Iraq and Syria and (still) Afghanistan

It looks like the current group of bad guys (isis) is gaining ground in Syria.  And the Turks are saying that the U.S. air strikes are not enough and ground forces are needed.  OK, whose ground forces?  Perhaps, for once, we let them fight it out.  It is my opinion that if the Turks/Syrians/Iraqis want to get rid of isis, there are more than enough of them to do it themselves.  But what if the bad guys win? We isolate them and let them determine their own fate.  

And we are to be allowed to keep 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. What joy! We get to keep pouring money into that rat hole.  Good thing we don't need the money for our own infrastructure, educational and medical systems, funding for the NIH, or anything else. 

Honestly folks, we have lost our minds. 

Hard Hearted?

I am terribly sorry for the families of the journalists who were beheaded and for the aid worker who was beheaded. I am terribly sorry for the young man who will spend the next part of his life as a prisoner of the North Koreans. I really am. But, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING WHEN THEY WENT THERE?? One of the journalists had previously been taken prisoner and was fortunate enough to be released and yet he chose to go to Syria. Didn't anyone tell them that when you go to places where really nasty people are either running amok or running the entire country, really bad things really do happen and can happen to you??

(And while beheading is repugnant to us, our good buddies in Saudi Arabia do it frequently. According to a Washington Post article, the Saudis beheaded 8 people last month. Rather ironic that Saudi Arabia is our ally in fighting ISIL.)

But before thinking the journalists, aide worker, and North Korea wannabe stupid, perhaps it would be well to consider the United States muddling deeper into Syria/Iraq/ISIL. We've been arming, training, and providing intelligence to the Afghans, the Libyans, the Iraqis, the Somalis, the Yemenis, and God/Allah knows who else and we see how well that has turned out. (Good thing there are no problems here within our own country that need tending to.) So perhaps the question should be WHAT ARE WE THINKING??  Obviously we haven't learned anything.

Five more

 



 

 

I read this morning that 5 more Americans were killed in Afghanistan.  That is 5 more families who will never again see or talk with their father or son or brother.  I wonder how many children will now have no father. And if 5 were killed, most likely there were at least as many wounded. The news rarely tells us how many arms or legs were lost or how many blinded or burned.  They said it was "friendly fire" from an air strike by "coalition" forces. What on earth are we doing there?? Can we not just stop this madness??

 

 

Write your Congressmen, Senators, President, & newspaper. 

Troops to Remain in Afghanistan?

 

I see that President Obama wants to keep 6,000 troops in Afghanistan after the end of the year.  Anyone reading my blog for the past 10 years will know my opinion of this idea.  No, no, no! Whether we keep 6,000 troops there or 60,000 and whether we stay an additional 1, 10, or 50 years, as soon as we leave chaos, civil war, and misery will return.  And I resent my tax dollars being poured into that or any other bottomless pit of corruption when we don't have the money to care for the veterans that we have already so needlessly damaged.  

I have come to the conclusion that citizens of this nation must perpetually stand and loudly proclaim their unwillingness to support the perpetual war machine that has become our nation. 

Once again I will be contacting President Obama, both my Senators, and my Congressional Representative to let them know my vehement objection to keeping any troops whatsoever in Afghanistan. 

Update:  According to NPR this morning, President Obama wants to keep our troops in Afghanistan until 2016 and then pull out.  Then it was reported that both of the Afghan Presidential candidates think that 2016 will be too soon for us to leave.  What they really want is to keep the money flowing into their
Swiss bank accounts. No, it is well past time for the U.S. to declare victory and leave.

Support for War in Afghanistan Falling

According to the HuffPo, support for the continuing war in Afghanistan has fallen below levels for that in Iraq and Vietnam.  What puzzles me is who on earth supports continuing pouring lives and tax dollars into that pit?? Oh yes, our Secretary of State does, perhaps the President does--it's hard to tell. 

According to the article "gains made by the United States would be significantly lost by 2017 if the United States and Afghanistan do not make a new security pact allowing troops beyond the deadline "

So if we leave in 2014, all the lives lost and ruined over the preceding 13 years will be for nothing by 2017. What a waste, what a tragedy!

NO!! NO!! NO!! continued

Well, it turns out I am not the only person to take issue with the Status of Forces Agreement being negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014. Here is a link to the editorial in today's NYT by the Editorial Board:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/opinion/sunday/the-long-goodbye-in-afghanistan.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

The last sentence, "Regardless of what he (John Kerry), the tribal council and the Afghan Parliament decide, President Obama still has to make a case for the deal to the American people."  I do not think that case can be made at all. 

NO!! NO!! NO!!

This from the front page of today's NYT:

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Wednesday that the United States and Afghanistan had finalized the wording of a bilateral security agreement that would allow for a lasting American troop presence through 2024 and set the stage for billions of dollars of international assistance to keep flowing to the government in Kabul.

I can't believe it!! Yes, I can. I am furious!! I voted for Barak Obama for President, not John Kerry. Surely, a treaty committing billions of dollars and U.S. troops on the ground has to be ratified by the U.S. Congress???? 2024?? Isn't 12 years, billions of dollars and thousands of lives and limbs all for nothing enough?? NO, just NO, this cannot happen!!!

Edited to add this email which I just sent to President Barak Obama, Rep. Pete Olson, Senator John Cornyn, and Senator Ted Cruz:

Dear President Obama,

   I am troubled by the news reports today that a treaty is being considered that would keep American troops in Afghanistan until 2024 and would continue to pour billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan.  This is not to be done.  The time to leave Afghanistan is 2014 as we were told we would. There will be chaos when we leave whether it is 2014, 2024, or 2054. We have urgent business here at home, in the United States. Let's not dissipate our resources in endless quagmires. 


Next I will call the offices of all 4. 

Iraq and Afghanistan

I wonder if there is anyone who thinks that we (the U.S. and various allies) have accomplished anything worthwhile in Iraq and/or Afghanistan? We are still bringing young Americans home in flag draped coffins and we are still spending billions of dollars on these debacles. Why? It is long past time to declare victory and get the hell out. Who will be the last person to lose their legs or their mental well being or their life? Who will it be before we finally stop the madness? I am not a pacifist. I fully realize that there are people out there who would do us harm.  But I think we need to be careful in spending lives and treasure.  We are coming up to 2014 which is the date that President Obama has determined is time to exit Afghanistan. There will be all kinds of pressure on his to leave troops behind for "training" or "support." Will he be strong enough to resist? I wonder.

Iraq - The One Decade Anniversary

Much is being written and said on this unbearably sad anniversary about the totally useless, unnecessary, immoral war that we perpetrated on the people of Iraq. I can hardly bear to read or listen to it.  Words, written and spoken, are so antiseptic, so removed from the horrors, the suffering, the destruction as to be in another world.  I see pictures of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld and I have an overwhelming desire to tear the picture into tiny pieces and burn the pieces. 

4500 young Americans dead, 10s of thousands with missing body parts and messed up minds, untold numbers of Iraqis dead or injured. 

Here are two of my many earlier blog posts on Iraq and Afghanistan:

1/11/2009

We need to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now.

I don't have a clue as to what I can do to promote this idea but I am going to start finding out. 

It's a little thing but I sent an e-mail to change.gov

I'm going to find a way to work on this.

10/27/2009

Afghanistan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html?wpisrc=newsletter

One person speaks out against the idiotic war in Afghanistan and it makes the Washington Post. Hallelujah! I suppose I should be grateful for that. But I'm not--I am furious that we are such utter sheeple that we are being led down this primrose path AGAIN. God how I wish we would bring back the draft so that everyone would have a stake in whether to continue this madness or not. How I wish we were forced to pay in full every year what this costs. But of course we won't--we will continue the war because you really don't have to send your children to be killed or maimed and we can continue with our tax cuts and piddling around with health care because we simply borrow more money from China. 

There is no "win" in Afghanistan; we will simply keep pouring more beautiful young men into that bottomless pit and the ones that aren't swallowed up will be sold to the highest bidder to repay all the money we borrowed to finance the war in the first place.

Same goes for Iraq.

Will we continue on the same path of perpetual war? Iran? Korea? I don't know. It makes me sick to think of it.

7 more today

7 more killed in Afghanistan.  Got to keep feeding the Department of Perpetual Warfare.

I wonder who will be the last

American soldier to die in Afghanistan?   Last week there were six more Americans to die in a place where we have no possibility of achieving anything lasting. Six more families will forever have an empty place in their homes and a tear in their hearts. And nobody cares.  It's a few minutes on the news and then a commercial and it's forgotten. Why are we doing this?  The long term result is going to be no different if we declare victory today and come home or if we keep plugging along until 2014 or whenever. But the Department of Perpetual War will keep going or risk losing funding. So young men will keep losing arms, legs, vision, and lives.  I wonder who will be the last one.  How about your brother or son or husband?  Would you really think Afghanistan is worth their lives?

Afghanistan (yes again)

I just checked my previous posts on Afghanistan and found the my first post on it was March 1, 2009. So for three solid years now I have been yelling and screaming that we should Get. Out. Now.  Maybe, just maybe 3 years from now we will be out.  I suppose it depends on who wins the election in November. At least we are (mostly) out of Iraq.  I wonder who we will invade next??

Kick Us Out of Afghanistan? Please!

Haven't we already spent enough money, lives, and limbs? Isn't there anything that we need to be doing right here within our own borders?


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/asia/afghanistan-koran-burning-protests-enter-fifth-day.html?_r=1&hp

The rosy lies we are being told about Afghanistan.

This article in the Armed Forces Journal is written by a Lt. Colonel who has done 2 tours in Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan.  The man is not just another talking head.  He knows what he is talking about.  Read the whole thing and weep for the lives and limbs and minds lost.


http://armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030

President Obama's speech on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

This evening President Obama will give a speech outlining his plan for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.  I am worried.  In all probability, he will plan to remove 10,000 by the end of this year. That still leaves about 123,000 troops still there and another 100,000 contractors (according to those who should know).  10,000 is not nearly enough. We should have 30,000 (the surge) out by the end of the year, another 50,000 out by the end of 2012, and the remaining 50,000 by the end of 2013.  Cut the $$$ off to the contractors over the same period.  End the nation building in Afghanistan and start the nation building at home.  If anyone wants to support charity to Afghanistan, I'm sure they can find organizations doing charitable work there to donate to. 

I get extremely annoyed when I hear that we have to stay in Afghanistan because Pakistan has nuclear weapons.  So, are we going to stay until they don't have nuclear weapons??

I will be watching the speech tonight.  I am prepared to be very disappointed.  I wish I knew of an organization like Old Ladies Against the Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia.....I guess the acronym would be too long...

America Goes Dark

is the title of Paul Krugman's column in yesterday's NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

It's an excellent article on how cities are literally turning off the streetlights to save money, how teachers and policemen are being laid off, and roads & bridges falling into disrepair. We are all aware of how strapped for money state and local governments are because they are caught in a bind between The Great Recession and the requirement to balance their budgets. I go along with him up to a point. He focuses on the need to increase taxes on the richest 2%. Fine, OK, go for it, increase taxes on the richest 2%, let the tax cuts expire. We will pay more in taxes but we'll survive. What I don't understand is his completely skipping the elephant in the room--What if we weren't funding wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? What if that money was available for lights and education and roads or research for cancer? We are pouring borrowed money into a neverending sinkhole. What's next--Yemen, back to Somalia??
Because we are borrowing the money to pay for the war and have no draft, we feel none of the need to bring these wars to an end.

This rubs me the wrong way Part II

From the Wikileaks documents we learn that the Pakistani's have been aiding the Taliban. What a shock, who would have thought???...

As Rod Dreher says in his blog at Big Questions Online, " I get angry at the thought that American service members are fighting and dying in a war that may not be winnable, and that our allies the Pakistanis may be secretly waging against us, despite being the recipient of more than a billion dollars a year in aid to fight the people they actually appear to be helping."

Afghanistan (Again)

The good thing about the firing of General McChrystal is that at least people are thinking about Afghanistan and our presence there. I wonder how much longer we will continue to pour money and lives into it. At a time when budgets at home are being slashed and taxes increased, we continue to pour billions into Afghanistan. I wonder if half the money and men that have been spent in Iraq and Afghanistan had been spent instead on securing our borders, real homeland security, and making sure we knew who was actually in our country, where they are, and what they are doing, if we wouldn't be a lot better off.

We are being terribly naive in thinking that we can go into a culture completely different from our own and enlighten them about the really, truly right way to govern themselves. As for being there to train the Afghan Army, I just can't believe that given the history of Afghanistan, they really don't know how to fight.

We should begin the withdrawal yesterday.

National Day of Mourning

Since tonight President Obama will announce an additional 30,000+ troops for Afghanistan, I propose a National Day of Mourning for Wednesday. Let's mourn all the arms and legs and eyes and brains that are going to be lost. Let's mourn the families who will spend the rest of their lives missing the presence of their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. Let's mourn all the education and health care and infrastructure that won't be funded because we won't have the money. And finally let's mourn the fact that so very, very few people will lift a finger of protest.

Afghanistan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html?wpisrc=newsletter

One person speaks out against the idiotic war in Afghanistan and it makes the Washington Post. Hallelujah! I suppose I should be grateful for that. But I'm not--I am furious that we are such utter sheeple that we are being led down this primrose path AGAIN. God how I wish we would bring back the draft so that everyone would have a stake in whether to continue this madness or not. How I wish we were forced to pay in full every year what this costs. But of course we won't--we will continue the war because you really don't have to send your children to be killed or maimed and we can continue with our tax cuts and piddling around with health care because we simply borrow more money from China.
There is no "win" in Afghanistan; we will simply keep pouring more beautiful young men into that bottomless pit and the ones that aren't swallowed up will be sold to the highest bidder to repay all the money we borrowed to finance the war in the first place.
Same goes for Iraq.