Aghanistan

[pasayten]

The nazi statements are totally uncalled for and an overstatements of facts... Last time I checked I may need to show a drivers license while driving... along with a proof of insurance... a fishing/hunting icense to hunt and fish... A conclealed weapons permit to carry my pistol... medicare card to receive my paid healthcare... The list goes on...

These are all conditions the we as a society have enacted thru our elected officials chosen by a majority of the voters at the time and our system of government... Maybe you are in the minority of voters in which case some of these things do not seem fair to you... Sorry, that's just the way it works here.

[dorankj]

Yes, nazi’s Alf. They demand to show me your papers for the mandated ‘vaccine’ now! Be sure to realize what you support/demand and the outcome it will produce. Also, Hitler did everything ‘legally’!

[Fun CH]

^^From that Blog post

" I wonder if he’s dead now, for serving us food and dreaming of something different.

But if Cowboy is dead then he died a long time ago, and if Cowboy is dead it’s our fault for going there in the first place, giving his family the option of trusting us when we are the least trustworthy people on the planet.

We use people up and throw them away like it’s nothing...."



This is so true..."giving his family the option of trusting us when we are the least trustworthy people on the planet."

Its a fact..We were a occupation force. But I do disagree with this quote from her blog...

"It didn’t mean a goddamn thing."

Too weapons manufactures here in the U.S. and their stockholders it meant more money and continued market dominance for what Eisenhower termed the military-industrial complex. He warned us about that very thing. His words...

"We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.


In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

Eisenhower was our 34th president and served as 'Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe" during World War II.

[mister_coffee]

Afghanistan Meant Nothing

I remember how every year the US would have to decide how to deal with the opium fields. There were a few options. You could leave the fields alone, and then the Taliban would shake the farmers down and use the money to buy weapons. Or, you could carpet bomb the fields, and then the farmers would join the Taliban for reasons that, to me, seem obvious.

The third option, and the one we went for while I was there, was to give the farmers fertilizer as an incentive to grow wheat instead of opium poppy. The farmers then sold the fertilizer to the Taliban, who used it to make explosives for IEDs that could destroy a million dollar MRAP and maim everyone inside.

[pasayten]

The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/business ... ium=social

[Fun CH]

We've been in South Korea for 70 years keeping another oppressive regime at Bay (that guy Trump said he loves, " we fell in love" "beautiful letters")

"With 28,500 American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in South Korea, U.S. forces in South Korea are a major presence in the region and a key manifestation of the U.S. government's aim to rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific."

If we are going to create a mess shouldn't we be the ones to at least help clean it up?

Who are these clowns we keep electing? Are they all corrupt at that political level?

Biden didn't acknowledge the heroic efforts of the Afghan people because it didn't fit his withdrawal narrative. See what I mean about post-hoc reasoning to support a position?It had little to do with the very elusive "truth".

Why do we let them divide our communities with their power-hungry rhetoric? Rhetoric that we repeat and Champion like the clowns puppet.

[PAL]

Agree with what you say. Biden should have said something about the 69,000.
This withdrawal was going to happen, had to happen eventually. Too bad it wasn't on Trump's watch, which is what he wanted. Then he would be the bad guy.
No matter who is president, it wasn't going to go well. The US wanted it to be pretty and peaceful, but with the Taliban coming on so strong, how could it not get ugly. If the US were to stay indefinitely, I suppose that would have kept the Taliban at bay for years.
A real mess.

[Fun CH]

I wonder if Biden was referring to the ones that are living that were trained and they did not make a stand against the Taliban now?
One thing about wearing the burka, no one can know who or what may be hiding under there, huh.

there was some fighting before Kabul was surrendered which occurred after the political leadership fled the country.

In that speach while he was trying to defend his and Trump's troop withdrawal policy, did Joe Biden acknowledge those 69,000 afghans who died trying to help us with our anti-terrorism effort and our nation building effort right before he told us that we aren't there for nation building? No he made the implication that they were cowards.

To be clear, I'm not into American solders dying and being maimed physically and emotionally fighting another counties civil war or defending oil. But we did use the Afghans for our own purposes and then fled for them to fend for themselves.

Some lyrics that come to mind, sung by Sting.

"Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world
You could say I lost my faith in the people on TV
You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians
They all seemed like game show hosts to me"

" I never saw no military solution that didn't end up in something worse"

[PAL]

I wonder if Biden was referring to the ones that are living that were trained and they did not make a stand against the Taliban now?
One thing about wearing the burka, no one can know who or what may be hiding under there, huh.

[Fun CH]

This stuff won't need high tech parts to keep it working.

"10,000 2.75 inch high-explosive rockets, 61,000 40-mm high explosive rounds, 9,00,000 rounds of .50 calibre ammo, and 20,15,600 rounds of 7.62 mm bullets."

The best hindsight analysis that I heard was we should have never stayed after Al queda was degraded.

Left in 2002 and told the Taliban we would be back if they allowed Afghanistan to be used as a terrorist training base. It seems Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had other ambitions though.

While it's sad to see a lady shot dead yesterday by the Taliban because she wasn't wearing her burka this is the true cost...

"Research by Brown University estimates losses in the Afghan security forces at 69,000. It puts the number of civilians and militants killed at about 51,000 each. More than 3,500 coalition soldiers have died since 2001 - about two-thirds of them Americans. More than 20,000 US soldiers have been injured."

One other observation,

So 69,000 Afghan Security Forces have died fighting to help us and their vision of freedom and Joe Biden claims that they weren't willing to fight for their country.

[mister_coffee]

I keep wondering about all our war technology and supplies that we gave to the collapsed Afgan military that is now in Talibna hands...

In the short term that is going to be a problem.

In the longer term all of that high-tech gadgetry requires a lot of maintenance by highly skilled people to keep it working. So most of it will end up as junk.

[pasayten]

I keep wondering about all our war technology and supplies that we gave to the collapsed Afgan military that is now in Talibna hands...

[tristanbgilb]

I am listening to www.NewsMax.com for information on this matter. I remember the beginning of the Desert Storm when I was in the Navy. I was in a movie theatre parking lot in Massachusetts when someone yelled out "Turn on the Radio we are at war"!!! Going into war mode made the military more stressful for me. I was after an education and never thought of war as a possibility. "I will fight no more forever" is a complete surrender. I think about Taliban and wonder how they can be Muslim. I have had some Muslim Teachings through my travels. It seems to be a Religion of Honor and yet am taught the Taliban of Afghanistan have evil against America. I think of America and a plant war against cannabis that is winding down on the home front. I know this plant war is against god and creation. I wonder if we can justify war in any way. Its difficult. Organized mass killing is evil on all ground yet is with all human history. Communication has never been so available for people that are so far apart. Through communication I would like to know how it is that Taliban is Muslim and if Taliban is Muslim what is it to be Muslim? I consider myself to be eclectic in religion. God is not name specific to label. Its more how he interacts to get us to learn. Is there something good in the Taliban. Do they love their children? Are they the monsters I have been taught they are? Understanding through communication. My understanding is if I go to Afghanistan the Taliban will kill me or worse. i don't want to go there.

[Fun CH]

Taliban now has a very large weapons cache complements of the USA, and a good terrorist recruitment tool.

Who will those weapons kill?

When will we learn?

[mister_coffee]

Unfortunately I think we truly lost this war in late 2001 or early 2002, and everything since then has been maneuvering to save face or try to limit the losses.

My big question right now is how do you withdraw people from an airport you haven't secured? And that might not be secure as you withdraw more soldiers. I sure wouldn't want to be on the last couple of flights out from Bagram.

[tristanbgilb]

Sometimes the world seems quite unstable. Not sure what the solution might be.

[PAL]

The children that didn't grow up under Taliban rule is who I feel bad for, mainly the little girls and women. But, can they rise up and fight back? What happened to the 300,000 soldiers that were trained, or do I have that number wrong?
The women are going to have to find a way, subterfuge, play along, secret sessions? The Taliban are evil. I bet the photo shown of them in the Kabal capitol building or whatever it is called, our own resurrectionists loved.
Could other nations have stepped in? We've always messed with what we shouldn't, 20 yrs.ago. The list is endless.
It's so easy for me to say, "women of the world unite" but what kind of actions can I do? Nothing. Give money, maybe. Afghan people need to rise up, somehow.
This makes me sick. The Taliban make me sick.

[pasayten]

What is there to say??? Except FUBAR! Across 20 years of administrations... both Republican and Democrat...