The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

What's the Forum's read on Obama's escalation of the War in Afghanistan?

I don't get it. I thought we succeeded there. And I don't see why we aren't putting more pressure on the Muslim countries to clean up their bad boys' acts. Where is the call for help from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait? Where is the concern from Iran that the Taliban will over run Pakistan and grab some nukes? It seems like we're trying to stop wars from starting by starting wars. Help me out here, Forumpians. There has to be more to this than was in the speech last night. Plus, is Bin Laden dead or what?

7 comments:

Thad Wasson said...

Two things come to mind. One, this is a war of religon. You cannot win this by holding land.

The second point is that we have a lack of trust on our own Indian lands. The federal government has never been able to win their hearts and minds. All of the concerns we have in Afghanistan are exactly the same on the rez. Violence, drug abuse, shady government contracts and domestic abuse.

America will be in Afghanistan forever.

Bill Fleming said...

Great insights, Thad. Clear, succinct and compelling. Thanks.

Bob Newland said...

Osama bin Laden is dead to me.

Michael Sanborn said...

The United States are engaged in the first holy wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) in her history. Holy wars are not won.

And the saddest part...we started them both.

The chart above this post demonstrates how difficult it is to change an entire peoples' core beliefs.

Taunia said...

How in the hell do you send in 30,000 more troops to bring the troops home. In 18 months. With few casualties.

The poppy crops were exceptional this year in Afghanistan. We can't control our own domestic drug war and we're going to show the Afganies what, exactly?

Bill Fleming said...

Yes, sometime back I suggested that we should just buy all the poppies. Save a lot of lives that way. 1/3 of Afghan's GDP is in the drug trade. No drug money, no Taliban. End of story.

Taunia said...

I remember your post on that, BF. Didn't give it a lot of thought then, it does make more sense now.

Why aren't we just torching the poppy crops? We've pissed them off enough...lob a volley over the rail, get the big fight going, get it over with and let's get on with conquering the rest of the world. (tongue in cheek)