Article

2008-07-20 Afghanistan

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve White 2008-07-20 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 Afghanistan is a deep concern, because unlike Iraq, there may not be a way to win in Afghanistan, just create a stalemate. As long as Pakistan festers, Afghanistan will be destabilized by it.

A Vietnam comparison is not entirely wrong, in several ways. Therefore it is of deep concern how we plan to leave Afghanistan, and do so in such a way that the Afghans can take care of themselves, against a murderous foe backed by a hostile government.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-07-20 00:19|| 2008-07-20 00:19|| Front Page Top

#2 Screw ABC.

Posted by newc">newc 2008-07-20 02:08|| 2008-07-20 02:08|| Front Page Top

#3 So to hell with it, just vote for universal health care and screw what happens halfway around the world. After all, 9/11 couldn't possibly happen again.

I know this was said ironically but in point of fact, this is unfortunately how many Americans I know, perhaps more than half here in NY State, see the responsibility of government under the US Constitution. It has nothing to do with defending the USA and everything to do with helping them pay medical bills now that they've developed Type II diabetes through overeating.

Posted by JDB 2008-07-20 03:07|| 2008-07-20 03:07|| Front Page Top

#4 I agree the Afghan war is unwinnable in any reasonable timeframe and the West has no strategic interest there (unlike Iraq).

Leave it to Pakistan, India, China and Russia to fight over.

Posted by phil_b 2008-07-20 03:49|| 2008-07-20 03:49|| Front Page Top

#5 No Heroin money; no Taliban. State Department wars are always lost.

Posted by McZoid 2008-07-20 03:50|| 2008-07-20 03:50|| Front Page Top

#6 If the Obamessiah winds up running the show, look for helicopters on the roofs of our embassies in both Baghdad and Kabul with a year. The Quislingcrats and their media sockpuppets are fifth-columnists and traitors, pure and simple. And when the next 9/11 happens, I really, really want to see journos hanging from lampposts across the entire country.

Posted by Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2008-07-20 04:50|| 2008-07-20 04:50|| Front Page Top

#7 People are frustrated with the lack of success and it's [the job of] the leader to make the case to American people as to why the fight in Afghanistan is a compelling national security interest

I agree. Lay this one squarely at the feet of George W. "Mumbler-in-Cheif" Bush.

He has consistently bungled communicatiosn to the public about our successes, about our reasons, abotu the strategic realities.

Instead he has let the MSM shape the public perception.

He is an utter failure at the vital job of communicating the truth to the people, in the face of the hostile press.

He's a wuss when it comes to standing PUBLICLY and bringing in the public on the things that count.

Thank God we have Pelosi & Reid for opposition - Tip O'Neill would have eaten poor clueless George alive.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-07-20 11:09|| 2008-07-20 11:09|| Front Page Top

#8 Fighting in Afghanistan has always been like playing wack-a-mole. Ask the British and the Russians. I don't believe that the USA can afford a forever war.

Posted by SR-71 2008-07-20 11:14|| 2008-07-20 11:14|| Front Page Top

#9 What will happen to the MSM if a few column writers, and maybe an editor or two, were to pass away over a weekend's time, all by car accident or drowning or electrocution. Do you think the tone of these stories would change? I believe that the rest would be cr@pping their pants. Suddenly they wouldn't feel so anonymous, maybe they'd stop being so blatantly on the other side of this one. If not, several more should be invited to join the recently departed.

As for you Old Spook, your jumping on the anti GWB bandwagon helps how? This president has never had the opportunity to shape the message. I'd even suggest that no president has had that power - if he was liked by the media of the day, his angle was presented - if not, then his angle was poo-pooed. Any time GWB has communicated to the country, he was followed up by some talking head - often of the Demo-rat persuasion, telling the audience that GWB was wrong and an idiot.

The media knows just how powerful it is. They know what effect Cronkite's broadcast had. The nameless, faceless "They" want to have the same power, to have that kind of influence on American society - not for good or ill, but simply to have it. In their thinking, they can do no real harm. That is why I think several of them should have their mortal coils removed, to remind all that this game is serious. The stakes are high, and more than a few empires have fallen to the barbarians, because people with voices didn't appreciate the divisiveness they caused.

Posted by Rob06">Rob06 2008-07-20 14:16|| 2008-07-20 14:16|| Front Page Top

#10 The media are elites, and as such, they 'deserve' to instruct the masses how to live. Todays pols are also elite, like Manbearpig, they know what is good and they will issue orders to us when applicable.
Like Margaret Thatcher said, Conservatism has reality on it's side. Now, we should stop tolorating the enemy and eliminate him.

Posted by wxjames 2008-07-20 14:37|| 2008-07-20 14:37|| Front Page Top

#11 Hve you ever tried to get a conservative message to be carried to the public by liberal reporters? Can't be done. Fox and the blogs are the only way. If BO gets into the whitehouse, those two areas of conservative freedom of speech will be attacked with a vengeance.

Posted by a yankee 2008-07-20 16:25|| 2008-07-20 16:25|| Front Page Top

#12 Robo06 proves that indeed you can have your own personal NUKES!
:)

Posted by .5MT 2008-07-20 17:57|| www.cybernations.net]">[www.cybernations.net] 2008-07-20 17:57|| Front Page Top

#13 A pity the journalist didn't ask a few military people or Rantburgers what they think. I suspect the percentages would be a bit less lopsided in the journalist's preferred direction.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-07-20 18:06|| 2008-07-20 18:06|| Front Page Top

#14 You sure don't solve the communication problem by not doing a much, and seldom to never challenging the press daily in their false or bad reporting.

Facts are Bush didnt even try to fight - he sat on his wimpy ass instead of using the bully pulpit.

And I'm not jumping on the BDS Bandwagon - I've been critical of Bush's inability and lack of intestinal fortitude in communicating his positon. I've complained about this for a long time - "What good is the Bully Pulpit when all you're going to do is mumble?".

With the press against you, you have to continue to hammer, continue to try, and continue to put the effeor in. Bush gave up, and I cannot forgive that at all.

That's a huge fault, and one of the reasons Bush is seen as a failure by so many.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-07-20 18:39|| 2008-07-20 18:39|| Front Page Top

#15 I haven't forgotten about 9/11 and I've always supported a strong response, but I can't support
the mission in Afghanistan anymore.

We are not promoting freedom in Afghanistan (ideological deviation is punishable by death).

Instead we're importing Sharia-restrictions for non-muslims in the west, which is what parts of the US military in Afghanistan are officially calling for since "Condemning the religion (Islam)...does not make the world safer from terrorism". (see HotAir)

Whatever can be achieved in Afghanistan is not worth finlandizing ourselves, and that's exactly what's happening to us.

Posted by Spaigum Panda2480 2008-07-20 18:52|| 2008-07-20 18:52|| Front Page Top

#16 MSM: We lost at losing in Iraq, maybe we can suceed in losing in A-stan

Posted by Gleng Protector of the Hemps8662 2008-07-20 19:39|| 2008-07-20 19:39|| Front Page Top

23:53 bgrebel
23:43 SteveS
23:37 SteveS
22:52 gromky
22:45 Mizzou Mafia
22:25 bigjm-ky
22:24 AzCat
22:17 Ho Chi Flaiper4630
22:16 bigjm-ky
22:13 Bin thinking again
22:09 Frank G
22:01 RWV
21:51 Anonymoose
21:46 Pappy
21:44 Pappy
21:32 Steve White
21:31 Besoeker
21:25 Frank G
21:22 Brett
21:18 Brett
21:11 eLarson
21:06 Glomomp Smith2601
20:47 a yankee
20:43 a yankee
Merry-Go-Blog