I keep asking the question, "Why are we in Afghanistan?" No one has a good answer. A few without television respond, "To get Osama." But everyone agrees that he is somewhere in Pakistan. Then the answer is: "As President George W. Bush said, 'to spread democracy.'" The Brits tried to spread democracy for years. The Russians tried to spread communism for years. But democracy must come from within. I helped liberate Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, sixty-eight years ago and they have yet to opt for democracy. We liberated Kuwait eighteen years ago and they have yet to opt for democracy. In the Muslim world more important than freedom and democracy is tribe and religion. We have made the good college try for over seven years and now should realize that we are not going to teach warlords to like democracy and grow cotton instead of poppies.
Now some answer to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Al Qaida. I called the State Department after 9/11, and it reported Al Qaida in forty-five countries, including the United States, but not Iraq. Now we have spread Al Qaida to Iraq and determined to have Al Qaida grow in Afghanistan. What we can't understand is that we are creating terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban were our best friends in Charlie Wilson's War -- the only war we've won since World War II. I helped Charlie on the Senate side. I didn't know what was going on, but he was getting Israel to send Stinger missiles to Muslim Pakistan to shoot down the Russians. Now we are determined to turn our former friends into enemies and destroy Pakistan. Yesterday I read an article that it won't be long before charging President George W. Bush with war crimes for killing civilians in Pakistan with drones. Now the same charge could be made against President Obama. Five years ago, I was in Pakistan to learn that Osama bin Laden had a sixty percent approval rating and President Bush was at ten percent. I wouldn't advise an America to walk the streets of any city in Pakistan today. We are ruining Pakistan. Finally, I'm given the answer, "to stabilize Afghanistan." The best way to stabilize is to get out. It became a matter of conscience for me years ago. I always remember the Wartime Prayer found in Eleanor Roosevelt's papers:
"Dear Lord, lest I continue my complacent way, help me to remember that somewhere, somehow out there, a man died for me today. As long as there be war, I then must ask and answer, Am I worth dying for?"
Why are we killing GIs to spread terrorism?
Anand Gopal: Who Are the Taliban?
If there is an exact location marking the West's failures in Afghanistan, it is the modest police checkpoint that sits on the main highway 20 minutes south of Kabul. Here, the American-backed government of Afghanistan no longer exists.
Jonathan Kim: ReThinking Charlie Wilson's War: the Afghan War that Keeps On Taking
The US will spend more on the war in Afghanistan next year than it will in Iraq. So I thought it would be interesting to take another look at Charlie Wilson's War.
Rob Asghar: Pakistan's New Refugees: Can the West Finally Win Charlie Wilson's War?
The flood of millions of Afghan refugees into Pakistan after the Cold War led to an explosion of extremism, while American leaders were too busy celebrating the Cold War victory.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/20447
“I think maybe the Kaiser (George W. Bush) wanted a war.
The Kaiser's (George W. Bush) got everything he needs.
Well, he never had a war before.
Every full-grown Emperor needs one war to make him famous (George W, Bush thought he needed two).
Why, that's history.
Yeah, Generals too.
They need war.
And manufacturers.
They get rich.”
Some things never change the GWB wars are not for the general good of the American people, they are for the reasons that Remarque mentioned in 1928!
Maybe it's time to stop thinking in terms of cold war geopolitics and try another model.
Basically the Military Industrial complex wanted to be fed. In a very real way Hollywood could of done a better job.
Hornets nest principal of war: When you get stung by a hornet and decide to go kick the nest.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The answer: America's perpetual war machine demands to be fed.
...."The truth of the current day is that our latest war, the “war on terror,” is no exception. In fact, the United States government has published information about the economic importance of Afghanistan...."
I hope all of the college students who worked their hearts out for Obama are prepared to find military enlistment becomes the payback for all of those promised college loans.
Afghanistan should have been it if we had stayed there and not gone to Iraq the taliban would have been near defeat if not defeated but we took are eye off the ball and went to Iraq hell we would have had osama by now also if we had not done this
and are we not there because the attacks of 9/11 came from there and osama and co were backed and helped by the taliban we even offered them give us osama and co and you can stay in power they said no