On September 12, 2001, I wrote an opinion piece for the Times of London that concluded: "we will find Osama bin Laden, give him a fair trial as we did in the old West, and then we'll hang him." Since we haven't found him in almost a decade, we could hardly give him a fair trial and then hang him.
Virtually without exception, Americans supported the initial focused invasion of Afghanistan to crush al Qaeda and prevent its return to sanctuary in Afghanistan. We were a nation out for vengeance and right was on our side. In addition, the national economy was booming (that is, before the dot.com bubble burst).
In that almost-decade's time, things have changed. Mostly, around 2005, our mission changed. We decided to broaden the mission to include the creation of some kind of stable, self-sustaining democracy in that perpetually troubled land. History will show that was a big mistake. History will also show that the new President Obama would have been well-advised to adopt the original, not the replacement, mission.
Not only are we struggling to succeed in Afghanistan, our own economy is in deep trouble. Probably close to 15% of American workers are unemployed. Our friends and neighbors are in trouble and have been for months and sometimes years. Our war of necessity that became a war of choice is costing hundreds of billions of dollars needed to employ our workers and get our country back on its feet. We are funding our foreign wars with money borrowed from our children and the Chinese.
There is now a great cry for austerity, largely from people who will not put the Afghan war on the budget cut list and who themselves are not suffering and will not suffer from austerity. Sometimes even great countries cannot do everything. When those occasions arise, our own neighbors and fellow Americans must come first. History's road is littered with the wreckage of empires that tried to rule the world even as they were collapsing at home.
We are failing the fundamental duty to our nation created these 221 years ago.
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And you've just revealed yourself to be at least 60 years old.
To save face,we pursued Osama bin Laden,but lost interest when bigger game came into view.
We have not saved face.We look foolish to the Taliban for not being able to finish the job.Our troops were demoralize
We should also include with tax forms an enumeratio
Think that would get everyone's attention?
we are still there....B
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The song tells ... of a platoon wading in a river ... . Imperiousl
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Afghanista
What the imperialis
Neither the Afghan Taliban nor stateless Islamic fundamenta
The American public badly needs a new party that is a “choice not an echo” to do things like: restore government “of, by and for” all the people (of all stations in life); staff government with scrupulous
Eric C. Jacobson
Public Interest Lawyer
Culver City, California
http://www
America never makes war to promote "freedom" and "democracy
America wraps herself in noble Red, White and Blue War and declares herself Savior of the World...bu
We have become the very same evil we fought against 234 years ago.
The Power Elite now rule America as a despotic Empire. They wage ever more frequent Imperialis
Behold, The Rise and Fall of the American Empire.
With profound regret and heartfelt apologies to Jefferson, we have failed - his noble experiment was grand while it lasted.
http://www
That said, I believe Obama's weak "centrist" policies on the economy and reversing U.S. crack-head foreign policy make it clear that academic achievemen
We desperatel
Nothing
Why are we virtually the only ones who fought ---are fighting--
Well worth investing 5 minutes this evening in watching this video of General Smedley Butler's speech "War Is a Racket."
http://www
There is no reason why I should support the U.S. "interests
I support ONE politician on this planet, that's Hugo Chavez. He's protecing his people from the fate of poisonous sefdom the U.S. underclass
This government made it painfully clear that, after my 20 years of paying 60% of my "check-to check" income in taxes to fund their imperial conquests *to outsource my job*, they "owe me nothing" in return.
That's fine, but this government needs to understand I have no loyalty to them or their rules.
Before brushing this comment off, think *very* carefully about the consequenc
I'd say the framers of our country agreed with you too!
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructiv
In the era of American Idol, style trumps substance every time. This is the unfortunat
The Progressiv
So last week, our corrupt Congress passed, without blinking an eye, $33 billion in war expenses for Afghantist
What does that tell you about out our nation's values on July 4th?
This country faces economic and democratic ruin if things don't change FAST.