Comments on the Afghan War

I haven't done one of these comment threads for a long time, and I think that now is the time :)

From Washington Post readers:

The only thing that would make the Americans look worst in Aghanistan is if they wore red coats with gold buttons and marched in lines two abreast

"..there were more people out
on the street clearly demonstrating against Obama and his mishandling of both
Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,then were inside of the Phoenix Convention Center
VFW beer drinking pot belly has-beens, but
our glorious local and national newsmedia
covered this up by simply not reporting it.
Free Press, my butt: not under Obama!

And,in fact, local Phoenix TV Ch 15 ABC did
this idiotic Obama Informerial that had a
good number of its own viewers confronting
them about it. Just go to ABC15.com as I
recall their website is called or google
it and see for yourself,(and had a couple
nuts not been running around packing AR-15s in the crowd then none of us would ever even seen the crowd pictures). What
the Hell ever became of a Free Press in
the USA or have we already become Obama's
USSA (United Socialist States Of Amerika) or what here? Impeach Obama and
fire Gates and retire the whole damn phony
totally incompetent Joint Chiefs. Bring
our troops home here and now."

AND

"And you bet
the fastest way possible to end the Obama
War Nighmare is by Impeachment of Obama!"

AND

"And what about filling up all the positions with Petraeus junkies and yes men If the men at the top of the military had the courage of the men who actually risk their lives, then we wouldn't be in Iraq and any other country over there. Of course, that would mean our military leaders would have to speak truth to power, and none of them seems to have the guts to speak truth to the power in the Pentagon. Until we level the playing field and reinstitute the draft, our lower level military men will be cannon fodder and nothing more than mercenaries. The Roman Empire did that, and look what happened to them."

AND

"just like washington all yes men.they cant think for themselves? Gates should get the hell out of there"

"Prez Obama and his former Bush laden Military Chiefs should stop playing musical chairs and turn to Senator John McCain.

Please recall, when Senator McCain was the GOP nominee for Prez, he said, loud and clearly, "...I (not Obama) know HOW to get Osama Bin Laden,...and I"m willing to go to the gates of HELL to get him!

President Obama and SecDef Gates: Get McCain on the next plane to Afghanistan!"

"So, once again after reading all these comments,that was when it occurred to me,
that the first person needing to be replaced over the conduct of the two wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq,should be the current Commander in Chief Barack Hussein
Obama,Chicago Con Artist From Kenya Extraordinary and that the American voters
were and still are damn ignorant fools that they were dumb enough to elect a village idiot with absolutely no damn military experience in the first place.

And so,just to re-inforce my point here,
I read one post here today by some idiot,
who thinks it was the Taliban that hit the
US on 9-11 not Osama bin Laden & Al_Qeada
and which shows how badly Comrade Obama
and the previous other looney toons leader
George W Bush have conned the American people and exactly how totally limited their attention span is as well.

But,so then again,what did we expect when
the voters elected an AWOL Air National
Guard Punk Bush and 5 Draft Deferrment
Psycho Draft Dodger Dick Cheney and then
still didn't learn their lesson and went
right ahead and elected another No Damn
Military Service Sleazy Phony Barack Obama
and even yet another coward 5 deferrments
Serial Draft Dodger Joe Biden as Vice President and Obama keeps that slimey two
face big mouth screw up Robert Gates as
Sec of Defence,now then so need I say more
as to why both Obama,Biden and Gates are
the ones that need to be replaced first,
followed by a purge of total incompetents
at the Pentagon and why we need to get the
Hell out of both Iraq and Afghanistan and
redploy our troops to the US and Mexico
Borders now then? Impeach Obama!"

"Reminds me of how American big corporations deal with old-boys network CEOs, replacing a failed one with another from another failed company. The Russians must be laughing themselves to death now: "Didn't we tell you Americans that Afghan can never be won or even just won over?"

It will probably take a Third-Party president to pull us out of Afghan altogether."

"The article misses the main point that our
presence in Afghanistan is counter-productive and dangerous and doesn't protect us from terrorism, in fact, increases the terrorism. If President Obama truly believes that this is a war of necessity, not of choice, why doesn't he
debate that proposition with a formidable
opponent such as Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky or Gore Vidal? Isn't that what used to happen in law school. Didn't he learn to leave no proposition unchallenged? The reason we're in Afghanistan is that we are
hysterical and haven't learned to take horrible things in stride the way the French have been able to do with Algerian terrorists, or the Brits with Irish terrorists. That takes maturity-- something we don't seem to have. And do we think the next attack really is going to come from the same mountains as the last one? Is that good chess? It seems to me if we are in a game of chess, this would be the time for us to withdraw all our major pieces to the first and second rows."

"If you want a true study and assessment of Afghanistan, its background for 586 AD to winter of 2009 read Seth Jones current book "The Grave Yard of Empires".

You'll also appreciate the comments of Col RA Nelson and eternalvigilance more and the quagmire we got ourselves in. A detailed background of the generals in this article, their performances and results are in Jones' book."

"I don't know what "winning" this war means or even how to define "progress". ...I think that we should get out."

"This 'nation building' philosophy is the most disasterous concept the US has undertaken.

Freeing subjegated people while at the same time protecting our shores is a laudable exercise.

Changing the world the way we want it is a disaster."

"Makes you think we would be better off "loosing" Afghanistan just like we "lost" Vietnam. Seems like from a long-term strategic perspective, Vietnam has evolved into a friend of the US, but in a more lasting fashion than if we had “won,” and in accordance with their own culture and political norms."

"Worry Obama is displeased with McKieman. To please Obama, kick McKieman out!

OK, 45 killed a month and everybody is quiet to please Obama.

Great!

Win in Afganastan? It is not the point. The point is to please Obama!Q"

"Does anyone really think Afgahistan is a winable war..if yes you don't know anything about history and those that have tried. Add to and now that the Washington politicans are determining battlefield strategy and we have another Vietnam and Korea."

"ewagent99 wrote:
obama on the war is no different than bush on the war.

their kids will NEVER serve, they could care less

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{

One major difference. Bush actually thought it would be easy and therefore popular, thanks to the advice he was getting from Cheney and Rumsfeld. He didn't wake up until '06. Obama knows it will be neither popular or easy, and therefore is trying to avoid discussing it as much as possible and focusing the public's attention elsewhere while transposing Bush's post-Rumsfeld policy from Iraq into Afghanistan."

"We should emulate the Russians. When they viewed the unbelievable conditions of destitution, uneducated people, lack of basic necessities for the people, not even electricity, they simply packed up and left!!. The most educated thing WE can do, at this point in time is "Get to Hell out of there!!! If by some weird circumstance, we managed to win the war, "Not likely", we wouldn't know what we had won, or what to do with it.
The place is not worth one more human life. Must I keep repeating the phrase?? Get to hell out of there.
No one blamed us for leaving Vietnam!
Leave Now!!Save some human lives.
Give Cyrano a break!~! Leave now!!!"

"obama on the war is no different than bush on the war.

their kids will NEVER serve, they could care less"

"Even Britishers and Russians could not conquer these areas; what makes Obama that he is going to win this war in that god forshaken so called country Afghanistan. This is a ideal area for guerrilla warfare and the native knows where the hiding places are. Damn it, declare victory and get the hell out from there without spending my hard earned tax money."

"The petitions of "will to redress the entire Federal government" has 2 words on it as the reason.
NO CONFIDENCE

The 2 simple words cover a plethera of reasons, but in this case they underscore the feelings about the current "running of the wars"

These petitions of redress are being created , signed , and pooled for recordation as a document, in every County in the USA.

It is in reality the new polled vote of the people's will, over government rule, isn't it?"

"It's sad to see the 'Hope' president so dedicated to war."

"Why could not the USA build a gas pipeline from shibirgan to Kabul.This would have been a far worse deathblow to the talibans and al qaeda than all the 50 Billion USD USA spent in making the infra structure to fight them in afghanistan ?

I am a consultant and my estimate is that with just 1 Billion USD USA can make a gas pipeline from Shibirgan to Kabul,all through safe area ?"

"Yea, um, but Petraeus sucks too.

So this is the best we have? Just a bunch of old coots who think war is good for the military establishment, are incapable and unwilling to engage in reconstruction and are expected to fawn over visiting scumbag politicians.

Doesn't sound like a REAL war, or any kind of description of REAL warriors, to me!"

"Now the crowds against Obamacare and Against the war are there, for the planned hour of Obama's speech and are clogging Phoenix streets.
The results of his invasive plans into civilian airspace, is finding civilian pilots in trouble for following the original Obama travel plans rules (before the NPD sociopathic dual profile changed the rules of his arrival and departure).
Stranded and delayed travelers at least should understand that they do not count to "the lack of empathy ", that Obama really has for the public."

"What exact combat did Gates, Mullen and Obama see up close and personal?"

"We borrow $200 bill/year from China to fight unwinnable middle eastern wars while our budget deficit and unemployment soars.
I want to know for which country's safety are we sacrificing our blood and treasure for?"

"I call the Afghan war the "thousand year war" altho I think we will cut and run long before that. Obama has to be able to hear the bad news on this one, as he will run out of Generals before he will see improvement in that country. I ask the same question my liberal friends asked of Bush in Iraq but don't seem interested in asking Obama regarding Afghan..WHAT IS THE EXIT STRATEGY ?? It seems that since the new administration took office, the war and our losses have moved back to page 16 in our daily press.."

"How do we know that there are NO American
interests involved in the poppyfields />heroin? Nothing surprises me anymore these days."

"Look the best thing that can happen to you is the draft , where you are the fodder in the front for your Messiah, right?

No?
Gee, you mean you are not ready for the upcoming draft?

Obama will try to induct illegals by offering them service to the President and voting power, but that pipeline is going to dry up with the first set of body bags back....then buddy it is all on you."

"END OBAMA'S STUPID,STUPID WAR!
THE BRITISH COMMANDER SAID IT WOULD TAKE 40 YEARS!
WHERE ARE THE LIBERALS?ARE YOU SO "ENCHANTED", IS THE TINGLING UP YOUR LEG SUCH A DELIGHT???
HYPOCRITES!"

"The reality is that Afghanistan belongs to Afghans and they will ultimately run it themselves --- the way they have been doing for centuries. Attempts by others (British, Russian, American)to impose a different way of life there have inevitably been doomed to failure. But we Americans, especially, seem to be slow learners. Still, when the body counts get high enough (witness our prior presence in North Korea and South Vietnam) we do seem to finally "get it" and disengage. I am confident that this time will follow the same pattern."

"A couple of months ago, General Petreaus made an interesting comment during an interview whereas he acknowledged that the US has IN FACT been guilty of war crimes.

What he did not mention is that one General Stanley McCrystal is a key architect in creating the conditions that have led to these 'prosecutable war crimes.' General McCrystal was also in charge of carrying out assassinations around the globe since the start of the Iraq debacle.

So, what we have here is the typical kind of personnel shuffling that one would expect if you are trying to move your most loyal men into positions of greater authority. It doesn't matter what their 'secret' record contains, what matters is that they will do whatever you tell them without question, without moral fore or afterthought and that is what you want from them.

But, is that what the American public wants from them too? Is this fight, which has lasted longer that the Civil War and WW 1 and WW2 combined, worth surrendering our moral center to make a claim of victory? I can assure you all that no matter when that day arrives, it will be a hollow sound that rings over the airwaves, because we will all know of our complicity in allowing our troops to continue to be led and directed to act in a manner that is unbecoming of an American Expeditionary Force-not at the level of the troops on the ground, but at the levels where General Petreaus, Adm. Mullen and Secretary Gates sit, and where they have allowed us to become less than what we were before to fight a war that shouldn't have been fought, while ignoring and marginalizing those that were after the real targets of our wrath."

"Afghanistan's proven natural gas reserves:
5 trillion cubic feet!!!!!!!!!"

"Their LOYALTY oaths won't allow them to criticize, no matter the catastrophy?

Remember they BLAME CHENEY/PNAC/bush's decision to invade Iraq on Clinton quotes from 1998 or any other Non CHENEY/PNAC quotes from 2000+; as if our Conservative GOVT based their decisions on Democrats?

let 'em keep it up, that's precisely why Obama got elected.

A Democrat won because (as the Blue Dog Demos Prove), they may be wrong on an issue but they don't follow the Exective Branch, just because they caucus together?

If you're not critical, you get a Rumsfeld for 6yrs.

If you're not critical you get warrantless spying on Americans, torturing suspects, troops going to jail over it, agents outed, DAs defamed and fired,...

VPs with A Good Shot of Whiskey and then a Bad Shot on the Hunting Grounds:):):) and then of course a Good Nap to sleep it off!!

Only in Conservative America would the ultimate collapse of DeRegulation (market), Free Trade (jobs), Illegal Immigration (Wages/Unions), Defense (Rumsfeld),...

Be the fault of the guy the American people just hired to clean it up:):):):)

As they immediately touted after the election, "I Hope He Fails"!!!!

At what?

Cleaning up your Disasters?"

"US military officers should not be required to have 'political savvy' and 'work Washington' like the self-promoting Petraeus. The military should not be politicized in any way. The same goes for the supreme court. The fact that both are highly politicized is an abject failure of the US system of democracy. IMO it is exceedingly unlikely that the framers wanted this or foresaw this."

"In conclusion: When the right speaks, the right lies.

In fact, that is so very true that it is becoming banal...even their lies are becoming tedious.

lollll...and they know it, too...they are increasingly having to resort to acting, accompanied by histrionics that include tears and pouty red faces; witness Glenn Beck."

"Afghanistan has natural gas!"

"The wars in the ME are waged to support the investors in the huge Military Industrial Complex. THese wars have noting to do with America's security."

"All these so-called leaders should be force-marched to the front lines and be forced to swep the roadsides for IEDs. When they see the futility first hand, they will be singing a different tune to the Dsek-Bound politicos in DC who have never seen a battle zone, much less commanded in a war. Get out of Afghanistan. There is nothing to be 'won" in that desolate place and we will suffer the same expensive humiliation that brought down the British and the Russians. America is naive and piggish and our stupidity will be our downfall."

"lollll...you people are too quick to blame Obama and this Administration; whether it be for the bail-outs, or for the wars.

Ask anybody who has ever worked ski patrol in the mountains: It is a lot easier to start a landslide that it is to stop one.

Rove, Paulson, and Cheney put Machiavelli to shame; they knew that once you start something - no matter how evil it is - whoever follows you is stuck; they must let it play out, while attempting to limit the damage as much as is possible.

Think of it as the tail wagging the dog, writ large."

"You mentioned "The Arbusto"
Let's examine why Afghanistan, invaded on the excuse to extradite only one man, will be a country that the U.S. never plans to leave, be they at war or peace, stabilized or otherwise, under any President, Dem/Repub/Other:

That reason is ENERGY. Natural Gas. No, Afghanistan has none. But it will link, with pipelines, to other places that also have little gas to spare--China, Pakistan and India. Tens of $-billions worth of pipelines are being built, connecting Turkmenistan, Iran, and other large gas suppliers by several pipelines, some via Afghanistan.
Check these acronyms:
TAPI = Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India.
IPI = Iran-Pakistan-India.
TAP = Trans Afghan Pipeline.
There are others, such as:
Turkmen-Kazakh-China to cost $26Billion.
Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Russia's South Stream pipeline.
There are others, not in the vicinity, such as "Nabucco."
The U.S. is hardly involved, but want to gain the upper hand somehow, if not some share.
And that's why our soldiers will continue to die in Afghanistan, the energy corridor, for the next few decades. And also why the U.S. has been attempting to establish a military base in Turkmenistan, but are being thwarted by China."

"When you shut off war projects...who goes unemployed....Americans.

There is a real term for war spending....employment.
(Which is then in turn a tax dollar provider to pay for war).

Shut off a valve and the system of flow backs up into your lap like a toxic spill.
The best place to stop war spending is by removal of the troops, not removal OF THE TAXPAYERS. Removal of the taxpayers is usually the plan of only the enemy."

"When our efforts in Afghanistan fall apart O'Bama will not be able to blame some general again."

"qualquan wrote: "Oh yeah! And to do that spend ourselves into oblivion eviscerating our economy? Is that being cunning like a dodo?"

Don't rule out the possibility that we have people in this country who are willing to bankrupt - to destroy - the United States as long as the process further enriches them.

Why do you think Bush, Cheney, & PNAC, LLP chose to institutionalize running the wars "off the budget", where they could be isolated from the nation's decision process regarding both whether we had the income (taxes) required to support them and whether we were going to get a return that justified the investment?"

"The Arbusto pipeline system controls the flow of oil and gas to India; India a nation with over a billion people! Try to imagine what that means in terms of money and power. You have to do better than you
summerized in your post. People who believe Bush invaded Afghanistan to catch OBL are FOOLS!!!!!!!"

"Shrewed McChrystal should recruit buffalo soldiers for further cause in Afghanistan who were fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.....

The current situation is terrorizingly similar to whispers and uncertainities of mid-80s within Soviet state and their Army...."

"I was in the Viet Nam war for a year, unable to phone my family for that whole year.
Not long ago, the U.S.Navy kept calling our house wanting my boy, a grad from the UnivMedCen to sign up. He was elated at the thought of retiring in his forties, etc. But I paid for his years of college and put my foot down. I spoke from experience. NO more family members in for the next few generations--I was the last."

"f the generals want their little war, have them go and fight it themselves and leave our children out of it."

"Like the Viet Nam War, just another war without end. We can change generals, strategy, and tactics every month and it will not make a damn bit of difference. After 8-years of effort, it is simply too little too late to expect that we can turn this thing around. We do not, and we will not, ever have sufficient resources and staying power to achieve the goals and objectives that we have set forth.

This whole damn thing is nothing more than a over reaction to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have solved nothing. With the increase in troops to Afghanistan, the war now belongs to Obama. I'm afraid that he and his advisors are being hustled by the generals and the country is under estimating the challenge. Incremental escalation of this war is not going to do the trick because the American public is not going to tolerate another decade or more of this.

Declare victory and bring the troops home now!!"

"This entire Afghan - Iraq "war" is a travesty because of Bush and his war generals. His "generals" wanted to earn their combat ribbons and and combat badges via a short quick war - just like the Clinton generals got their quick little war against Serbia where they smacked their lips at the dead and dying Serbs. What went wrong is that the Bush generals forgot that they were fighting fanatical Arabs in their own country and not bombing Serbia from 25,000 feet.

So what are the pentagon "combat generals" to do now - after mucking around for over eight years? Why, folks, they will sell the American people a "surge" package, just like they did in Iraq. Ain't them generals clever?

The American people should wise up and demand tat Obama pulls all the troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. If the generals want their little war, have them go and fight it themselves and leave our children out of it."

"Why Obama would go to great lengths to criticize Iraq policy and then convert Afghanistan into a classic quagmire remains one of the greatest mysteries of this nascent administration. Crass politics nee business as usual? Perhaps, but why would he give his leftist fellow travelers a policy victory with one hand but a punch in the face with the other? You almost get a sense that someone else handed him an agenda to execute once he was in the White House, perhaps more aligned with their (self-)interests? Very curious..."

"The war in Afghanistan is a lost cause. Obama needs to put together a plan to get the US out of that country!"

"Nine years

Nine stinking, wretched years, all the dead, in Afghanstan.

It should've been over after a quick capture of Bin Ladin.

Instead we get the phony 'nation building'
and all the arms builing and selling and constant war, which PNAC wnated. Haven't they just got it.

And we are faulted for detestation of the neocons that subsumed the Bush administration. And got their way. And not for America. For the zi on ist neocons.

Take a look at it as history will.

Think how history will see this."

"s a number of other posters here have already said the most important Command Change needed for both Afghanistan & Iraq
is to FIRE our lying,totally incompetent
worthless AWOL always vacationing gutless
Commander in Chief Barack Hussein Obama
along with Firing Inept & Incompetent Sec
of Defense Professional Butt Kisser Robert
Gates and Court-Martial the Entire Joke of
a Joint Chiefs of Staff and get all our
US troops out of both Afghanistan & Iraq
forthwith..As all Obama does is run his
big mouth and go on endless vacations and
dream up endless distractions to keep our
minds off of Obama's Wars In Afghanistan
and Iraq and how we are currently losing
both of them and that frankly is what you
get for elected somebody like Obama that
never served one day in our US Military.

You betcha time to throw Obama & Gates &
the Joint Chiefs under the Bus! So wake up
and start calling,emailing and faxes to
the Obama White House and Your US Senators
and Member of Congress and tell them very
bluntly we want Obama's Resignation or
his Immediate Impeachment and all of our
US troops the Hell out of Afghanistan and
Iraq here and now or your out of office
come 2010 0r 2012. Throw all these bums
out of office next two elections."

"This is inside baseball. As a U.S. citizen I want to know, and I'm not being told, what the purpose of the mission is in Afghanistan, how it's going, and the basic outline of the war plan, to include a forecast of an early end to the war in Afghanistan. Once started, a war takes on a life of its own. Government contractors are tickled pink with prospect of a long-term reliable source of funding from Red China, by way of the U.S. Treasury and Pentagon. Talk about "we can't afford it."

"Why are we continuing to rearrange the rubble in Afghanistan?

To mess with the local gangs (Taliban) who have no intent of attacking the homeland?

For women's rights? How about a score of other countries where women's rights are worse off

To fight the war on drugs? - How is the war on drugs going in LA or Detroit or Washington?

To offset Russia? They are not a major world player anymore anyway.

So why has Obama accepted his own Vietnam?
4,8,12 years from now we will still be there. No one in history has ever conquered Afghanistan and no one ever will. Why are we so arrogant to think that we will?"

"So we elect this new President to allow his generals to wage and conduct war in Afghanistan as they see fit. Mullen and Petraeus see they need not only a great tactical warrior as leader in this country but also someone whom can placate the press and swoon, and sizzle the Executive branch of our government. McKearnan redoubtable was on the right track in this volatile country with progress coming in slow measure, as the American people tire quickly as we have seen thus far on wars on terrorism. We were so on board on 9-12-2001 with President Bush as he said this war on terrorism will be long and it will be bloody, but having had the quick and decisive war for the liberation of Kuwait and other smaller wars over with in little or no time, the stomach of the American people seems to be growling with indigestion for a finite and quick solution in Afghanistan and frankly that is not going to happen."
8/17/2009 12:16:14 PM

"George Bush invaded Afghanistan to protect
his investment called Arbusto! Google Arbusto!!"

""Charisma and political savvy."
"Conventional"
"Intensity."
Tell me how support for the Jewish state in Palestine is good for anybody. It seems to be teaching us to adore absurdity.
"Combating Extremism"
At least "war on terror" didn't sound simply like thought control."

"Would that be going after Sadaam Hussain in Iraq instead of Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan before he ran for the hills?"

"History will be repeated! A few years from now the politicians will come up with a "peace with honor" and cut and run from this war. Our fallen comrades in Afghanistan will join their brothers from the Veit Nam war as those who served and died in vain."

"It is only a matter of timebefore we fail in Afghanistan. Meanwhile we wil have wasted lives. We blew a tiny,tiny, tiny window of opportunity in 2001."

"I can assure you that while
USA spent a fortune on Afghanistan a very small amount trickled down.
I was making schools for 40,000 USD while the US tax payer was paying
400,000 USD for a school.The big contractors made money and are making money."

"Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT, from a command perspective, in the TORTURING of prisoners !

He was, at best, disingenuous to Congress, and more likely, he lied.

Duty, honor, country.

A COMPLETE JOKE."

"Our military and our government are not good nation builders in that part of the world because they do not understand the people there. They will do what they want, not what we want. We are wasting far too much by even being there."


"Leave all of these lunatic countries NOW.have no problem with them killing each other,but not our people"

"What are we doing there in the first place?

Making sure Afghan women can go to school?

Chasing that man? (He's left).

Killing poppies?

For god's sake, are the politicians of the world all mad?

I thought Obama had more sense than to let this brutal farce continue."

"
Obama is sounding a lot like LBJ. Bush understood that we had to stick it out for the long term, until the two sides tired of fighting. We might as well pull out now."

"Load up the troops and get us out -NOW! This is so Vietnam! Let them grow their poppies and have their harems. This is a nomadic culture of women-hating, western civilization-hating terrorists. We're not going to change their centuries-old culture. These Muslims love to die! A single American life is too much to lose for this lost cause..."

"I respectfully disagree with your questions about counter-narcotics operations as taken on by the military. Narcotics interdiction is a symptom of a dysfunctional country--in this case ours. We provide the demand for these products--they (the narco-producing countries) supply the product. Until we effectively deal with our domestic addictions--we will continue to be embroiled in these conflicts. The problem, dear Admiral, is not with them it is with us.
The same argument can be applied to our addiction to oil. Until we realistically and effectively deal with our addictions--we (the U.S. military in particular) will be embroiled in these NEVER ending conflicts.

Respectfully,
S.R. Moritz"

"General McKiernan was a fine soldier and officer sacrificed to political expediency. This mess will not be solved by military action alone. When the Afghan people decide en-masse to throw us out, our defeat will be the ultimate result. Historic precedent tells us that. Every invader to go into Afghanistan has foundered and burned out on this indomitable country. It is only a matter of the lives, money, and time we spend, until it happens to us."


"The wrong general got fired! Gates, Mullin and McChrystal, all three political suck-ups and the latter an out and out liar, should be axed. The pentagon needs some integrity in its' leadership for a change. Bush really screwed up when he appointed Gates & Mullin; Obama screwed up equally by keeping them. Obama's got an excuse though, they bowed and scraped just like he was used to and sold their souls for a job."

"Obama's foreign policy is as shaky and mismanaged as his domestic policy. Obama is clearly not a leader or even a decent manager.

Why would any body with any sense expect a community organizer who got elected and accomplished nothing in Illinois state government and nothing as a U.S. Senator to be competent to be president?

Obama will be a one term loser because his economic policy is prolonging this recession and his foreign policy is even worse."

"Help these regions have a chance to develop their country in healthy one rather than in opium planting living.

Increasing diplomatic corps that dealing with these difficulties. Afghanistan and Pakistan are very poor nations, people have been encouraged to venture in planting opium career for living for years, children have no chance to go to school, women have no career, men have jobless to live . They belong to the dark power; they subdue their lives to political leaders.

President Obama should resolve this crisis situation in peaceful spirit by any means that possible.
Bin Laden is a human that has been leading his people for years because of encountered oppression from the political power; he is a good political leader if the system value him as the peaceful leader that brings peace to his people with his choose.

Under president Obama’s Peaceful Plan should have brought to harmonize in co-operational spirit not conflict policy."

"Forgetting the fact that we shouldn't even be in Afghanistan, it's refreshing that someone at the Pentagon knows they have to change tactics. What they do after that doesn't work either, though, is more problematic. Ask Russia about Afghanistan."

"The whole Afghan War thing is very curious.

What is our left wing, anti-US power Prez even doing fighting this thing?

And where is the Left in general on the Wars? Code Pink? Move on.org? Not a peep out of Netroots which was founded on anti-war opposition.

The principles of the left are revealed as baseless.

The oppostion to the Wars is now shown to be just politcal oppostion to Bush and now death and destruction no longer matters.

On to Card Check!"

he inner message from this article on McKiernan would seem of great cheer to the latest crop of West Point graduates, since it makes clear that current Pentagon policies promise that one, and perhaps two or three of these new second lieutenants, will in years to come hold general command in Afghanistan. Their children, possibly, likewise.

For the rest of us, the news is not so good. Another president has been convinced -- by the generals -- that the only possible course is more war probably outliving both Bush and obama after long years in retirement. Alternatives that involve switching to aiding Afghanistan rather than killing the troublesome Afghans -- who are nowhere near a majority -- seem entirely outside official thinking. Good news for the generals.

Was it a mistake to appoint McKiernan? Those leaking to the Post would prefer we don't think about that? Was he anything other than a good general? The message of the story is that a good general isn't what the Bush administration wanted in Afghanistan.

Have things changed much post-McKiernan ?
Yes, but mainly in publicity. We're now shown marine officers sitting down with Afghan tribal leaders, as though that's a new thing. It isn't: American soldiers and marines were doing that nearly eight years ago. But the current military thinking seems to include an Image Conquers All component, which is likely why the Photoshopped image of imagemaster David Petraeus beams out to us from the DoD website today. This doesn't win wars, but it might please his family."