At Large
Afghanistan Unvarnished
Playing domestic politics with Afghanistan will only further undermine Obama’s war policy.
General Stanley McChrystal reportedly indicated that he might have to request up to 20,000 additional troops for Afghanistan. The initial White House reaction was to send national security adviser Gen. Jim Jones to Kabul to make sure McChrystal would do no such thing.
Apparently contrary orders from Defense Secretary Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, were given to the hard-charging former Spec. Ops. Commander who was encouraged to ask for what was needed no matter the WH political reaction. To create some insurance for whatever Gen. McChrystal’s final recommendation might be, several think tanks were hired to send representatives to Kabul to conduct a strategic review. The interim results of this study were the subject of a special meeting of all these personalities plus General David Petraeus and the NATO Supreme Commander held at Chievres Air Base in Belgium on August 2.
The White House focus, however, is on domestic political reaction rather than the real problems of Afghanistan that, quite frankly, are not going to be solved by another limited commitment of 20,000 U.S. troops. In the long history of foreign nations contesting for power in Afghanistan — a period long and complicated enough to have given the region the name “Graveyard of Empires” — it hasn’t been the lack of foreign troops on the ground that has been the problem. In the past, as now, the ancient heterogeneous grouping of the Afghan people has successfully resisted foreign conquest and all but the most modest socio-cultural change.
Vast amounts of money have infiltrated the Afghan economy in recent years through drug cultivation and trade. Nonetheless the flow of cash into farmers’ hands ($732 million in 2008 out of a total of $4 billion crossing the border) has provided little or no constructive investment in local economies other than to enrich tribal and government leaders, and provide a 10% zagat to the Taliban. There is no shortage of money locally, yet there have been repeated calls in Washington and London for more aid to “reeducate and rebuild” Afghan local economies. Apparently the people who need reeducation must reside in those two cities and not Kabul and Kandahar.
The theme currently in vogue among strategic planners is to add more troops to U.S./U.K. and other NATO forces so as to augment the type of operation elsewhere currently in effect in Helmand. Only now, in addition to seizing key areas, these foreign forces will secure and control them. This purportedly would be accomplished by a policy of friendly contact with the local tribal people so as to encourage them not to assist or harbor Taliban fighters.
If this sounds a bit too fanciful for the rugged murderous reality that is Afghanistan, then it’s apparently not so for the military and political strategists of the Obama and Brown governments. No one wants to admit it in so many words, but what is touted as a war against insurgents (Taliban) and radical Islamic gangsters (al Qaeda) is now being paired with nation-building. Supposedly that’s not why we are there.
In theory the plan is to take and expand control, step by step, of areas of Afghanistan and hold them long enough for an enlarged Afghan Army to take over. The trouble — or rather one of the troubles — with that is while Afghans make brave and innovative irregular warriors, they don’t make very good regular troops.
There is no modern tradition of a disciplined national army. It’s just not part of their cultural makeup, and old rivalries still divide them. These are not the descendants of the subcontinent who, British-led, created the historic regiments of India. They are the same rival Pathan (Pushtun), Tajik, and Hezira tribesmen who fought by family and clan from mountain and valley ambush to prevent the advance of those self-same foreign troops.
The strategy that calls for what military officials term “top-to-bottom partnership between Afghan and NATO security forces” is a great idea if the foreign forces represent an imperial power with the desire and ability to remain in-country for decades, even generations. But this isn’t the 1800s, and there is no British Raj or East India Company to pay the bill in blood and treasure.
Blaming the Karzai regime and the corruption that has flowed from it as the reason for U.S., British and NATO failure to destroy the Taliban may be convenient, but false. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that the Taliban’s power base can be dismantled (his term) by, among other things, “offering bigger incentives to switch sides and stay out of trouble.” Apparently his strategic plan is to teach the Afghan government how to corrupt more efficiently.
The bottom line is to fully commit U.S./U.K. and other NATO forces or get out of Afghanistan by phased withdrawal — except for Special Forces anti-Taliban training cadre — and fight al Qaeda by the only way to beat them: Uncompromising and uninhibited covert warfare!
About the Author
George H. Wittman writes a weekly column on international affairs for The American Spectator online. He was the founding chairman of the National Institute for Public Policy.
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Eric Damon| 8.7.09 @ 10:51AM
The "good war" that the Democrats and the media trumpeted so much is now turning into the very "quagmire" that Iraq was predicted to be. Afghanistan is much more like Vietnam than Iraq ever was, with the tribal rivalries and the unconventional warfare tactics used by the locals against regular forces. Trying to pay these people off to not fight us, or not support the Taliban is madness! The government is corrupt already, so more corruption...albeit sanctioned by the US/UK....is not the way to turn this place around. It may be time to recognize that Afghanistan is going to remain the same disjointed almagamation of tribes that it has always been, focus on destroying the Taliban and Al-Qaeda there, and allowing them to struggle with their own governmental system. We don't have the time nor inclination to rebuild that nation into a functional democracy, especially since they have no history of democracy in the region.
Two side of the game of death| 8.7.09 @ 2:53PM
Last update - 15:02 05/11/2008
Barack Obama wins 77 percent of Jewish vote, exit polls show
By Haaertz Service and News Agencies
Tags: israel news, Barack Obama
Despite the tense rift between Republican and Democratic Jews over the course of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, exit polls on Tuesday showed that Barack Obama received about 77 percent of the Jewish vote.
These numbers were higher even than the 2004 election, when Democratic candidate John Kerry received 74 percent of the Jewish vote. Al Gore received the highest percentage of Jewish votes in 2000, with 79 percent.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of the J Street lobby group on Tuesday called Obama's victory a sign that the campaign waged against him by Republican Jews comprised "baseless smears."
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"American Jews resoundingly rejected the two-year, multi-million dollar campaign of baseless smears and fear waged against him by the right wing of our community," he said. "Surrogates and right-wing political operatives in our community stopped at nothing in their efforts to sway Jewish voters against Obama."
"We can only hope that these results put to rest for good the myth that fear and smear campaigns - particularly around Israel - can be an effective political weapon in the Jewish communit," he added.
A Gallup poll released in late October showed Jewish voters favored Barack Obama over John McCain by more than 3 to 1, with 74% saying they would vote for Obama over 22% for McCain.
The poll, which interviewed over 650 Jewish registered voters each month since June, showed American Jews growing increasingly comfortable with Obama since July, when the Illinois Senator tied up the Democratic Party nomination.
The poll showed support for McCain among Jews stood at a high of 34% in June, before beginning its downward turn in July after Obama's nomination
Jewish Assassins Inc| 8.7.09 @ 3:12PM
The Judenfrei Jew Review
News and Views on Jews (beta version)Home
Political assassinations by Jews
Submitted by Administrator on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 01:47
Responding to the strange death of Jörg Haider, nationalist leader poised to become Chancellor of Austria, someone commented, ‘Sometimes people, even the great and famous, just die in everyday accidents.’
Erko replied:
But they’re always enemies of Jews or Zionism, aren’t they?
What’s more, with the isolated exception of Rabin, who seems to have been assassinated by his own people, e.g., the Mossad, no prominent Jew has ever been assassinated or has died in a suspicious accident.
No prominent supporter of Jews and Zionism has ever been assassinated or has died in a suspicious accident.
If these ‘accidents’ were really accidents, we’d expect them to be ‘politically neutral.’ But they’re not. The victims always seem to be someone Jews just happen to be worried about.
It hasn’t been put in a better manner. Here we consider the strange deaths or murders of many people in leadership positions. In all cases they were a threat to the Jewish crime network and the Jews were the major beneficiaries of the deaths of these leaders.
Folke Bernadotte, Sven Olof Joachim Palme, Ylva Anna Maria Lindh: Three Murders and Jews
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) – Murdered by the Jewish Crime Network
Folke Bernadotte
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.7.09 @ 4:47PM
Mr. Wittman
I must say, I don't know of a satisfactory conclusion in Afghanistan....ever.
Fortunately, we are NOT an empire.
I truly do wonder what our goal is there in these days.
WilliamInWien| 8.7.09 @ 6:14PM
These 'folks" change their loyalty as often as we change our linen. There is no "national character" or identification, as such. Take way the insurgents, the Taliban, Al Qaeda and any other disruptive force and it would take decades to bring Afghanistan into the 19th century. If total elimination (death) of the Taliban is not the US objective, get out now!
DSAMMIS| 8.7.09 @ 7:36PM
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is a lost cause and no one has the guts to say, "The Emporer has no clothes" The dems have been harping for 6(?) years that we blew it by not finding and killing OBL. Maybe old George W. realized that Afghanistan wasn't the place to draw a line in the sand. Now BHO has to follow through on this folly or loose face. He'll lose more than that eventually.
Jimmy| 8.8.09 @ 5:11AM
It is interesting to note the number of think tanks that have emerged since 9/11 and their roles in decision making at the highest levels. Politicians have think tanks, Generals have think tanks, they write papers, sway opinions, make large sums of money, but never have to make a decision. Pretty nice position. It would be nice to see a piece writen on just how influential they they have been with regards to decision making in this war.
robert| 8.8.09 @ 8:42AM
The two wrong wars Afghanistan and iraq,the two right one Iran and saudi arabia period,i wish the country can understand this. Afghanistan war is unwinable not because of the terrain or the peeps who live there,but because of the altruist morality in our defense forces. If you take a look at world war 2, and how ruthlessly we persued the enemy and destroyed the germans and japanese,then went ahead and gave them a constitution we crafted,and look at how now we avoid going to the people that sponsor terror directly.Only a complete invasion of iran and saudi arabia will destroy terror.
USA for use inIsraeli WARS| 8.8.09 @ 2:21PM
Zionist Jews crimes against USA!
The nation of Israel and Jews, friend or foe of America? Actions speak louder than words;
June 8, 1967; Israeli jets attack the USS Liberty, killing 34 American soldiers.
May of 1970; Perle passing secrets to Israel during Kissinger and Nixon term
1973-2001; according to the Christian science monitor, Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. Top Jewish senators and Jewish congressmen in the US are voting to take tax payer’s money to support Israel. If divided by today’s US Citizens, that is more than $5,700 per person. That is more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War. Israel receives over 2 billion per year as a peace accord agreement, yet still to this day violates that agreement.
1979-1981 During the US hostage crisis in Iran, Israel was specifically asked to stop supplying Iran with weapons while Iran was holding US hostages. Israel was selling 500 million dollars per year of weapons to Iran, even after America asked Israel to stop.
October 1983; Israel deliberately allows 241 American Marines to die
1984; Israel denies U.S. Justice Department demand to extradite Marc Rich, a convicted Israeli spy against America.
August 1985, Israeli American scientist arrested for stealing 800 nuclear weapons triggers from America and sending them to Israel
November 22, 1985; Jewish US Navy Employee Arrested as Israeli Spy
October 27, 1991; Israel enflames race tensions in America by supplying apartheid South Africa with weapons and forcing the Bush administration to waive sanctions against Israel.
March 1995; Israel Charged With Systematic Harassment of U.S. Marines
August 23 1996; CIA accuses Israeli spies of theft of U.S. corporate scientific and technological data as the type of espionage that poses the greatest threat to U.S. economic competitiveness.
September 1997; Israel, as a haven for Jewish American murderers to flee to and be holed up in, refuses to extradite the Jewish murderer of an American.
June 18, 1998; Israeli businessman convicted selling chemical and biological weapons components and know-how to Iran for $16 million.
January 28, 1999; Israel transfers laser technology to Communist China, despite American outrage
February 24, 1999; Another Jewish American murderer flees to Israel and is holed up there, after killing another American.
July 30, 1999 Israeli hackers attack Pentagon
February 24, 2000; Israel again sells donated US military technology to Communist China, in the face of US outrage.
September 11, 2001; Israeli spies caught by FBI and Police cheering and photographing the WTC as it fell. What was their excuse? They said they were making a Documentary of 9/11. WTF? If they knew we were going to be attacked then why did they not warn us?
On 9/11 a group of Israelis were arrested.
1) Celebrating the attacks on us.
2) Trying to blow up the George Washington Bridge.
3) Blowing up a Van on King St near 6th and 7th.
911 Missing Links documentary. Very Interesting Information!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7877765982288566190
15 March 2002; Israel ignores US demand to leave Palestinian territories, damaging American credibility and making America look like a hypocrite for forcing Sadam out of Kuwait but not Sharon out of Palestine.
June 28, 2002; Israel Reports Weapons Development in Iraq, also prodded by 25 neo-conservatives, mostly Jewish, Bush went to war with Iraq, costing nearly a thousand American soldiers their lives, no weapons found.
August 28.2002; Israel Supplying Iran again: Germany holds up Israeli military shipment said headed for Iran
October 4, 2002; 9/11: WHAT DID ISRAEL KNOW? – and when did they tell us?
November 17, 2003; Israel blatantly uses American weapons in violation of AECA agreements between both countries which stipulate that Israel not use such weapons in civilian territories, enraging and inflaming the animosity in the Middle East against America, even though Israel can use Israeli weapons since Israel is the 6th largest weapons producer, it consistently showcases American weapons against civilians, spreading the guilt onto America by association.
25 Apr 2009 A Delta Airlines passenger jet en route to Tel Aviv from New York had to make an emergency stop when an Israeli man attempted to hijack the plane.
Today; Israel forces America to keep silent about Israel’s nuclear weapons, again destroying America’s credibility world wide and leaving America looking like a hypocrite on it’s goal to end weapons of mass destruction world wide, also allowing the “unsecure” Israel to attempt to guard that nuclear stockpile from the Middle Eastern black market.
In conclusion, since the founding of Israel in 1950, no other country has cost America more lives, money, and damage to credibility than Israel.
Nuclear WarOn the World byJEWS| 8.8.09 @ 4:37PM
There will soon be enormous masses of human beings dying as a result of Jewish manufactured famine, disease and war. The Jews have prepared many Christians for this, their engineered eventuality, by foisting upon them a Jewish version of Christian eschatology which misidentifies Russia and the Muslim nations as Gog and Magog destined to fight the end times battle against Israel only to themselves perish; and which falsely promises these Christians that they will be whisked away from the Earth as the catastrophe strikes the infidels.
The Jews are preparing the Israelis for the mass casualties soon to befall humanity, by making them feel isolated and hated. Jewish leaders want the Jews of Israel to feel that the World is against them and planning to annihilate them, so as to justify a Jewish attack on the World and to win the support of common Israeli Jews for such an attack on the human race.
Back on 9 September 2006, I wrote in my blog that it appeared that Jewish leaders were setting up Israel for an apocalyptic war in order to artificially fulfill Jewish messianic prophecy, and that this war is being designed to kill off two thirds of Jews, and the entire rest of humanity:
Is Israel Deliberately Sowing the Seeds of Its Own Destruction? September 09, 2006
Jewish end times prophecy calls for the destruction of two-thirds of Jewry and of all of the nations, all of the Goyim. The Jewish
Pingback| 8.8.09 @ 6:00PM
The American Spectator : Afghanistan Unvarnished | Afghanistan Today links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 8.8.09 @ 6:00PM
The American Spectator : Afghanistan Unvarnished | Afghanistan Today links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Solo| 8.8.09 @ 7:25PM
The democrats, in the person of Obama, have stepped in their own trap.
Afghanistan was NEVER the "right war" to the democrats. It was just something (anything) which they could use to accuse Bush of "fighting the wrong war" should he decide to fight anywhere else. We could have invaded the liliputians and the dems would have preferred that to Iraq.
Iraq gave us something that was worth winning. Afghanistan won't help or hurt us should we win or lose.
Now, after years of caterwauling by the democrats over how Afghanistan was the "righteous war", Obama is stuck with it. To lose it makes him look incompetent, to pull out makes him look weak and to "win" it means nothing--at least of a permanent nature.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch!
Hardius| 8.8.09 @ 8:58PM
I do not believe that the goal is to win on Iraq or Afghanistan. The goal is to create a debt so large we can not pay the interest on it.
The healthcare plan is just one more item in achieving that goal.
If you believe that destroying the Dollar is their goal then everything the Republicans and Democrats say and do makes perfect sense.
The Republicans and Democrats want a one World currency and they don't care who or what they must destroy to get it.
Pingback| 8.8.09 @ 11:13PM
The American Spectator : Afghanistan Unvarnished | Israel Today links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 8.8.09 @ 11:13PM
The American Spectator : Afghanistan Unvarnished | Israel Today links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Longdrycreek | 8.9.09 @ 10:41AM
The British and the Soviet Union found the going difficult in Afghanistan. I doubt we will be successful in spite of our brave forces who are stuck there.
I wonder where the vocal media and the anti-war crowd is now? Perhaps waiting until victory is declared, and we withdraw and claim "We won.".
After reading much about foreign policy, I conclude we do poorly because we do not understand the local situation well enough; of course, we drown in "experts" in the Department of State and in the academic circles of the Ivy League, but these folks are mutually admiring their thoughts, not mirroring reality anywhere.
A good president would seek honest field level information, but not from State or the academics who write books for other academics and folks think themselves informed, and develop a plan to win or withdraw.
The Obama misadministration cannot rule the world; these folks do not have a clear view of America. Obama has a vision that is turning into a nightmare around the world, and in the U.S.A.
Longdrycreek Ranch
Texas Panhandle
Neo-Nazis, go away| 8.9.09 @ 4:42PM
I see that the monsters from the "Judenfrei Jew Review" are commenting here as well as after other TAS articles. In case any TAS readers don't know, the JJR is, according to its own Web site, "aiming to expose the Jewish crime network and set the stage for the expulsion of Jews from the United States of America as well as other Western societies."
Their Web site says that "Jews won't stop with their criminal agenda. They have to be stopped by us." JJR is "dedicated to the Jewish problem." It says that "the Holocaust is a hoax" and that "Jews did 9/11."
It also has a number of items against black Americans, including lurid cartoons. In a comment, one fan suggests writing articles that "present a detailed anecdote of black malfeasance, [but] don't cap it off with how much you hate blacks now. Let the reader live through your imparted experience, and come to dislike blacks on his own." Clearly, these monsters use the same tactic to try to turn people against Jews.
The person who writes the Web site notes the formation of the "One World Nazi Party," and says that "if they are serious or if some other serious contenders come up, then Judenfrei could join in to set up a formal movement to expel Jews."
I hope the TAS staff will find a way to keep these neo-Nazis out. Nothing they have to say is worth reading.
Solo| 8.9.09 @ 7:39PM
To "Neo-Nazis Go Away"...
Well said! Yes...they are obnoxious, they are rude and they are clueless.
If they really believe that they have anything of importance to impart to the world, then they have deluded themselves to the point of self-ridicule.
These morons make the case better than anyone why it is that Israel needs our support more now than ever before.
As long as hateful idiots such as these have a voice..no one is safe.
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