tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post2160931560187665210..comments2024-02-29T02:10:56.878-08:00Comments on J O S H U A P U N D I T: Meanwhile, Back In Afghanistan..Here's The LatestFreedom Fighterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13649470110087808596noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post-49859102806232675872013-11-26T23:29:02.987-08:002013-11-26T23:29:02.987-08:00The Taliban want that barren, mountainous desert o...The Taliban want that barren, mountainous desert of a country, they can have it. <br /><br />If the Chinese decide they want the mineral reserves said to be hidden there, or the Russians feel up for a rematch, we shouldn't aid the Afghanis next time around. Just let nature take its course. UCSPanthernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post-56837540806997826452013-11-26T18:57:41.201-08:002013-11-26T18:57:41.201-08:00OK, no hindsight.
My remark about putting an army...OK, no hindsight.<br /><br />My remark about putting an army and billions of dollars worth of equipment into a land locked country surrounded by hostile territory pretty much summarizes my feelings about the way we proceeded.<br /><br />An elementary fact of military strategy is that you <i>always</i> make sure you have secure ingress and egress for your supply lines, unless you plan on living off th eland.We didn't do that.<br /><br />And this is no reflection on the incredible bravery and feats of arms our warriors accomplished there, something I've been writing about for years. Do a search on this site for Operation Mountain Thrust' for a sample.<br /><br />You kill a rattler by cutting off its head. Neither Saddam or the Pathans were our main enemies, just as al-Qaeda were mere subcontractors of jihad. <br /><br />Our president should have made it quite clear what we were fighting from the very beginning instead of lying to the American people and telling them we were in a 'War On Terror'.<br /><br />That would have changed the focus entirely.<br /><br />It was also monumentally stupid to issue an ultimatum to the Taliban to give up OBL once they had taken him under their protection, a horrendous violation of <i>Pashtunwalli</i>, the moral code of the Afghan Pathans that predates Islam. To them, OBL was a war hero who fought the Soviets with them.Of course they refused.<br /><br />The president <i>could</i> have fought the war the way FDR did after Pearl Harbor, going to Congress for a declaration of war based on the oft-mouthed Bush Doctrine that anyone harboring, financing or aiding and abetting al-Qaeda or other Islamic fascism was an enemy of the U.S.<br /><br />He could have secured the borders, re-adapted the original War Powers Act (not the post-Watergate one) arrested or deported anyone who looked talked or smelled like an enemy security risk and given the FBI carte blanche to smoke out any he missed. <br /><br />And he could have confronted the real countries aiding and abetting Islamic fascism, either diplomatically or otherwise.<br /><br />That would have been preferable IMO.<br /><br />And the war would have been over in Bush's first term.<br /><br />BTW, I was writing this sort of thing as far back as 2001, with very few changes.Instead, we got political correctness, appeasement of Islamism and ill defined goals and strategies that led nowhere.<br /><br />Even after we got entangled in AfPak, there are things we could have done that would have stabilized the situation at a lot less cost, much less manpower and actually let the Afghans police themselves, rather than us outraging them with raids and drone strikes that killed civilians.<br /><br />Again, do a search on this site under 'Afghanistan' for more details. Here's a hint..one key to the situation we never even tried involves opium.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13332213651195340500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post-14556950905491440612013-11-26T18:32:18.782-08:002013-11-26T18:32:18.782-08:00After reading this I was reminded of this bit on T...After reading this I was reminded of this bit on The Daily Show your readers might enjoy. http://www.thedailyshow.com/videos?term=jon+oliver+afghanistan+video+game&start=0Laura Rambeau Leehttp://right-reason.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post-14864462640613839402013-11-26T16:11:03.587-08:002013-11-26T16:11:03.587-08:00"And as for Afghanistan, it was a bad idea to..."And as for Afghanistan, it was a bad idea to go there in the first place. " <br /><br />What should we have done? <br /><br />No cheating now, no hindsight. Knowing what we knew then, what should we have done?Geoffrey Britainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01663224962346593872noreply@blogger.com