MAJOR NEW U.S. AFGHAN ESCALATION

[UMBERTO UMBERTO]

Ending wars? Cutting back?


Hmmmmm . . .

( read here)


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7793772.stm



UU

[stilltrucking]

I saw that.

When we originally invaded Afghanistan I had a bad feeling about how easy it seemed. I was thinking about classic military tactic of luring the enemy into your territory then....

Explicitly echoing Afghanistan's tragic recent history, Holt explores the difficulties Alexander the Great encountered when he marched into the country, whose ancient name was Bactria. Like subsequent British, Russian, and, now, American and allied armies, the Macedonian wunderking discovered in 329 B.C.E. that invading was easier than conquering.


Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan

Ending wars? Cutting back?
Hmmmmm . . .

Hmmmm indeed.
Are you saying that Obama is going back on his word?


Obama said during the campaign that he would send more troops to Afghanistan. He also said during the campaign that he does not support gay marriage. He was upfront about all this.
That is why e_dog was ranting and raving about him.

Obamz is not the president yet. Bush is sending the troops but I am sure Obama agrees.







.

[UMBERTO UMBERTO]

ST-- the "hmmmm" is not against Barack Obama.

I am still vexed we think that by controlling the internal affairs of other countries we can stop terrorism.

Ahmed Rashid has many cogent things to say about Pakistan, whose border and mountainous areas probably conceal the most potent and determined terrorists ( including Bin Laden) on the planet.

Will we also try to untangle Pakistan militarily?

Rashid favored ( June 2008, in this interview) deeper involvement and more troops from the US in Afghanistan, by the way.


( link to Amy Goodman's discussion with Rashid):


http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/10/d ... _rashid_on

Some terrorist threats are real, of course, Mumbai serving as a recent example. But descending with fifty or so thousand troops, an aerial armada and other nightmarish war machines on a country that is already badly shredded from a series of wars, surrogate and direct, seems a fantasy to me.

Bob Gates is a career bureaucrat, a "policy-enactor"-- the generals are not going to stop warring-- it's their main interest.

Who is going to move in the direction of negotiation and peace?


--N

[stilltrucking]

From what I have read there seems to be no doubt that he Pakistanti military and their ISI are the problem. Including the attacks on Mumbai.

About your question:

Who is going to move in the direction of negotiation and peace?

Negotiate with the Taliban?
Interesting Bill Moyers show the other night.

Guest Blogger: Sarah Chayes on Negotiating with the Taliban

There was one issue Bill and I did not have time to address in our interview today: the notion of negotiating with the Taliban.

It has been startling to witness the parade of international policy-makers, not to mention members of the Afghan government, now opining that way out of that country's gut-wrenching situation is to cut a deal with those who are victimizing its population. For, make no mistake, no matter how this prospect may be packaged, "reconciliation" with Taliban, at the level at which exploration is now underway, will involve some kind of power-sharing.

The proponents of this approach rest their case on a couple of fallacies...

We and our friends in Kandahar are thunderstruck at recent suggestions that the solution to the hair-raising situation in this country must include a political settlement with "relevant parties" - read, the Taliban. Negotiating with them wouldn't solve Afghanistan's problems; it would only exacerbate them. Ask any Afghan what's really needed, what would render the Taliban irrelevant, and they'll tell you: improving the behavior of the officials whom the United States and its allies ushered into power after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Sarah Chayes: Failing Afghanistan

I wonder what Tilly thinks of all this?

[mnaz]

I think 'hmmm' is an appropriate response.

[stilltrucking]

I think 'hmmm' is an appropriate response.

Then you know more than me mnaz.
Because I have not a clue what the proper response is.

I am just saying Obama made it clear what he intended to do.

NEW YORK -- During his triumphant European tour, Senator Barack Obama again urged NATO's members to send more troops to Afghanistan and called the conflict there, "the central front in the war on terror." Europe's response ranged from polite evasion to downright frosty.

It is unfortunate that Obama has adopted President George Bush's misleading terminology, "war on terror," to describe the conflict between the United States and anti-American groups in the Muslim world. Like many Americans, he and his foreign policy advisors are sorely misinformed about the reality of Afghanistan.

One understands Obama's need to respond with martial élan to rival John McCain's chest-thumping about "I know how to win wars." Polls put McCain far ahead of Obama when it comes to being a war leader. But Obama's recent proposal to send at least 7,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and his threats to attack Pakistan's territory, and warnings about Islamabad's nuclear forces, show poor judgment and lack of knowledge.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-marg ... 15591.html

It is a sticky wicket because these two countries, Pakistan and India, have teetered on the brink of nuclear war for...for a long time. We are so complacent about that.

India, Pakistan Were Near Nuclear War in '99

Not a pop quiz, but i wonder if:

Obama will put an end to the eclipse of the state department by the DOD? Will Hillary do her homework?

We no longer have a civilian-led government. It is hard for a lifelong Republican and son of a retired Air Force colonel to say this, but the most unnerving legacy of the Bush administration is the encroachment of the Department of Defense into a striking number of aspects of civilian government. Our Constitution is at risk.

The Pentagon is muscling in everywhere. It's time to stop the mission creep.

[one of those jerks]

Professor I hope you like my new user name. It fits me to a T. I am one of those jerks who ...

Check this out if you get a chance.
The Good War?

sincerely
stilltrucking et al.

[e_dog]

Get the Vietconngs!

Save the GIs! No MIAS git yer brothas outa here!