Journal Update #1 Tue 06 Oct 2009

	Posted: Oct 5 2009, 10:17 AM
Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,020 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)	U.S./NATO mission in Afghanistan doomed Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:13 am QUOTE ("oldsarge99") Synergy you and i don't agree on much, but Afghanistan is a noose around Obama's neck. The decision he makes will have reprecussions for many years. If he falters and loses his nerve. He will pay a price here at home he may not recover from. If he agrees to a troop surge, the war in Afhanistan belongs to him and is his to win or lose. How he handles this will show me what he is made out of. God help him if he falters and we leave Afghanistan and Alqaeda regroups and hits us again! JohnRandolphHardisonCain replies: If Obama orders 45,000 more troops to Afghanistan and begins training Afghan army and police as fast as possible the U.S. military says it will take at 3 to 5 years for that to be accomplished. Many experts says it may take twice that long if it is possible. That means that Obama cannot "win" in any sense of that word in his first term and probably cannot "win" the war during his second term. The Chairman of the JCS Adm Mike Mullen says we are at square one or "the beginning" in Afghanistan. The past 8 years don't count in his math. The number of successful counterinsurgency wars can be counted on one hand, and they took an average of 10 to 12 years to "win". If Obama serves two terms and throws everything we have at "the problem" in Afghanistan then it will be the next President who realizes a "victory". Obama is wise to consider a regional strategy and to seek help from Afghanistan's neighbors including Iran. IMO negotiations have to be part of the solution since this is a political war and not a war of necessity. We cannot wage total war because of that fact. All political wars end through negotiations. It is being touted even in the right-wing Wall Street Journal / FOXNews press that Al Qaeda is severely weakened in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban is a local phenomenon not a jihaddist network bent on world domination. Negotiate with the Taliban and marginalize Al Qaeda. And then there is the problem with the corrupt gov't of Hamid Karzai. Good luck American occupiers! -------------------- Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then, will you realize that money cannot be eaten!!! (Cree Indian Prophecy)
IP: ----------

synergy	Posted: Oct 6 2009, 05:02 AM
Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,020 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)	Does left want a weakened America? QUOTE Katrina vanden Heuvel's statement "The world is marching on its own terms. America's no longer a superpower" is absolutely correct. This is not something that Barack Obama accomplished in 9 months. The neoconservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was formulated in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. PNAC proposed that United States should seize the "unipolar moment" when it was left as the world's only superpower & use its military might to make United States' political & economic model dominant throughout the world THROUGH THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE. After 9/11 the Bush Doctrine was devised which stated that the U.S. President could order military force against any nation or group which he/she though MIGHT become a threat to United States sometime in future. The Bush Doctrine further stated that United States would retain military superiority & dominance on land, at sea, in the air & IN SPACE! The Bush Doctrine of "preventive war" (not just "preemptive war" which may be justified if there is an imminent threat) is utterly illegal. American unilateralism & "cowboy diplomacy" did not work. This is why "The world is marching on its own terms." Posted by JohnRandolphHardisonCain on Tue Oct 6, 2009 5:58 AM -------------------- Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then, will you realize that money cannot be eaten!!! (Cree Indian Prophecy)
IP: ----------

synergy

Posted: Oct 6 2009, 10:16 AM

Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,020 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)

Does left want a weakened America? QUOTE If United States doesn't find a way to end its wars in Iraq & Afghanistan this country will fail & there is nothing that Obama, Gates, Jones, Petraeus, or McChrystal can do to stop it. The onus for this failure will fall on Obama because it is his admin that has taken the option of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan off the table. That is the only viable option United States of America has. Liberals are focused on health care & are ignoring the failed, illegal wars that can bring this country down. By sitting on the sidelines, Russia & especially China will be the big winners. United States' clout & Americans' standard of living are headed for 3rd world status because we cannot summon the political will to disengage from unnecessary foreign entanglements & choose to wade deeper into the quagmire. At 47 years old President Obama is too young to remember much of America's angst caused by the U.S. war in Vietnam. The war in Afghanistan is now the longest running war in U.S. history except for Vietnam, & when the inconclusive war in Iraq is included, the costliest wars in U.S. history except for WWII. We have a $2 trillion budget deficit. Interest comes due! Pay the (Chinese) piper! Posted by JohnRandolphHardisonCain on Tue Oct 6, 2009 11:12 AM -------------------- Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then, will you realize that money cannot be eaten!!! (Cree Indian Prophecy)