Five Years Later: Afghanistan Reverts To Breeding Ground For Terror
Five Years Later: Afghanistan Reverts To Breeding Ground For Terror
On October 7, 2001, following the attacks of September 11th, the United States, backed by allied forces from around the world, invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government and root out Al Qaeda. In today’s Washington Post, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld writes, “Within weeks of our launching combat operations, …the Taliban regime had been defeated, consigning yet another cruel regime to the dustbin of history.”
But today — exactly five years after the initial invasion — the Taliban has returned with a vengeance, the Afghan economy is in shambles, and reconstruction has faltered. What’s worse, Osama bin Laden, who directed the 9/11 attacks from Afghanistan, and Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who harbored him, remain at large. And, Afghan insurgents have imported tactics from the Iraq war, such as roadside bombs and suicide bombings.
Despite Afghanistan’s direct links to the attacks of September 11th, the Bush administration has continued its policy of benign neglect toward Afghanistan, instead directing essential resources and troops to the debacle in Iraq. We have seen what happens when Afghanistan is allowed to fail, and we cannot let it happen again. Getting Afghanistan right is critical to preventing it from becoming a safe haven once again for terrorists.
This past Thursday, NATO expanded its mission all over Afghanistan, taking over security for the eastern part of Afghanistan and assuming control over 12,000 U.S. troops. That’s an important step towards correcting the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. But the United States must remain committed to Afghanistan even as NATO increases its control over Afghanistan’s security. A couple of critical steps must be taken immediately:
– U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan should be doubled to 40,000 from the approximately 20,000 U.S. troops deployed there today. These troops should be sent from Iraq to Afghanistan under NATO leadership as reinforcements to complete the work left unfinished by the Bush administration.
– The United States must also conduct a more aggressive diplomatic campaign with Afghanistan and its neighbors, especially Pakistan, as well as lead an international effort in rebuilding Afghanistan.
We cannot afford to fail in Afghanistan again.
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As of today, Canadian dead in Afghanistan number 40.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:32 pmI'd like to keep track of the number of soldiers from EVERY country fighting in Afghanistan. Do they report that number in the U.S.?
There are many unproved assumptions that provide the backbone for this article e.g. 9/11 directed from Afghanistan, 9/11 directed by bin Laden, the necessity for continued committment to remaining in Afghanistan, and so forth. This hardly seems like an appropriate article for Think Progress. Is this another infiltration as in Truth Out, Alter Net, Common Dreams, etc.? What do the rest of you readers think?
October 7th, 2006 at 12:36 pm'We cannot afford to fail in Afghanistan again.'
Does this mean progs will support more initiative in Afganistan when they reclaim power in November?
October 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pm"U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan should be doubled to 40,000 from the approximately 20,000 U.S. troops deployed there today. These troops should be sent from Iraq to Afghanistan under NATO leadership as reinforcements to complete the work left unfinished by the Bush administration"
Oh, yes, let's just let our war-weary young men go directly from Iraq to Afghanistan. What kind of strategy is that: to send them from one hell-hole to another? If we "can't fail," then reinstitute the draft. I'm sick of people sitting in their comfortable environments, shifting around REAL people, as if they're pawns in a losing game of chess.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pmWow! Bush gets to be branded a failure in his own lifetime. Karma is a bitch!
Not many neocons around today. They must all be hiding in their bomb shelters... :)
October 7th, 2006 at 12:43 pm"U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan should be doubled..."
I thought Democrats were against unilateral action. Let the French and Germans send more troops.
Oh, and Osama bin Ladin is dead, despite the best hopes of the propagandists of ThinkFascist.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:48 pmAs of today, Canadian dead in Afghanistan number 40.
I’d like to keep track of the number of soldiers from EVERY country fighting in Afghanistan. Do they report that number in the U.S.?
Comment by el+kanuckistani — October 7, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
Look here http://www.icasualties.org/oef/
October 7th, 2006 at 12:50 pmHeckuva job, Georgie. May you rot in your own private hell for all eternity.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:50 pmOh, and Osama bin Ladin is dead, despite the best hopes of the propagandists of ThinkFascist.
Comment by ProgressiveEqualsFascist — October 7, 2006 @ 12:48 pm
So who is this idiot? A new troll? Or someone old with a new name?
October 7th, 2006 at 12:51 pmYeah, I expect marching roughly this many troops to Afghanistan via Iran is part of their "brilliant" plan.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:51 pm"reverts" poor choice of words - try "remains"
October 7th, 2006 at 12:52 pmACTUALLY...
It's a breeding ground for OPIUM.
GHW Bush is the largest drug dealer on earth, controls the CIA, and is the ACTUAL President of the United States.
The entire Congress is being blackmailed thanks to warrantless wiretapping, and the October Surprise is well under way:
If the definition of "terrorism" includes threatening to cause harm to the population - to achieve political gain, Karl Rove is the number one terrorist on earth. Put Susan Ralston under oath and ask her how many terror alerts have been intentional false alarms designed to change the subject or "bury the lead."
When the recent London False Alarm caused every television in the US to feature the headline "TERROR IN THE SKIES," it was done with the specific intent to bury two other stories that broke hours later...that just happened to be about Israel: The AIPAC (Franklin) spy trial was NOT thrown out of court & US sailor, Ariel Weinmann, was arrested for transferring submarine secrets to Israel.
Considering Israel's nuclear-capable sub is about to unload on Iran, radio silence was required. No one heard these two stories, because the media was screaming about a nonexistent threat.Have you seen this?
Updated Saturday, September 30, 2006 3:04 PM EDT
IRAN WAR PLAN EXPOSED! PREPARE FOR THE SINKING OF A U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER – The USS Enterprise - CVN-65!
The existence of a hideous plan to sacrifice a U.S. Aircraft Carrier as a pretext for war with Iran is presently being uncovered!
The Hal Turner Show has been told that within the next five (5) weeks, the United States will "suffer" a missile attack upon the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, presently on patrol near the Persian Gulf. This attack will appear to be from numerous "Silkworm" and/or "Sunburn" missiles which will sink the vessel and kill most of the 5,000 crew onboard.
The "attack" will be blamed on Iran and thus provide the Bush
Administration with an excuse to go to war with that nation. The Hal Turner Show has learned that the missiles used to attack the USS Enterprise will not be fired from or by Iran, but rather will be a "false flag operation" made to LOOK as though Iran carried out the attack! The USS Enterprise is the worlds first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. It was Commissioned in 1961 and is due to be decommissioned in 2014 or 2015. The ship was selected to be the "victim" of this "attack" due to its age.
THOSE PLANNING THE ATTACK ARE INSIDE THE U.S. AND ISRAELI GOVERNMENTS and view the loss of the Enterprise crew as a necessary sacrifice to induce Americans to support war against Iran. Put bluntly, the ship and crew are to be cannon fodder. I am being fed more information and expect to be able to name names as to who is behind this plan. Check back often.
LIBERTY REDUX | Homepage | 10.01.06 - Found on Rawstory message board
Here is the DRESS REHEARSAL for the sinking of the USS Enterprise:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-17-ship-reef_x.htm
Aircraft carrier sunk in Gulf of Mexico to create artificial reef
Updated 5/17/2006 4:38 PM ETIN THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) —
As hundreds of veterans looked on solemnly, Navy divers blew holes in a retired aircraft carrier and sent the 888-foot USS Oriskany to the bottom of the sea Wednesday, forming the world's largest deliberately created artificial reef. Clouds of brown and gray smoke rose in the sky after more than 500 pounds of plastic explosives went off. The rusted hulk took about 45 minutes to slip beneath the waves, about four hours faster than predicted.
VIDEO: Navy ship sunk to create reef:
Korean and Vietnam War veterans aboard charter boats watched from beyond a one-mile safety perimeter as the "Mighty O" went down in 212 feet of water, about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach.
Lloyd Quiter of North Collins, N.Y., who served four tours on the ship in Vietnam, wept. "I'm a little stunned. It's a little hard to take," he said.
AND WHY DID THEY FEEL THE NEED FOR THE DRESS REHEARSAL? BECAUSE WHEN THEY TRIED IT A YEAR EARLIER, IT TOOK 25 DAYS TO SINK THE USS AMERICA WITH HIGH EXPLOSIVES!
http://www.cdnn.info/news/industry/i050522a.html
USS America 1048-ft aircraft carrier sunk off North Carolina powered by CYBER DIVER News Network.
NORTH CAROLINA (22 May 2005) -- The retired aircraft carrier USS America is on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, sunk by the Navy in a series of explosive tests that upset some veterans.
The 84,000-ton, 1,048-foot warship that served the Navy for 32 years rests about 60 miles off the coast and more than 6,000 feet down, according to Pat Dolan, a spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command.
She did not give a location, but the Navy previously said the explosions would take place off North Carolina. With the country (intentionally?) distracted by a sex scandal, and Rove's REAL October Surprise imminent, it's time to shift the focus back to Iran. The ONLY thing that would justify the cancellation of elections and the declaration of Martial Law would be a "Nuclear Crisis." The only thing that will prevent Bush's entire cabinet from going to prison is the cancellation of elections.
A FALSE FLAG attack on a US Naval vessel would be declared the equivalent of an attack on US soil. This would "justify" Israel attacking Iran with Sub-launched nukes. Keep in mind, both the sinking of the US vessel and the purported retaliatory strike could all come from one Israeli sub. As described above, it's tough to sink an aircraft carrier. Apparently the only way to ensure that there are no witnesses (see USS Liberty incident) is to vaporize it with a mini-nuke. Did we send any to Israel in the recent delivery?
The "terrorists" are in the White House - and run the Propaganda machinery. What did Ralston and Abramoff know about false terror alerts, and when did they know it? How many other Republicans know that the terror threats are MANUFACTURED? How many others know that 9/11 was an inside job that Cheney ran through NORAD? How many know that GHW Bush is the ACTUAL President, and everything we are being put through is specifically designed to cover the trail of his own criminality?
Assume that nearly every Congressman and Senator is being blackmailed. Once you see the ability of Israel (Comverse) to wiretap every phone, and realize that only men of low moral character are allowed to enter the political arena (through the AIPAC filter), it becomes crystal clear how the US Congress was effectively neutered.
The truth is the only cure for blackmail. Expose it all...URGENTLY.
It's time for the US Navy to step forward, and neutralize the Israeli sub and stop this madness.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:55 pmcynic. a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:57 pmHere's the best "argument" that a "progressive" can muster:
October 7th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
#8. Zooey. You're exposing your elitism. Private hell for the rich. What, public hell for everybody else?
October 7th, 2006 at 1:00 pmProgressiveEqualsFascist. The liberals here that pose as open-minded, enlightened progressives, aren't interested in what you have to say unless they agree with it.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:03 pm1/ actually its 39 canadians - 40 UK
heres the links http://www.icasualties.org/oef/
October 7th, 2006 at 1:05 pmI thought Democrats were against unilateral action. Let the French and Germans send more troops.
Oh, and Osama bin Ladin is dead, despite the best hopes of the propagandists of ThinkFascist.
How is that an argument? I suggest you look up the definition of "argument".
October 7th, 2006 at 1:10 pmComment by ProgressiveEqualsFascist
You conveniently left out the rest of the paragraph, which contradicts your conclusion that this was a unilateral action:
"These troops should be sent from Iraq to Afghanistan under NATO leadership as reinforcements to complete the work left unfinished by the Bush administration."
Please provide whatever proof you have.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:14 pmThat's easy to fix, click the little X at the top of your browser.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:14 pmGOP=sexualpredators
So How does Osama come back from the dead time after time after time? If Osama is dead then George is lying.
Which one is it?
October 7th, 2006 at 1:19 pmEnough already! Where's the good news? Can it be true that everything Bush has touched has turned into a pile of slimy shit?
Afghanistan?
Iraq?
Right to privacy?
Habeus Corpus?
Fair tax structure?
protection of the environment?
Science over faith?
Wait, wait, here's one........ He did not get a blow job from an adult of the other sex. Ok, what a relief, he's my man and I support him 100%.
Brown-shirt Bush supporters are ignorant and dangerous.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:21 pm'But today — exactly five years after the initial invation — the Taliban has returned with a vengeance, the Afghan economy is in shambles, and reconstruction has faltered.'
I've been saying it all along. This war isn't worth it. Freedom should be reserved for those enlightened enough to exercise it.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:26 pmHeckuva job, Georgie. May you rot in your own private hell for all eternity.
Comment by Zooey
Zooey,
Stopped in at the office to check out TP. Saw your posts from yesterday. Jane and I hope you're feeling better soon. But I'm wondering, was that the pain medication talking in this post or are you feeling better? (I suppose both could be true.)
I understand your sentiments and I agree only so far as an atheist can. Since I don't believe in hell, how about if we hope he pulls several muscles while clearing brush (or punching Laura, or kicking Barney, or tossing down a few, or throwing a hissy fit)?
October 7th, 2006 at 1:26 pmYou’re exposing your elitism. Private hell for the rich. What, public hell for everybody else?
Comment by paul
Kiss my ass, darling.
Read carefully: May you rot in your own private hell for all eternity.
It's a private hell for GWB all by himself, no money, no prestige, no sycophantic suck-ups, no mountain bike.
Just George W. Bush, knee deep in the blood of our children, hearing the unceasing screams of the dead and grieving forever.
Clear?
October 7th, 2006 at 1:30 pmThe only reason we're discussing Afghanistan is because we don't have enough proof yet to prove that Bush and his cronies were directly responsible for 9/11. We'll have to wait til after the elections to convict all Republicans for high treason. So at this point, we discuss Afghanistan in order to illustrate how Bush and his Cronies never intended to go after Osama in the first place. Isn't it amazing that after the billions of dollars we've spent on going after Saddam's oil, we aren't even allowed to watch the trial...well, I'm not surprised considering its a show trial and if Saddam was allowed to speak, he'd no doubt implicate Bush jr.. Bush sr. and Reagan as complicit in crimes against humanity since Rumsfeld under Reagan/Bush sold Saddam the chemical WMD's in the first place.
At any rate, ProgressiveEqualsFascist, no one here buys your little con game. Republicans have been attempting to villify Liberals and Progressives ever since the Corporate owned Republicans stole America from the middle class in order to support corporate welfare. We're tired of you and your kind lying through your teeth. If Jesus was alive today, it would be you and your kinda that put him on the cross. It will be interesting to see how you and your ilk intend to sabotage the next election since we have the majority.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:37 pmYou guys should read this. We need to listen.
Soldiers in Iraq asking: 'Why are we here?'
October 7th, 2006 at 1:40 pmhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15160357/
Chingebush. Wow, I can't believe nobody told you.
Bush has protected us from domestic terrorism for 5 years.
After being left with a Clinton recession, Bush has turned the economy around.
The stock market is strong again and there is record personal wealth across the board.
Unemployment rates are the envy of everyone else in the world.
After 8 years of Clinton neglect, Bush is actually addressing national security concerns.
With the exception of one democrat turned republican, the leadership has been devoid of personal scandal.
See, things are much better than your progressive friends would lead you to believe.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:48 pmSince I don’t believe in hell, how about if we hope he pulls several muscles while clearing brush (or punching Laura, or kicking Barney, or tossing down a few, or throwing a hissy fit)?
Comment by Wayne A. Schneider
Hi Wayne,
I'm much better today, thanks. That was strictly me talking! I made it a little clearer for our paul in #25.
No hitting or kicking!! If you like, he could get all liquored up and fall into a pile of brush, and spend eternity pulling out splinters with dirty tweezers.
Ah, I love a clear head! Have a great day, Wayne, and hello to Jane!
October 7th, 2006 at 1:50 pmZooey. That hell must be quite a bit worse than an appeasement president would have: knee deep in the ash of burned out American cities, naively unguarded by progressive apathy. At least, you called me darling.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:59 pmhingebush. Wow, I can’t believe nobody told you.
There was no attacks on America 5 years before Bush either.
If you call an unworkable budget, a war paid for by emergency expenditures, and backloaded taxes turning an economy around.
Not after you adjust for inflation and cost of living increases, many more Americans don't play the stocks than do, your Board is very 'narrow'.
Your forgetting the Louis Freeh crowd of wag doggers that tried to block Clinton. The WTC was attacked 34 days into the Clinton administration. After four years of neglect by Bush Sr.
Kenn' Boy Lay and Enron comes to mind, and all the denials that went along with it. Cheney got drunk and shot a lawyer than refused to talk to police when they arrived on the scene.
Abramoff is another personal denial, Remember the pics?
If you live in Bizzarro Conservative World perhaps.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:01 pmWhere’s the good news? Can it be true that everything Bush has touched...?
Wait, wait, here’s one……..
Comment by Chingebush — October 7, 2006 @ 1:21 pm
here's another... heard on randi rhodes:
October 7th, 2006 at 2:03 pmwhatever dubya declares war on he gets more of... lately his rhetoric is even more slanderous, as his war on democrats gets more obnoxious...
the result? more democrats!!!
.
Hey leftist fascist why can't you see the media for what it is?
FOX news is about as conservative as Rush Limbaugh is skinny.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Zooey,
Gotcha. Pain, and lots of it. Not so much that he passes out, but enough so that he never feels comfortable again, no matter how drunk he gets. Fitting. And for good measure, make him listen to John Ashcroft singing 24 hours a day. And every few days, Jack Bauer can go in and "question" him, all in accordance with the laws he just signed. I'd like that almost as much as I'd like to see the Mets sweep today. Almost.
Keep getting better. See ya later.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:05 pmPaul, it's obvious you live in a different America than many of us.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:06 pmThe disparity of wealth and the plight of millions of American citizens working for minimum wage is of little concern to you, since "there is record personal wealth across the board." Strike the words across the board and substitute "for corporate officers" and you may be correct.
Talk to you after November 7th.
paul,
As you wish...
October 7th, 2006 at 2:07 pmOh, Wayne, you're good...an Ashcroft chaser. Damn!
Are we still on for Milliways?
October 7th, 2006 at 2:08 pmI think it is too late. IF, the US had follwed through swiftly after the initial invasion and if we had actually gotten bin Laden and al Zarwahri (sp?) and Mullah Omar (love his character on The Wire), perhaps we could have been successful in steering Afghanis in a more peaceful, less warring tribal direction, but it is now too late no matter how many troops we commit. Ask the Brits.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:15 pmI sure hope karma is well armed because these NEO NAZIS in control have nukes and all the money/power to make ANY laws they need.F*ck illegal laws,KARMA doesn't need any stinking badges made by NAZI governments to do it's job,and it will do it's job eventually, always does.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:15 pmThat hell must be quite a bit worse than an appeasement president would have: knee deep in the ash of burned out American cities, naively unguarded by progressive apathy. At least, you called me darling.
Comment by paul —
I'm confused; are we now discussing Reagan's appeasement of the terrorists who held americans hostage?
October 7th, 2006 at 2:19 pmBush's private personal hell will be well stocked with booze, but as he goes to take each precious sip, it will evaporate, sending him into a raging fit of anger, frustration and denial that he has a problem..
October 7th, 2006 at 2:25 pmA final point. US and NATO forces are not fighting "terrorists," as their governments claim. They are fighting the Afghan people. In the 1980’s, I saw mujahidin too poor to afford shoes strap 110 lbs of mortar shells on their backs, and climb 6–8 hours over mountains through snow to bombard a Communist base, then trudge home. These are the people we are fighting. Anyone who knows Afghans know they will not be defeated, even if they must resist for an entire generation.
The US and its allies are not going to win the Afghan war. They will be lucky the way things are going not to lose it in the same humiliating manner the Soviets did in 1989.
In recent weeks, near panicky calls by British PM Tony Blair for more NATO troops to be sent to Afghanistan show that western occupation forces are on the defensive, fighting to hold their bases, and facing the specter of eventual defeat. Just, in fact, like every other invader that has ever occupied Afghanistan.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:28 pmWell paul, I won't call you darling, more like f*****up reich winged, lock step stupid.....How safe does the population of the good old U.S.A feel after 6 miserable year's of you're dictators control.? 68% think this is the worst administration ever and the rest are starting to think it's not worth their time to vote at all.....
What year and planet did you come from?....The post's you present here make me think you were either born in 1990 or been under a rock since then....Get with the program and get updated or go back and ask rove to give you some better talking point's.......
I won't respond to the troll named paul again, clearly he is on heavy med's and not coherent.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:34 pm#37 Any time, Zooey. Just tell me where the Heart of Gold is parked and I'll be there. Is Hotblack Desoto still playing dead for tax purposes? Maybe we can borrow one of his extra stunt ships.
Oh, and let's throw a Ravenous Bugblatter Beast in with Bush and not give him any towels to put over his head. That'll learn him.
"Rarely is the question asked, 'is our children learning?'"
October 7th, 2006 at 2:36 pmAnd they learned their latest tactics from their training Iraq. Just beautiful.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:56 pmSo much for freedom being on the march.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:11 pmDid the Prez not say "freedom is on the march".anyone hear him say that recently ?bet he is working on the next lying-slogan.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:17 pmI am not going to read all the comments above, hoping that others may feel as i do. Does Ms Wadhams offer any consideration of actual history here? Can we possibly have forgotten more than a dozen years of Soviet invasion that went for naught as the tribal warlords, Taliban militias, and our own CIA funded Al Qaeda--bin Laden led troops defeated them?? And that those same three forces are still involved, only now against US? Maybe military engagement is not the appropriate response??? Or are we, empire builders and colonizers, still going to use gunboat diplomacy to liberalize and democratize the world, killing off those with whom we cannot agree and subjegating the rest to do our bidding???? We make deals with all sorts of heinous and vile totalitarian regimes when it suits our purposes, so the idiotic cant that we need to liberalize Afghanistan is nothing more than neo-con rhetoric to justify our desperate need to coerce the population to allow us to control all access to mid-east oil--Afghanistan's strategic placement along pipeline routes and control of Iran from the North cannot be underplayed here at all.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:42 pmSee, things are much better than your progressive friends would lead you to believe.
Comment by paul — October 7, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
Keep taking the Oxy Paul, you're almost unconcious.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:56 pmBest course: get out of Afghanistan and get out of Iraq ASAP. Our armed military presence only supports corporate puppet dictatorships... Bush's occupations have failed because they are based only on corporate and imperial greed. If Bush had any concern for "spreading democracy" he never would have accepted the GOP-rigged and GOP-stolen Presidential Election in 2000. Bush was too farking cheap in Afghanistan to make needed social and political reforms there. His natural instinct is toward the wealthy and the powerful.
Of course, the USA and its CIA created the Taliban and the Al-queda ("the base") in Afghanistan under President Reagan to oppose the Soviet-run government there in the 1980s. We reap today what the imperial GOP sowed there twenty years ago... See the documentation presented by Seymour Hersch in The New Yorker magazine last year.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:57 pmCheers.
" Anyone who knows Afghans know they will not be defeated, even if they must resist for an entire generation."
Unlike the U.S. public, who have had their country, their government, and their constitution stolen out from them without firing a shot. Obviously, there is no need for "gun control" in the U.S. ......your guns are only used to kill other common men, whether they are countrymen or foreign.
October 7th, 2006 at 4:48 pmCNN and Elain Quijano on CNN said things are looking up. Who am I going to believe?
October 7th, 2006 at 5:27 pmwhen responding to idiots like poser #6
October 7th, 2006 at 6:22 pmALWAYS keep in mind that the term Fascist is exactly fitting
to republicans. These evel greedy c0ksVckers worship corperations and
use religion to begile the gullible all while detroying our social
saftey nets. Progressives are simply centrist, maybe slightly
to the left which is more socialist/and/or communist. but just
slightly - the new Republicans are NOT conservative . They
are in a cultish mindset ideology all of their own.
I am 52 years old. I have NEVER seen so much chaos in my lifetime. Our country is a mess. There isn't an aspect of my life that isn't being affected by the way this congress and the president are governing the nation. There is a total disregard for the needs of the people and a total disregard for the needs of this nation. WE ARE FALLING APART.
And it just keeps coming. And the Republicans just keep looking at the Democrats trying to blame them. The Republicans are the majority. The Republicans are in the White House. Telling me the Democrats aren't patriotic and telling me the Foley mess was political move is bull shit. I'm sick of this.
Look what the incompetent bully boys have done to Afghanistan and Iraq. Look what they've done to Haiti. Unforgivable.
I am soooo tired of this BS.
Jeanne Smith
October 7th, 2006 at 6:28 pmYou want to see something dramatic. Here's a geography lesson.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/us_citylarge.jpg
October 7th, 2006 at 6:32 pmIn case anyone wants an up to date report on Bush's war strategy here it is.
Bush's Failed Policy of Kill, Kill, Kill
On March 30, 2003 – 3 ½ years ago and only 10 days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq – I solicited assessments from a few trusted military analysts and wrote that “whatever happens in the weeks ahead, George W. Bush has ‘lost’ the war in Iraq. The only question now is how big a price America will pay, both in terms of battlefield casualties and political hatred swelling around the world.â€
...“Instead of recognizing their initial errors and rethinking their war strategy, Bush and his team are pressing forward confidently into what looks like a dreamscape of their own propaganda,†refusing to turn back “no matter how bloody or ghastly their future course might be.â€
October 7th, 2006 at 6:49 pmI am a Canadian. I am am appalled that Canada's recently elected Conservative Government would allow us to be used as pawns by joining in support of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. I am disgusted with George Bush and Tony Blair breaking things and then the rest of the World needing to fix them! NATO is the wrong organization to be in Afghanistan because NATO is tainted by the dominance of America in the organization and that fact leaves a stench of horrors of the Bushco campaigns.
What is glaringly real, in todays world, is that the people who are right-of-centre have a bankrupt philosophy. "Conservatism" has been abducted and twisted into a torturing, killing, greedy monster which more rightly needs to be called Hitlerism or Bushism.
The true conservationists are the Green Peace supporters, the Social consciousness supporters who advocate for universal access to nourishing food, good health care, open education, and personal dignity supported by unequivical laws and sociatal acceptance; all without destruction of our beautiful home, the Earth. In other words, true "conservatives" would have reject all of the Bushco policies on a world wide basis.
In order to insure that we can accomplish the common goals of humanity be need to be sure that money is availble for the social programs that benefit the masses. Accumulated fortunes spent on glitzy pet projects that feed the mega-egos of a few capitalists are detrimental to the well being of humanity. It is therefore, essential that accumulated fortunes earned in one lifetime must be distributed to the common good not passed down to through inheritance.
October 7th, 2006 at 7:28 pmCan someone explain the math to me?
We need to double the number of US forces from 20K to 40K
Nato took comand of US forces in Afghanistan (12K soldiers)
20,000 - 12,000 = 8,000 US troops unaccounted for.
Where are they?, What happened to them?
October 7th, 2006 at 7:41 pmJeanne:
I think one element of being "king of the hill" is that you don't need to have anything except everyone else below you. In the killing and devistation of a place like Afghanistan Bushco wins because in the end they will be able to have their minions go there and buy all the property for future development for ten cents an acre. They also see the potential for having a large pool of labour that is willing to work for food alone, even under the most digusting labour conditions. (Above, I first wrote "barbaric" and then changed that to "disgusting" because I think in comparing "barbarians" to the West (USA) is insulting to "barbarians.")
Getting rid of Bushco will be a huge improvemnt but "the West" has sunk into such a quagmire that it will take 100 years for the possibility of a recognizable recovery. That is thirty years before you even have a proper government and then 70 more years to get it organized in a humanitarian mode.
October 7th, 2006 at 8:04 pmadding more troops is not going to solve the fundamental issues in Afghanistan rooted in incompetent reconstruction policies that failed to create economic stability and prosperity to the Afghans and the Pakistan govt. - Musharraf the dictator- won't challenge one of his crucial bases of support which are the fundamentalist Islamic groups that border Afghanistan and help the Taliban fighters
your writing is not filled with solutions, just hollow rhetoric
October 7th, 2006 at 11:58 pmThis is something I predicted a few years ago. I said that someday we will declare "victory" and pull out of Afghanistan. In effect we will prove we couldn't run Afghanistan any better than Soviet Russia. And remember Condi Rice's expertise was cold war Russia and she apparently wasn't such an expert because she forgot the Soviet Union's own Viet Nam in Afghanistan. Either that or nobody in the Defense Department (read Donald Rumsfeld) listens to her. Rummy doesn't listen to anybody (certainly not the generals in the field) so it's not inconceivable that he is deaf to Condi if indeed she did have warnings about Afghanistan.
Notice how reports from Afghanistan for at least two years have said that the capital city of Kabul is the only part of the country that the US fully controlled. This is complete deja vu from the Soviet days, you might say word for word just replace US for USSR. I suppose you could replace roadside bombs for stinger missiles, but that's just insurgent tactics.
I like to say that history repeats itself except history is like movie remakes, the updated version is the same yet disguised.
October 8th, 2006 at 1:13 amI love this site and I'm totally for the article, but "invation" is spelled "invasion." just a little egregious
October 8th, 2006 at 1:14 am[...] Saturday (10/7) was the fifth anniversary of that other war… the forgotten war… Afghanistan. People talk about how, after three years, can this Administration get us out of Iraq. Hell, we’ve been in Afghanistan for FIVE years now, with no end in sight. Violence there has only gotten worse (video: “Attacks in Afghanistan have DOUBLED every year”). We have FAR greater International support in Afghanistan (the second largest force in Afghanistan isn’t the British, it’s the French), but they aren’t there combing the hills looking for Osama bin Laden, they’re in firefights with the resurging Taliban, which seeks to regain control of the country. [...]
October 8th, 2006 at 11:18 pmTotally agree with Don (message #2). There is no evidences of the implication of Afghanistan in the 9/11 attacks. No evidence of the implication of OBL in those attacks.
For the US administration, OBL is much more useful "at large" than dead or captured. There is no evidence that he is still alive, except for those believers in the video tapes conveniently issued at each turning point in US policy.
The US administration is lying on quite each issue regarding Iraq or Afghanistan, that is a proven fact. Why should we believe the rest of their story?
That is not a support to terrorism, nor to all conspirational theorists around the globe. That is simply a matter of moral sanity.
October 10th, 2006 at 3:48 amMan the war is stupid send us home
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:25 pm