Andrew Bacevich: Afghanistan Choice 'Like A Joke'

Rethink Afghanistan:

Andrew J. Bacevich, professor of international relations at Boston University, pushes back against the idea that U.S. and allied forces can deliver "government in a box" in Marjah, Afghanistan.

Read the whole story: Rethink Afghanistan

Comments

[shthar]

05:29 AM on 03/19/2010

oh, a professor.

I knew he couldn't be this smart and be a politician.

[AngelsWing]

12:11 AM on 03/19/2010

10 years of absolute failure by the US military in Afghanistan kinda says they don't have a clue.

[magibrotherhood]

12:14 AM on 03/19/2010

Goldman-sacks loooves it........poppy money laundry

[FloridaDez]

08:29 PM on 03/18/2010

I hate when people try to solve complex problems by saying to stop doing what you doing, drop everything and just leave it as it is.

Thats how the GOP was trying to fix health care too.

[CaptainSunshine]

08:07 PM on 03/18/2010

When the nicely produced banner "Rethink Afghanistan" flew across the screen, I realized something: this is a paid political advertisement. I could swallow this bit of propaganda if it was presented in a more unbiased fashion.

[pajoly]

07:25 PM on 03/18/2010

Of course we put in criminals to run things there. We do the same in Congress here.

[totaldisbelief]

06:53 PM on 03/18/2010

why aren't we buying the opium crop from the farmers and destroying it?

[Douglas90723]

07:10 PM on 03/18/2010

I agree, we should be buying the crop. Afterall, crop subsidies are a way of life in the USA.

Afganistan is not worth one American life and neither is Iraq. If the USA military wants to remove the Taliban from that region, they will have to be there for the next 100+ years.

[magibrotherhood]

12:16 AM on 03/19/2010

the banksters make a fortune in clandestine d.rug money funneled right from the poppy fields.

[BriceUpshaw]

07:15 PM on 03/18/2010

Bailout the opium farmers? *starts drinking heavily*

[Durango]

06:21 PM on 03/18/2010

So who is Andrew Bacevich and why have I never heard of him before this?

Funny how so many people seem to think the military can't ever learn anything.

Don't know how it is going to turn out. But I am willing to give the boots on the ground the benefit of the doubt.

Seems like the strategy of getting a political settlement is on track.

[Westof405]

07:48 PM on 03/18/2010

Before you crticize people, how about finding out who they are first? As you admit, you have no idea who Dr. Bacevich is. I first saw Dr. Bacevich on Bill Moyers' show on PBS, then read his book, The Limits of Power.

You haven't heard of him because perhaps you do not watch Bill Moyers on PBS, read much on military tactics and policy or don't spend time following the debate on Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been on TV numerous times and written several books on foreign policy.

From Wikipedia:

Bacevich graduated from West Point in 1969 and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, serving in Vietnam from the summer of 1970 to the summer of 1971. Later he held posts in Germany, including the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the United States, and the Persian Gulf up to his retirement from the service with the rank of Colonel in the early 1990s. He holds a Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University, and taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins University prior to joining the faculty at Boston University in 1998.

On May 13, 2007, Bacevich's son, also named Andrew J. Bacevich, was killed in action in Iraq by an improvised explosive device south of Samarra in Salah Ad Din Province.[3] The younger Bacevich, 27, was a First Lieutenant.[4] He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bacevich

[Durango]

10:31 PM on 03/18/2010

I am certain there were any number of Generals and other military people who would explain in detail why Grants strategy would never work. Sometime around the summer of 64.

And why it would be impossible to defeat the South.

I am willing to give the boots on the ground and the President the benefit of the doubt.

There is not going to be a military solution to Afghanistan. But there is a good possibility of a political solution. And all indications are that the strategy is on track.

P.S. Of course I watch Moyers.

But what does that have to do with supporting the President?

And how exactly do you think we get out of Afghanistan. Even the Soviets only withdrew after an international conference,

[RRK70]

08:54 PM on 03/18/2010

patience, baby steps, it's only been 9 years, we need some time to tweak our strategy a bit.

I can pretty much guarantee that if we limited the military contracts over there so there would be diminishing profits we'd be out of there in a heart beat. As long as we have a system of war waging where companies reap huge profits we will never see victory.

Obama has committed to being out of Iraq and Afghanistan by 2011, it will be interesting to see if he will be able to keep to that pledge. I've seen a few headlines suggesting Odierno wants the 2011 deadline in Iraq pushed back.

[Durango]

10:24 PM on 03/18/2010

And your suggestions on getting out of either and both countries is?

Lots of people think we need to get out of Afghanistan.

But not too many people are putting forth any good ideas.

Any ideas. Period.

it looks to me like the Presidents strategy is paying off. Too soon to know for sure.

But I am not seeing any other games in town.

[General Public]

06:14 PM on 03/18/2010

Ok so the Afghanistan/Pakistan policy is a joke, now what's the punchline? Will Osama Bin Laden appear on Pakistani TV with all their nukes and say "All your nuke are belong to us"?

[DeSwiss]

06:08 PM on 03/18/2010

Military-Industrial-Complex.

A Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us, but we did not listen.

And the result of our deafness is: the MIC owns our country. They dictate where and when the wars are going to happen based upon their own, and other financial entities bottom-line.

What used to be the nation with the greatest potential to become the greatest country of all time, has now devolved into a flabby nothing state full of fat and greedy plutocrats (AKA: Wall Street investment Bankers - a distinctly criminal class) whose only products are scams and sleight-of-hand bonds, along with war and the components of war-making -- for profit. Theirs. And only theirs.

Meanwhile poorly educated Faux-Patriotic Teabaggers rail against their own self-interest, and demand that government get out and stay out of ...... government agencies. The very government agencies upon which they depend. It is ignorance, stupidity and the cowardice of our leaders that has brought to this point.

And we are totally screwed......

[Countess]

06:00 PM on 03/18/2010

I didn't see MoveOn.org threaten politicians who supported Obama's continued aggression in Afghanistan like they are doing against people who do not support the corporate health care scam so I guess the war is okay with them.

[Petey131]

06:46 PM on 03/18/2010

yup

[DeSwiss]

07:46 PM on 03/18/2010

Maybe you'd like MoveOn.org fighting multiple opponents at the same time?

They can't and won't save the country from these idiots all by themselves.......

[scoobynooby]

05:41 PM on 03/18/2010

So what happened to Liberal disgust and anti war movement against the wars GW got us into? Now that big O has sanctified them as holy and justified, where have you all gone? Do you realize that 50 percent of your taxes go to the war and military? Yet we are forced to buy Health ins so we can have it? If we had no wars we could amend the constitution and make HC a right but were too busy killing and destroying in the name of anti terrorism, we have to be forced to buy health ins? Why dont we just secure our borders and ports and airports and save a bundle for health care? When do common people wake up and say, "hey I think I'm be snowed here" The best start for a cure to our economy and overall problems is too bring back the anti war movement and stop the wars!!

[Petey131]

06:47 PM on 03/18/2010

"So what happened to Liberal disgust and anti war movement against the wars GW got us into?"

Bush got us into the Iraq conflict over oil and revenge for his daddy. Now we are fighting the real war.

Next question.

[scoobynooby]

07:37 PM on 03/18/2010

Thats it? Thats all you got? If its a repub started war its bogus but now that a dem is in office its legit? Give me a break, what a drone.

[bilmardre]

09:34 PM on 03/18/2010

What are you talking about? Bush let Afghanistan drag on for 7 years like a low grade fever and liberals hardly made a peep.
It wasn't until President Obama got in and actually instituted a exit strategy that liberals found their voices.

[AmandaBC]

05:25 PM on 03/18/2010

Let me guess, Professor Bacevich is a "w00w00", right?

[blogisti]

05:09 PM on 03/18/2010

Nine years in. The war is between a rag tag pickup militia and the world's superpower with all the advanced technology money can buy. Sound familiar? Think back to revolution. Now you know what the American soldiers are up against and how futile it is. Time to come home? You betcha!

[OneTop]

04:38 PM on 03/18/2010

The Professor is absolutely correct.

Nine or so years of observation should provide enough evidence for all to reach the same conclusion.