Rethink Afghanistan Part Six
Robert Baer, a former CIA field operative says, “The notion that we're in Afghanistan to make our country safer is just complete bullshit… what it's doing is causing us greater danger, no question about it. Because the more we fight in Afghanistan, the more the conflict is pushed across the border into Pakistan, the more we destabilize Pakistan, the more likely it is that a fundamentalist government will take over the army — and we'll have Al-Qaeda like groups with nuclear weapons.”
U.S. troop funds diverted to pet projects
Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops. . . . . . .
Why Joe Biden Should Resign
Citing a Newsweek story: “Can I just clarify a factual point? How much will we spend this year on Afghanistan?” Someone provided the figure: $65 billion. “And how much will we spend on Pakistan?” Another figure was supplied: $2.25 billion. “Well, by my calculations that's a 30-to-1 ratio in favor of Afghanistan. So I have a question. Al Qaeda is almost all in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And yet for every dollar we're spending in Pakistan, we're spending $30 in Afghanistan. Does that make strategic sense?” The White House Situation Room fell silent.
Obama's War: The Movie
It started as “Kill Bin Laden,” morphed to chase Al Queda, and is now a form of nation-building upside down–wrong people, wrong tools, wrong strategy. Meanwhile, all the action is in Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
Myths of our Afghanistan debate
Seven myths (cannot subdue, not a nation, won't accept central government, xenophobic to the max, Taliban defeated Soviets, not ready for democracy, today is worse than yesterday).
Phi Beta Iota: If Joe Biden were to resign and begin campaigning immediately for Electoral Reform and “a pox on the two-party tyranny,” he could restore balance. Or he could stay but demand that Obama do the same. Either way, the public is no longer tolerant of corruption and idiocy in Washington, absent strategy, integrity, and common sense. The true cost of Afghanistan–and its value–is in showing just how naked–and stupid–the Emperor of two-party tyranny has become. As Buckminter Fuller says in Critical Path, on118-119 “The USA is not run by its would-be “democratic” governance…..Nothing could be more pathetic than the role thats has to be played by the President of the United States, whose power is approximately zero.” As we wrote in ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig, there is a substance of governance that can be intermixed with legitimate grievances to arrive at coherent policies in the context of a balanced budget. It is not hard to create a prosperous world at peace–all its takes is one word: INTEGRITY.
