tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post2342050850473447032..comments2024-03-26T05:18:53.709-04:00Comments on Pen and Sword: Say Nyet to AfghanistanJeff Huberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-19474640802670290092009-11-14T12:19:22.993-05:002009-11-14T12:19:22.993-05:00The tea leaves are getting hard to read. Hillary ...The tea leaves are getting hard to read. Hillary is on record as being in favor of escalating, so I suspect Eikenberry is acting on his own. <br /><br />Then again we have heard reports that Hillary negotiated directly with the Pakistani Military and spies to cut a dope deal with the Taliban for us and give us an exit out of Afghanistan.<br /><br />JeffJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-84518735854960097152009-11-13T19:22:07.688-05:002009-11-13T19:22:07.688-05:00The most important factor here is whether Obama is...The most important factor here is whether Obama is capable of greatness, or whether he is just another genius micro-compromise equivocator like Clinton.mandthttp://adgitadiaries.blog-city.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-91509567272180032232009-11-12T14:58:12.876-05:002009-11-12T14:58:12.876-05:00Call of Duty sets sales record
Sigh.<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/11/12/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-record-sales.html" rel="nofollow">Call of Duty sets sales record</a><br /><br />Sigh.Filostratohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04469903260877069258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-42324384549834454942009-11-12T14:36:52.865-05:002009-11-12T14:36:52.865-05:00Remembrance Day here yesterday. The Governor Gener...Remembrance Day here yesterday. The Governor General, for some reason best known only to herself, was all tricked out in full army uniform. This followed several previous ones who had gone away from the uniform thing completely. Weird.<br /><br />Some people seemed to actually enjoy feeling sad. Fewer veterans of WW2 every year. But someone remarked "..but there were many there with the Afghanistan medal", as if this were a good thing. Goody, goody. We can have many, many more veterans for Remembrance Days for years and years to come.<br /><br />I looked at all this stuff and thought, "We failed them." They died and their colleagues thought that maybe the world would learn, that it's <a href="http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">"shotvarfet"</a>. (Arthur Silber's November 11th entry).<br /><br />But no. We find new ways to produce more broken, wrecked, profoundly disturbed young people while the war profiteers, the oil companies, the greedy politicos can all may hay while others bleed. <br /><br />I'm beyond trying to figure it out.Filostratohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04469903260877069258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-60590022925936690052009-11-12T14:19:15.508-05:002009-11-12T14:19:15.508-05:00Gen McChrystal was said to be fuming about Mr Eike...<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8356094.stm" rel="nofollow">Gen McChrystal was said to be fuming about Mr Eikenberry's intervention</a><br /><br />Fume away, buddy. If he fumes enough, he may blow a gasket and leak (precious bodily) hydraulic fluid all over the floor, just like the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-turse/eco-explosives-a-bleeding_b_158645.html" rel="nofollow">BEAR</a> (Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot), as chronicled by Nick Turse at a War Toys conference earlier this year.<br /><br /><i>"One of its pitchmen spent a great deal of time kicking very specific objects into a very specific position so BEAR could actually lift them -- not exactly a battlefield likelihood -- while another gave an apologetic spiel explaining the robot's many drawbacks, including its low battery life. 'Obviously, this couldn't go on a battlefield,' he said. Soon after, red liquid began to pool on the floor just beneath the BEAR. 'It bleeds like a human, too,' one sarcastic conference-goer remarked as the robot hemorrhaged hydraulic fluid."</i>Filostratohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04469903260877069258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-78501585095842731532009-11-12T09:54:32.453-05:002009-11-12T09:54:32.453-05:00Conn. man1; I have to respectfully disagree.imo; S...Conn. man1; I have to respectfully disagree.imo; Shillary is running a covert crew within the state dept. She has been beating the chicken hawk war drum from the beginning. She is teamed up with the Patreus, Mc Chrystal camp. Her comments about the illegal Israeli settlements stirred the pot. She is a BIBI Likud fan.Tao Dao Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229628652152584292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-40843468865462472982009-11-12T09:14:24.253-05:002009-11-12T09:14:24.253-05:00If Hillary is lined up with Mullen and McChrystal ...If Hillary is lined up with Mullen and McChrystal against the President and Vice President on Afghanistan, (as reported on HuffPost) in favor of more war, clearly she has no business being the top diplomatic representative of this country.<br /><br />Obama wants an option with an exit strategy, not an open-ended commitment to war in Afghanistan.<br /><br />Best news I've heard lately.<br /><br />When he made the statement that the war in Afghanistan was a "war of necessity" that was when we took our eyes off that ball, where we knew Al Queda was actually located, and instead invaded Iraq --- for reasons nobody has been able yet --- to justify.<br /><br />One more "Bush/Cheney" mess to clean up.Elderladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02268520056042293783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-83388636847832005192009-11-12T08:21:25.732-05:002009-11-12T08:21:25.732-05:00Who would've thought Gen. Eikenberry, now the ...Who would've thought Gen. Eikenberry, now the Ambassador there, would be the one to try to give Obama a reasonable out?<br /><br />Gotta wonder if he isn't doing this at the request of his higher ups? That would be Hillary's crew at State, right?Connecticut Man1https://www.blogger.com/profile/08923884330387123010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-31234761836150316002009-11-12T08:03:34.084-05:002009-11-12T08:03:34.084-05:00Afghan profit machine is taking milk from American...Afghan profit machine is taking milk from American babies, despite the fact that too many unlamented US personnel are dying for perpetual war theory, with no consideration of anthropolgy or hsitory.<br /><br />Withdraw now.<br /><br />India is not an issue and if left to its devises will "take care" of little Pakistan.<br /><br />The Chicom can grab this tar baby. Just as the Brits and Russians tilted to no useful end in the 19th century.<br /><br />There is no domino game here, they play chess.<br /><br />Loggie20Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-74834881812301237042009-11-12T07:22:27.520-05:002009-11-12T07:22:27.520-05:00Unless we develop a comprehensive South Asia strat...Unless we develop a comprehensive South Asia strategy, the most we can hope for is a temporary peace in Afghanistan.<br /><br />What would such a strategy look like? Well, at the very least it requires some moderation of the strategic competition between India and Pakistan. <br /><br />Without attention to this aspect of the problem, we really are only playing around at the edges of the conflict.<br /><br />For more, there's a good piece <a href="http://bit.ly/3vYHPk" rel="nofollow">here</a>Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15268784314240810538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-31828404280325019962009-11-12T04:05:29.938-05:002009-11-12T04:05:29.938-05:00Russians have been advising us to get the hell out...Russians have been advising us to get the hell out of Afghanistan since before we invaded. Gorbachev is only the latest. Speaking as someone who has young relatives about to enter the U.S. military meat grinder, I hope and pray that Obama takes the red pill (on Iran as well as Afghanistan). As someone wise on the Internet once said, "Deal with reality or reality will deal with you." Are you listening, Barack?jpwhitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975430453557627368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-38034482905577234452009-11-12T02:36:03.060-05:002009-11-12T02:36:03.060-05:00Good stuff. Thanks.
JeffGood stuff. Thanks. <br /><br />JeffJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-39147034010427221902009-11-12T02:24:01.428-05:002009-11-12T02:24:01.428-05:00Thanks for your insights and persistent, passionat...Thanks for your insights and persistent, passionate attention to these matters. Sadly, Nixon set the precedent for Obama's most likely course of near-term action. As summarized by George Ball:<br /><br />"What was plainly required by a new President in 1969 was not that he accept the premises of the administration be succeeded - premises which the majority of the American people had clearly rejected - but that he try by realistic analysis to put the war back into context. That meant abjuring vapid talk of "defeat" or "victory." It meant ... climbing out of the pit in which the preceding administration had imprisoned itself with its own slogans.<br /><br />"Had he possessed the requisite qualities of character and temperament, President Nixon was in a superb position to do so, since, free from the hostages of past actions, he could forthrightly challenge the assumptions of the war ... He had a chance - indeed an obligation - to take a totally fresh look at what America was trying to achieve by its continued intervention in Vietnam."<br /><br /> (From Diplomacy for a Crowded World - pg 67)<br /><br />Interesting how the template for an Obama failure seems to have been written a mere 33 years ago.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com