We should give up, its hopeless. It is time to cut and run. I know many people will be surprised to hear this from me, but it is true. We have invested our blood and tears in this debacle for too long. The terrain is unforgiving and the people incorrigible.
Recently, this administration has even changed the name of what they are trying to do trying to not to sound as radical as those who have come before. This type of semantic games never work. It is a classic no win situation. You will never change the mind of such an ignorant people ruled by religious fanatics.
Look, other regimes have been down this road before and it has always ended in disaster. Let’s take the hint.
The British Empire tried it and it did not end well for them, did it?
So too the Russians, and they had their hats handed to them didn’t they?
So what makes us special? Huh? Why will we succeed where all others have failed? Truth is, we won’t. We will fail just like all others who have gone before us. This is the lesson. We don’t have the will or the money to do what is necessary, so let’s not try.Victory would cost thousands of lives and untold billions of dollars all in the pursuit of a previous administration’s fantasy, a fantasy the American people have never really bought in to.
No, we must face the truth. Victory is impossible. Retreat is the only victory left. This is tough to say, but the truth hurts. It is time to cut and run on the idea of socialized medicine.
As far as Afghanistan goes, we should do whatever it takes.
September 1, 2009 at 6:41 am
Amen.
September 1, 2009 at 1:29 pm
September 1st must be opposite day.
September 1, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Well, in memory of Westerplatte and 70 years ago, I'm not giving up! God Bless America, and I continue to pray that he will "stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above". (And no I don't just mean the glare from Obama's forehead!)
We've turned the citizens of this country in the direction of knowing what this legislation contains, and public support for it decreases with every polling…Why stop now?
Of course, I hope I just misread the above article and your speaking on behalf of proponents of this bill?
September 1, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I agree with Patrick. Let's hope that Obama pulls all of his troops out of the fight for socialized medicine.
Nice job mocking the George Will piece, Patrick.
September 1, 2009 at 2:36 pm
With the health care proposal as is i.e. without an exclusion of abortion services, the number of casualties will increase ten-fold. So, while the count is ~50 million within the past 30 years, it will be 500 million projected in the next 30 years, that is if God does not wipe out the coming generations.
While it may (or not) come because the devil and his minions are relentless, it will not be on my watch, if I can help it.
September 1, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Man, I'm so out of the loop:) Could someone post that George Will piece so that I could get the gist?
September 1, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Truth be told, we won this war by 2004.
No. Really.
The Taliban is stateless and doesn't have the ability to project power out of the southern provinces.
Al Quaeda is neutered and unable to do anything more than set off car bombs in remote parts of the globe.
Certainly the loss of innocent life is horrific…but I maintain the US acheived our campaign objectives and therefore, under the Powell Doctrine, should un*ss that God-forsaken country as soon as we are able.
We can maintain a carrier battle group as small groups of special forces to train the locals and keep an eye on the Pakistanis and their nukes.
Bush won the war in Iraq and Afghanistan…Obama needs to admit it, declare victory, and bring the troops home to reset for the next fight.
September 1, 2009 at 8:22 pm
George Will's column is here:
http://townhall.com/columnists/GeorgeWill/2009/09/01/in_afghanistan,_knowing_when_to_stop?page=full&comments=true
(sorry, I don't know the hyperlink tag).
Will sounds like the fair weather fan and he forgets some of the contributing factors that led to 9/11.
1) Al Qaeda wants a failed state to operate from. Bush and company were opposed to "nation building" prior to 9/11. Admittedly, they did support regime change in Iraq, but no president from Carter to 9/11 wanted to go into Afghanistan. 9/11 opened our eyes. Al Qaeda would still be fully active if we had not gone into Afghanistan and no amount of electronic surveillance could change that. If we cut and run from there, you give every terrorist a comfy place to organize, train and equip.
2) You reinforce the notion that the US will cut and run in time. Viet Nam, Beirut and Somalia all show that the US has little stomach for being in wars that have little to do with domestic policy. If Will and the peaceniks think Afghanistan has no effect on domestic security, they need to reread point 1.
3) Once you reinforce the notion that we will eventually cut and run, expect escalation. Al Qaeda was active in Somalia and referenced Beirut in its training videos and literature. They got us to quit Beirut by bombing the Marine Barracks. They got us to abandon Somalia after the battle in Mogadishu. They bombed us in Saudi Arabia and Yemen with no retaliation. They tried to take down the World Trade Center in 1993 and finished the job 8 years later. They bombed our embassies in Africa. In other words, leaving Afghanistan doesn't make us safer. It moves the fight from battlefields in a distant, foreign (in so many ways) country to our soil and military bases. At least in Afghanistan, we have chosen the battlefield. Will seems content with letting them choose the cities they'll attack next (e.g., London, Madrid).
Having said all of that, one thing that always bothered me about the Bush Doctrine was the idea that we could liberate a people and they would embrace Westernism and democracy. The US cherished its freedom (I use past tense purposely) precisely because Americans remembered the Revolutionary War. We even had holidays when we remembered the tremendous sacrifices of individuals and families to establish and preserve those freedoms — now they're just days to take off work. How does an Afghani or Iraqi celebrate their freedom when it was done on the backs of foreigners? I don't think it has the same meaning.
September 2, 2009 at 7:54 am
Crusader Airman said…
"Obama needs to admit it, declare victory, and bring the troops home to reset for the next fight."
Unfortunately, will that "next" fight more than likely be against us, the Citizenry? What with those detention camps being built–and make no fuss about it, they are and FEMA says so–and the National Guard looking for "Internment Specialists," ( the very term indicates a chillingly different concept than prevailing military nomenclature so one has to wonder why ). What more needs to be said?
Take a lesson from history. People in Europe thought things were just conspiracy theories, thinking that being full-fledged citizens would protect them… but major train rides 24/7 out of town, and being forced to wear something distinctive quickly threw that yeah-yeah attitude out the window.