Joe Klein thinks you're stupid for wanting to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
Here's what he said on a recent CNN appearance:
"I was on Ed Schultz' show to discuss Afghanistan...And the guy writes on a piece of paper, 'Get out now,' and holds it up on the screen. That's so stupid and it's so unworthy. And it really -- it's one of the reasons why people hold us in lower regard than they do lawyers."
Klein may not have realized it, but in calling Schultz "stupid" for wanting to get out of Afghanistan, he's insulted most Americans.
More than 60 percent of Americans oppose the Afghanistan War. In a recent poll, bringing troops home from Afghanistan ranked above concerns on the deficit. In fact, it was the #2 issue most important to Americans, just behind fixing the economy. Bringing troops home would save us $1 million per troop, per year, helping to fix our economy and cut the deficit.
But Joe Klein thinks you're stupid for wanting to do that.
Let's talk about stupid for a minute.
The U.S. has increased troop levels in Afghanistan every year since the initial invasion, and every year we've seen an increased level of violence in Afghanistan. President Obama and General Petraeus promised--twice!--that huge troop increases would help "protect the population" of Afghanistan and break Taliban momentum. Yet over the course of their major escalations, the heightened troop levels failed to protect Afghan civilians, who suffered more war-related deaths than the year before. And, according to NATO and the Pentagon's own statistics and reporting, the estimated number of insurgents is exactly the same as last year, and they continue to grow in geographic and operational reach. After all this failure of troop increases to stem the violence, Secretary Gates just announced another troop increase.
That sounds pretty stupid to me.
American workers are drowning in an economic crisis. Huge numbers of us remain unemployed, and hundreds of thousands are giving up on finding work at all. States all over the country are slashing their social safety nets to shreds, cutting things like health care for kids in poverty, while at the same time the federal government is charging their state an amount larger than their states' deficits to continue the Afghanistan War. While 68 percent of Americans worry that the war's costs affect our ability to fix problems here at home, we're wasting $2 billion a week on a war that's not making us safer.
That sounds pretty stupid to me.
Klein's wrong about why people hold "journalists" like him in low regard. The reason people hold some talking heads in low regard is that we're tired of being shoveled the same, tired "Very Serious People" drivel that's kept us in a brutal, futile war for almost a decade. The Afghanistan War isn't making us safer and it's not worth the cost. The writing has been on the wall for years. Waiting even one more day to start bringing troops home is...well, you know.
Watch Brave New Foundation's latest Rethink Afghanistan video to learn more about why keeping U.S. troops there is a stupid idea, and then leave a comment at Facebook.com/RethinkAfghanistan with your thoughts on Joe Klein's "stupid" remark. We'll make sure both he and Ed Schultz see your messages.
Follow Robert Greenwald on Twitter: www.twitter.com/robertgreenwald
How can the USA, from the other side of the planet, accomplish what the USSR could NOT accomplish from right next door.
It is due to the likes of you that Time magazine is failing miserably & may not last to lie to the next generation.
You should apoligize to Ed & all those that you insulted for actually doing your job better than you have for the last 10 years.
Moderator:Thanks for giving me the chance to correct my spelling from the last time I attempted to post this.
You would best serve to apologize to Ed & all those that you insulted fro actually doing the job of reporting better than you have for the last 10 years.
Simply put, there are no quick and easy answers, no matter how tired Schultz is (and we all are) of this dismal war. But declaring defeat and quickly leaving, without a negotiated settlement, would mean instant death for many of those tribes who support us.
Also, to criticize the “very serious people” because they disagree with you sounds a lot like Palin’s contempt for people with expertise and knowledge, in this instance on AfPak. Unfortunately we rarely hear the latter in this debate.
(1) What is the longterm goal of being in Afghanistan - to put is simply how will we know when we've "won" and our troops can come home?
(2) Logistics - a getting a gallon of gas to a Humvee in Afghanistan costs $500. How can we possibly control a "nation" from the other side of the planet that the USSR could not control from right next door?
I don't see any "goal" other than the elusive "stability", which always "depends on the next 6 months".
There is no goal, no and no strategy to get us to that goal.
It's not a "strategy" to throw good money after bad. It's like the guy sitting next to a slot machines, putting in coins, because if he stops he will have wasted all his money.
We could probably bail out every state in the union with the money paid for the Afghanistan war for
1 year and could actually do something beneficial with all that money---AND GET THIS---no one will be killed or maimed doing it.
Joe Klein, just shut up.
The things I have been wrong about all my life! I guess a lot of things are just too complex for me to understand.
Regards