This morning I had some thoughts on Afghanistan I’d like to share with this fine, august group. Just throwing it out there.
BTW, I seriously prayed for my country this morning although I hope that fine liberal group on MTP thinks it’s okay for us to PRAY for our country if we don’t laugh at the dumbness.
I know the Dems ran with the mantra that it was Afghanistan that was the REAL war America should fight. Of course they don’t really believe this. Dems don’t much believe in any wars in that all money spent on wars should rightfully be removed from war and all the cost and spent on the pitiful citizens that they vote to keep THEM in power.
Still they had Bin Laden to hold over Bush’s head and goodness knows that Bush would have died a swift death if he ever dared to defend himself.
But I think it just might be time to get the hell out of Afghanistan and I don’t say this as a dumb liberal but only after serious conservative thought.
Although, right now I caution that an American presence is most definitely needed in that sad country but keep it in the form of some sort of outpost, populate it with covert agent types, finance it with plentiful bribe money and monitor the presence of Al Queda in that fashion.
This is a country that has made its money by growing poppies for the interntional heroin market. anybody who thinks America’s going to transform this country into some sort of capitalistic shining city on the hill needs to see me about a bridge I got to sell cheap.
It’s geographically rough, not at all conducive to representative gubmint not to mention the religious fanatics that will likely never go away. It’s a region that is perfect for outlaws, drug dealing, corruption and control by gunpoint and a nasty religion designed to control and subvert. Now I hear that Karzai is corrupt and damn I thought he was the good guy.
If we keep hanging around Afghanistan, hey, I see the comparisons to Vietnam. This is going to be one long drawn out nasty battle from which we will eventually have to withdraw in disgrace.
Don’t forget America’s famous long and patient attention span and hey, other than keeping any organization from setting up camp there to plan and plot hurting America why the hell should we hang around?
If I’m right, and I open the subject up for debate cause it’s just me ruminating, than it’s time to stop pussyfooting around and either embark on a plan to transition into a withdrawal of our troops and implement another sort of American presence OR we should add the troops McChrystal wants and do the deed.
Problem is we have a CIC that can’t make a decision and is in a difficult spot, frankly. There’s all sorts of sound and sight bytes of him and other Dems praising the “real” war in Afghanistan and...politics don’t you know.
Meanwhile precious American lives are lost as the leaders in the house, senate and WH stand around with fingers in the air. McCain, as I end, is pontificating but, heh, he too is playing politics. War and the military is supposedly his forte. He arises to the occasion for the attention, NOT because whatever he rants about is necessarily the right action to take.
...I think it just might be time to get the hell out of Afghanistan and I don’t say this as a dumb liberal but only after serious conservative thought. ...
I agree pretty much with your reasoning as outlined in the remainder of that post and would add a few additional thoughts of my own.
First, the repeatedly asserted premise that "Afghanistan is the REAL war" is not just wrong, it's dishonest, and has been employed as a distraction and scheme to divert us from dealing with the real loci of the terrorist problem in the Middle East: Iran, Pakistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Remember back in 2003 when debate was raging over "why Iraq" the answer was "look at the map".
Iraq is both the geopolitical and the militarily strategic/tactical center of gravity for any effort to "drain the swamp" of the Middle East. Afghanistan has always been and still remains peripheral to this strategic reality. As was repeatedly pointed-out in discussions on FR, Iraq gave us an unsinkable land-based "aircraft carrier" smack dab in the middle of the vipers' nests from which to project power and effect change. Bush seemed to understand this at the time and started out well, but then for some reason lost his way.
I also understand the urge many good people have to not appear to cut and run, and who believe we must therefore commit more resources to Afghanistan. The problem is their hearts and their pride are overruling their heads. It is beyond obvious that the current Obama regime has no intention of trying to win in any war theater where we're involved, so the equation becomes one of how many more lives of our military are to be wasted to achieve the desired balance of saved face?
In a sane world, what I would propose would be a withdrawal from Afghanistan through southeastern Iran in order to take control of their oil fields, coupled with air strikes to take out or cripple as many of their nuclear sites, military bases and power-generating infrastructure as necessary to either force the mullahs to negotiate favorably or else be overthrown, plus a naval blockade of all Iranian sea traffic.
There was a time when this could have been done with a high probability of success. It could still be done now, although the window is closing rapidly. The problem, as it has always been, is not a lack of ability but a lack of will, and that is why, in this reality, the men of the West are losing to the forces of Shadow.
Of course this is all academic, Fish, the die have been cast and come up craps, but I wanted you to know that your thoughts were appreciated... /g