Over There – Afghanistan ed.

6 Comments

1. 

   robertdsc on July 31, 2009 at 9:48 am

   I have no answers but one: pull them all out. No residuals. No giant embassy. Nothing left behind.

2. 

   Jan on July 31, 2009 at 10:05 am

   I have absolutely no idea why in the world we are putting more troops in there. What is the strategy?  Why are we there??? Do we just have to have perpetual war to feed the military industrial complex and the defense contractors and Blackwater?

3. 

   Dongi 2 on July 31, 2009 at 10:27 am

   America has become a demented rogue state whose policies threaten the well being of the entire world.  Her people are, more and more, becoming obscenely fat and her indulgent life style is a direct contributor to global warming.  Her thinking is flawed and her military budget exceeds the rest of world combined. Perhaps, good and evil are arranging for their final battle in this conscienceless country. I feel, sometimes, like I have a ring side seat at Armageddon.

4. 

   DaveW on July 31, 2009 at 12:38 pm

   After Sept 11 the US predictably reacted to it with military operations. That horrendous, historic folly got us where we are now. Bush’s final solution was doomed from the first minute it was announced. In fairness it must be said that any more pragmatic or rational response would have gotten him hounded out of office by the American electorate and the military-corporate “news” media.

   Why are we still there? Because war and aggression are ships that can’t go into reverse. We were sucker punched, first by the bombers, then by our own government. You don’t just snap your fingers, say never mind, and go away once you’re in this deep. As the wingnuts so love to say, behavior has consequences.

5. 

   mu on July 31, 2009 at 2:04 pm

   The initial military action in Afghanistan was pretty much inevitable, right or wrong there’s no way in hell that the US under any president wouldn’t have done it.

   The rebuilding was all backwards though.

6. 

   dada on July 31, 2009 at 2:59 pm

   this does not bode well for the future. from jim hightower: Obama to Bring More Mercenaries to Afghanistan — Sound Familiar?

   As Obama begins winding down the war in Iraq, he is building up his own war farther east. Like Bush, he will depend on private military contractors.
   …

   As President Barack Obama begins winding down the Bush war in Iraq, he is building up his own war farther east. We’re told that it will be a new, expanded, extra-special American adventure in Afghanistan, involving a vigorous surge strategy to “stabilize” this perpetually unstable land.

   The initial surge will add 17,000 troops to the 36,000 already there. Then, later this year, there is to be a second troop surge of another 17,000 or so…. We’re not told how much this escalation will cost, but it will at least double the $2 billion a month that American taxpayers are already shelling out for the Afghan war.
   …

   What Obama has not mentioned is that, in addition to soldiers and civilians, there is a third surge in his plan: private military contractors. Yes, another privatized army, such as the one in Iraq. There, the Halliburtons, Blackwaters and other war profiteers ran rampant, shortchanging our troops, ripping off taxpayers, killing civilians and doing deep damage to America’s good name.

   Already, there are 71,000 private contractors operating in Afghanistan, and many more are preparing to deploy as Pentagon spending ramps up for Obama’s war. The military is now offering new contracts to security firms to provide armed employees (aka, mercenaries) to guard U.S. bases and convoys. Despite the widespread contractor abuses in Iraq, Pentagon chief Robert Gates defends the ongoing privatization push: “The use of contractor security personnel is vital to supporting the forward-operating bases in certain parts of the country,” he declared in a February letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee…

   it took the russians 10 years to finally pull the plug on their afghanistan misadventure. it appears that it’s going to take us quite a bit longer.

   and btw, for jan above; blackwater has, for the most part, been replaced by some of obamas’ chicago homeys… Triple Canopy.