Worse Than A Powder Keg (the conservative case for getting out of Afghanistan now)

National Review Online ^ | 17 March 2012 | Andrew C. McCarthy

[Jim Noble]

You cannot liberate people from themselves.

We could, conceivably, CONQUER Afghanistan (you know, “conquer we must, when our cause it is just”) - but there doesn’t seem to be much useful purpose in doing that.

My Afghanistan plan has not changed since December 1, 2001 - get the hell out, station B-2s on Diego Garcia and an SSBN in the Arabian Gulf, and tell the Taliban that one more ounce of trouble coming from that region will result in Biblical scale destruction.

I don’t care about their religion, I don’t care about their women, I don’t care how or if they educate their children, or how they wipe their ass. I don’t care about their goats, or if they marry them. I don’t care if they have clean water, or if they have water at all. And I especially don’t care if they hate us - if we preserve OUR society, I expect that they will. Oderint dum metuant.

That’s my Pakistan policy, too.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

In the main, the Afghans are Muslims in the thrall of Wahhabism, the fundamentalist Islam of Saudi Arabia. As such, they cannot be liberated — they have chosen their own tyranny.

We might as well face it: they like being tyrannized.

[Rum Tum Tugger]

We are still in Afghanistan to protect the poppies - plain and simple.

[RetiredArmy]

I am ALL FOR PULLING our people out of that scum hole. Not one American life is worth that dump. You cannot teach people to want to be free. That comes from inside you. If they desire to be slaves to their stupid made up religion, that is their issue. I don’t want our people dying for nothing. We have done too much of that crap in the last 40 years.

[Ronin]

I agree completely. Going in to roust Al Qaeda is arguable. Staying in at this late stage of the game is beyond stupid.

Afghanistan cannot be “saved”. The author put it best, “they have chosen their own tyranny.”

[Dutch Boy]

Long ago I supported going into Afghanistan to crush the Taliban/al Queda and to free a nation from tyranny. Now it seems that the people in tyranny do not want freedom. They have a way of life that is not compatible with the civilized world. We should pull out and let them live in the hell they have created. If they ever reconstitute their terror program, get out the carpet bombers.

[The Working Man]

Personally I would pull us out of the Middle East entirely. It appears that certain Kingdoms and Sheikdoms are using American Forces as unpaid mercenaries to wave the big stick at their enemies. JMHO

[SharpRightTurn]

Bump.

[MarkL]

We might as well face it: they like being tyrannized.

"islam" means "submission." They WANT to submit to brutal tyrants.

Mark

[Kozak]

I’ve also been converted to the “More Rubble, Less Trouble” point of view. Passed time to get out.

[philman_36]

And yet people like me who stated that we needed to bring our troops home after capturing Saddam Hussein were rounded upon with shrill cries of "We need to fight them over there so that they don't come here."

How is that plan working? They're killing us over there easier than they are here...only under the guise of being our friends or partners.

There's nothing like being stabbed in the back by your "friend".

[Josh Painter]

Newt Gingrich: “I believe we need to reassess every element of our relationship with the Islamic world and we need to be prepared to do whatever it takes to become economically independent.”

[rstrahan]

It took a generation to build democracy in the Phillipines, by creating schools, etc that taught a new way of living. You cannot change a country without completely taking over everything, its government, its schools, and by destroying that which opposes your goals. We did not do that in Iraq or Afganistan. In fact, we have ignored the extremists spouting hatred and oppression if they gave nominal support to the local government.

Failure from the get-go. Way past time to go home

[org.whodat]

In simple terms, we have lost. Move out is the only option.

[Josh Painter]

Ripley: “I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

[Yorlik803]

Amen brother...but when I pulled out, I would blow up everything we could carry out.
If they want to live like savages, so be it. Not one more American life should be wasted in that Islamic swamp.
And the same goes for the Paki’s. Both rats from the same cellar.

[Irenic]

hear! hear!!!!

[Aevery_Freeman]

Amen!

Please, do your best to defend Sergeant Bales as he faces the Islamic evil from within and without.

[Aevery_Freeman]

More Rubble, Less Trouble

LOL!