we make them happy, maybe they'll stop".
And that will never work.
While those were nice comments, they don't exactly address the issue of bringing the Taliban into the government.
You state that the Pushtin tribe supports the Taliban, but then also state "The Pashtun tribe isn't a terrorist organization, and we shouldn't treat them like it."
Okay, if they are not the Taliban, then the Pushtin tribe can be a part of the government. Nobody said they couldn't.
I don't believe the Taliban should be a part of the process. I don't believe members of the Senate should make comments that seem as though they would leave the door open even if they directly deny it.
Sorry, but that's completely wrong.
Putting it into domestic terms, it's like appealing to Reagan Democrats and independents. That's good. Putting Democrats onto our ticket or into our government is bad.
I'm sure you can see the difference if you are inclined to.
Question #2: Is AQ a military?
Yours are good questions, no doubt. AQ/Taliban HAS no country. These groups squat inside other countries, and in the homes of innocents -- and defeat these countries from the citizenry up. There is no real *there* there in these countries to ascribe a German or Japan "victory".
Afghanistan and Iraq have come a long ways in declaring their OWN VICTORY of their OWN COUNTRIES WITH THE HELP OF COALITION FORCES. Now, the US/Coalition along with Iraqis, Afghanis, and Pakistani's are talking about what to do with a nomadic group of people waging war against just about everyone.
I don't think this is at all similar to war with Germany or Japan.
The point is, neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan nor Iraq will give up LAND in order for the warring Taliban/AQ to declare as their own. These countries have seen too much of what has gone on with the Mid-East (Israel, Palestine, etc.).
Instead they are suggesting that they too can live in the country of their choice (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq) but they MUST obey the laws laid down by the official government of these countries.
This is not a lose-lose proposition, whatsoever, IMHO. This has the smell of victory, to me, on multiple levels. If AQ/Taliban member go back to a killing spree, they will be prosecuted under the laws of the country they are resident in, and by the military/police forces, law of that land. Sounds like a republican democracy to me. And this is Victory in a war very different from Germany and Japan.
They can only distort so much. No one should be let off the hook for saying stupid things. Also, the more careful someone is, the fewer media outlets will distort it.
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