Posts Tagged ‘afghanistan’

I’m listening to everybody on Morning Joe talk about afghanistan…

Posted: May 14, 2010 by datechguy in media, opinion/news, war
Tags: , , , ,

Maybe it’s because I’ve got a birthday coming, but if you substitute the words “Afghanistan” with “Iraq”, substitute “Karzai” with “Maliki” and turn the clock back to 2006. It would be the very same conversation. The very same, why are we there, we will be there 10 years or more, why are soldiers dying, we can’t win this war, blah blah blah blah.

C’mon guys we’ve seen this show before. Let me explain a few things.

  • This is a war, in a war both sides try to win, just because we are the US that doesn’t mean the other side is going to stop trying.
  • Yes we are losing troops, that’s because unlike World War 2 we aren’t mass bombing their areas since it would kill an awful lot of civilians. If we DID use all our power the argument would suddenly be how we were killing people indiscriminately.
  • The Taliban is operating in Pakistan, we are not going to go to war or invade a nuclear Pakistan. As long as that is the case we need to be killing the Taliban in Afghanistan.
  • The Goal is the same as the “flypaper” strategy in Iraq. Attract the warriors to a place where we can kill them. We have lost nearly 1,000 soldiers in how many years of war? Does anyone here know what those numbers break down per year? Have you ever heard of a war lasting that long with a loss rate like this. How does it compare to the rates in Chicago, or the Mexican border towns?

If you only know one song people are eventually going to get tired of hearing it.

On Morning Joe today they were talking about Afghan War

Posted: May 10, 2010 by datechguy in Afghanistan war, war
Tags: , , , , ,

And the subject of civilian casualties comes us as it always does whenever the US is involved in a war.

I personally think people have seen too many movies and seem to have the idea that we can magically only hit the bad guys. Generations will pass before that is possible, but something that Lesley Stahl said really bothered me.

She talked about how civilians die in drone attacks and how even at maned checkpoint civilians are accidentally killed. She talked about how it hurts our reputation in the world.

I never forget that she was the person who was questioning General Colin Powell about his supply lines in Iraq

I want to ask that great military tactician Lesley Stahl a serious question:

Since it is necessary to get further troops on the ground and further forward to decrease civilian risks and since such actions are inherently more dangerous lets bottom line it; How large an increase in American casualties (read dead American soldiers) would you be willing to accept Lesley in order to drop accidental civilian casualties by say 10%?

I’d love get an answer on this one.

Good news from the war front:

Posted: February 16, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, war
Tags: , , , ,

Looks like a big fish has been landed:

The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.

The administration is allowed to take credit here and we should not hesitate to approve when they either do something right or get out of the way to let our agencies do it. The war is an American problem not a republican or democratic problem.

Then again when the first words out of the mouth of some is this:

Apparently Baradar has been in custody since last week and is being interrogated by both the Paks and us. (This is why the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group exists.) The ultimate point of fighting the Taliban is to compel them to give up fighting and accept some version of a post-Taliban order in Afghanistan. Torturing Baradar — which the Pakistanis have been known to do — is counterproductive to that effort. If we treat the guy respectfully, in a demonstrated way, it might spur a reconsideration of Taliban goals. I am not counting any chickens, but any hope of a game-changing possibility will be foreclosed upon if we or our allies torture Baradar. Let’s be smart — and true to Obama’s stated principles/executive order. If there was any doubt whatsoever, the Abdulmutallab case proved we don’t need to torture to get good intelligence. emphasis mine

What is he a baby seal? Shall we just make up signs that say “Save the Terrorists?” When the very first words out of some people’s mouths are this nonsense you wonder what world they live in.

Some people just shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Read Thomas Friedman’s article against the Afghan esculation…

Posted: December 8, 2009 by datechguy in Afghanistan war, opinion/news
Tags: , , ,

…it is a fair case for a position I disagree with, not just to hear a reasonable argument on the other side but because of some of the truths he expresses two in particular:

1. The Warren Buffett principle: Everything I’ve ever gotten in life is largely because I was born in this country, America. It is the primary obligation of our generation to turn over a similar America to our kids.

The sentence might also say because my parents came here. He may not realize it but this is the #1 case against both the Climate deals and obamacare.

The 2nd is the most important:

2. Many big bad things happen in the world without America, but not a lot of big good things. If we become weak and enfeebled by economic decline and debt, as we slowly are, America may not be able to play its historic stabilizing role in the world. If you didn’t like a world of too-strong-America, you will really not like a world of too-weak-America — where China, Russia and Iran set more of the rules. (emphasis mine)

That bolded line is the single most important thing you need to know about America. He leaves out the importance military decline but the point is made. A weak America is a disaster for the entire world.

If you want to make someone understand American Greatness or what America means to the world these two things are what you need to drill into them.

Older Entries
Newer Entries