Lee Hamilton, 9/11 Commission Chairman: Is The Afghan War Worth It?

The Indianapolis Star:

Seventy-five U.S. and NATO troops died in Afghanistan in July, the deadliest month for allied forces in nearly eight years of fighting. More than 1,000 Afghan civilians have died this year, up 24 percent from 2008.

Tens of thousands more American troops are en route, adding to the approximately 90,000 troops, both U.S. and allied, already on the ground. The U.S. military leadership likely will request more troops in the months ahead. President Barack Obama will have to make a crucial decision on the future of a conflict that has become his war.

Read the whole story: The Indianapolis Star

Comments

[guntotinganglion]

Of course it's worth it, just check the profits of the warporations that are the foundation of the violence.

Of course, one might ask the question, what is winning in Afghanistan? If you have no concept of what "winning" is, how can you ever "win"? I guess it could be argued, under those guidelines, that conversely, there is no losing either...since there's no definition of what winning or losing is. This just underlines the stark insanity of continuing there for anything other than the profits it shovels into the military-i­ndustrial-­congressio­nal complex. However, fighting wars for their own sake, remains true cold blooded insanity.

Could someone tell me how we'll know we've "won"?

Obama, in this, is no different than Bush. They both were/are military-i­ndustrial-­congressio­nal shills who's only job is to keep the war machine running. Obama will NEVER leave Afghanistan...even if he manages to extricate this country from Bush's War on Iraq. Some future President, maybe in 50 years, or 100 years, might get us out of there...kind of like Korea.

What is wrong with this country and it's inability to prosecute wars (be they legal or illegal) to a logical conclusion? We know how to start em, but sometime since WW2, we forgot how to end them.

[zitlight73]

Yeah, but we have it on good authority from the Bush administration that those Ale Quiders and
Talibanners were able to stand down our air defenses and defy the laws of physics on 9/11/2001 and we all know the W would never lie to us about such a thing.

[rubinoff]

nooooooooooooo, huh?

[haval2]

Right on Lee. This looks like a lose/lose situation. Cut our losses now. Don't send more troops and bring the others home. This is un winable. Nam with mountains.

[rubinoff]

hmmmm....so what was the 'value' of the i-rack wor????? and, oh yeah, .... where is ben???
prolly somewhere laughing his behind off. :(

[CoconutLime]

So do I. It is not worth it to have more Americans come back home in a coffin.

[noweknow]

We will end in defeat in Afghanistan just as the Russkies and the Brits. Afghanistan will become President Obama's "Vietnam".

It's insane we keep doing the same and expect a different result.

[Zeebob]

Anyone who wants to learn more about this should watch "September Clues" its an hour and a half long. You can get it on mininova and it can also be watched on google video, remember to get the hour and a half long version. Its freely distributed.

[TJCole]

We blew it in Afghanistan after the failure of Tora Bora and then went off like crazy people and attacked Iraq...when al-Qaeda's real target was always Pakistan and it's nuclear arsenal...this is classic misdirection as al-Qaeda sent just enough men in there to keep us busy while they rebuilt strength and focused on their real objective Pakistan and for the most part creating and autonomous region for terrorists and Jihad in the Tribal regions Pashtun regions and Waziristan as a base to undermine Pakistan...and get their hands on even just a few of their missiles and nuclear warheads...

We are stuck now due to our terrible Generals and the Bush Cheney regime...the Taliban and al-Qaeda must be stopped, eradicated and a war of attrition will not address this or prevent the eventual break up or overthrowing of Pakistan's government and society...and potentially them gaining access to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal..!

[blutigeroo]

Agreed.
But you missed a few very important points.
The role that we played in pushing the Taliban into Pakistan. Remember that Pervez Musharraf asked for humanitarian aid and stronger military presence in the Af-Pak border region because the Pakistani army could not deal with the influx of refugees. We did not meet those demands and in his book. Musharraf said that Bush threatened to annihilate Pakistan if he did not shut up and deal with it.
Also, the poor people of Pakistan; caught in a political mess that was thrown onto them. We would be wrong to blame them for hating us as they do.

[Simon Tucker]

We should never have entered Afganistan or Iraq. But, now we are there, we must work to make Afganistan a better place for the population who choose to live there. It is time to negotiate with the Taleban - We did it in Ireland, we can make it work in Afaganistan.

[RomeoMD25]

who will pay for this war?
more loans from Communist China

[PoliticalJunkie65]

Are you kidding? Have you forgotten the reason behind the Afghan war?

Forget about Iraq, if we let Afghanistan go the Taliban, Bin Laden and his ilk, will never be stopped and will wage war throughout the world.

I'm a Canadian, and a lot of our soldiers are dying over there, but our troops don't have to go, they sign up to go because we remember putting up the families trapped here in Canada on Sept 11 and we remember watching what happened that sh*itty sh*itty day.

If we let it go, Sept 11 would be just a preview of the sh*it to come.

[zitlight73]

Still buying Cheney's big lie. The plans for the Afghanistan War were drawn up long before 911. It was about a pipeline and then the Taliban reneged on the deal and up their price. Nothing and I mean absolutely nothing the Bush Administration said was the truth.

[punk]

I like how you pretend to be "Canadian." LOL!

[Zeebob]

Please watch "September Clues" there's quit a bit you need to be informed about. Its on mininova dot org and also google video. the movie runs an hour and a half.

[blutigeroo]

Killing does not justify killing and I think thats what your implying. We have killed more than 3000 innocents and are we supposed to just keep on killing? Estimates are currently in the millions. Who many Middle Easterners/ Central Asians/Muslims have to die/suffer in order to make up for those 3000?
We have wrong the Muslim world many, many times and are we meant to keep doing that still? Hoping that one day they will just forget and their will be no revenge attacks/hate? If we are capable of revenge and hate so are they.

[kappa08]

I agree...how much will this cost at the end of the day? In lives and money. About the only thing it will accomplish is smoothing over insecure Americans psyche. To be honest THAT'S just not worth it in the end..

[xlntcat]

I don't know anyone who will actually state the Afghanistan is a war that can be won. I see the danger in allowing the terrorists to overrun the Pakistan government and get their hand on nuclear weapons but I do not believe that outside forces of any nature can bring a nation as backward as Afghanistan into the modern 21st century. Nations evolve from within and this one would probably be futher along in solving their own problems if they weren't constantly at war with the Brits, then the Russians and now us. The have already took down two world powers. Believing that we will fare any differently is arrogant.

[marignymitch]

The war is worth a lot to our war industries, the only constituency that matters. And therefore we'll be having this same discussion 15 years from now

[zitlight73]

And their bankers and investors. A poll last year showed that where there were more Republicans invested in the Military Industrial Complex, Democratic congressmen had more money invested in it. That's why the Democrats even when they finally got a majority after the 2006 elections they didn't so much as say boo, to all the hundreds of billions of dollars Bush wasted on those un-necassary and immoral wars. Whether it's Trent Lott or Nancy Pelosi, Tom Delay or Barney Frank, when it all comes down to it's all about the money the keeps them in office.

[viper234]

It's time to bring the troops home and stop spending trillions of dollars in the Middle East that the US seriously needs right here, right now. This nation is crumbling yet the Executive Branch and Congress just keep feeding that war machine. Enough!!!!!!

[blutigeroo]

We cant just abandon the mess we created but we need to bring the troops home. We should invest in winning hearts and minds peacefully (provision of food, suppport services etc) and let the Afghanis sort out who they want to rule over them.

[RazeTemple]

Was appointing you as head of that comission worth it? I think not.

One good strategy that surely will help is if we stop using these wreckless drones to bomb their villages. They are doing far more harm than good, and it is causing more and more unrest with the very same people we need ON OUR SIDE if we ever hope to win this.

[harveyr2]

America's Afghanistan strategy is wrong. Instead of propping up a strong central government we should be strengthening the regional tribes. As drawn today, Afghanistan is not a viable country. Obama's suggestion that Afghanistan is the "right" was and Iraq is the "wrong" war is nonsensical.

We should get out of both countries immediately (let them implode) and then funnel the money spent in war to bolstering our economy and improving our long-term energy security.

[xlntcat]

I might agree if it weren't for the threat that Pakistan's nuclear missiles pose in the wrong hands. Nonetheless, if everyone got out of the way Afghanistan might have some hope of building a nation. The Revolutionary War along with those that followed allowed us, the backward barbarians per European standards, to evolve into a super power. But we had to kick all the so-called civilizaed nations out first. Afghanistan has already broke the back of the British Empire and the USSR, maybe if they kick us out their people will get a chance to build their own country by their own standards. When did Freedom become defined as forcing your way of life on to other people and other nations.

[blutigeroo]

Let them implode? Do you not care for the people of Afghanistan. They are people just like you and me, if you have not realized that and since we got them in this mess we owe it to them to help them get out. Otherwise we are just asking for another blowback like Sept. 11.

[Mildmannered]

I don't know exactly why we are fighting in Afghanistan anymore. I know that Obama has a full plate, but I wish that he would have some type of fireside chat and explain what our goals our, how long we will be there and when we will know that it is time to leave.

[offred]

Hear, hear!

[kappa08]

seriously...at this point he's just catering to a base that is too stupid to even understand the cost anyway.

[PoliticalJunkie65]

Need I remind you of Sept 11?

That is why the US and NATO fight, and will continue to fight.

It's not Vietnam, it was Pearl Harbor all over again.