Afghanistan: Why NATO cannot win

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HI30Df01.html

The four-month-old Republic of Montenegro on the Adriatic Sea received its first foreign dignitary on Monday when US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived at its capital, Podgorica. Unknowingly, the tiny country of rugged mountains and great beauty in the Balkans with a population of 630,000 was being catapulted into the cockpit of 21st-century geopolitics.

Rumsfeld's mission was to request the inexperienced leadership in Podgorica to dispatch a military contingent to form part of the coalition of the willing in the "war on terror". Rumsfeld promised that in return, the US would help train Montenegro's fledgling army to standards of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

However, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic could not make any commitments. Rumsfeld's proposal came at an awkward moment for the leadership in Podgorica, which had just scrapped the draft and was scaling down its 4,000-strong army to about 2,500.

This bizarre diplomatic exchange between the most awesome military power on Earth and the newest member of the "international community" brings home the paradoxes of the "war on terror" on the eve of its fifth anniversary. Three ministerial-level meetings of NATO have taken place within the space of the past month alone, specifically with the intent of ascertaining how troop strength in Afghanistan can be augmented.

[Redstone]

1. It makes my brain hurt to read that. Even after five years of living

down the rabbit hole, that's just too hard to comprehend as being part of the real world (whatever that used to be).

Redstone

[NNN0LHI]

2. I agree its a tough one

My head was spinning as I posted it. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Don

[Leopolds Ghost]

3. Breaking: Republic of Freedonia joins Coalition!!

After George Bush made a surprise fisit to Ms. Gloria Teasdale,
chief creditor and promoter of Freedonian interests before the
World Bank and the IMF,

a financial arrangement was made whereby 4,000 of Freedonia's
Crack Troops will join the War on Terror in Afghanistan.

In return, Bush intends to divorce his first wife and marry Ms.
Teasdale, just as soon as he sows a few wild oats in the
neighboring Sylvania.

President Bush made a stirring speech to the assembled citizens
of Freedonia (news, audio, video):

"If you think this country's bad off now /
just wait'll I get through with it!"

In other news, a member of the White House Entourage, Mr. Chicolini,
was arrested on charges of being an Italian spy. Evidence released to
CNN reveal he participated in the crude forgery of documents
purported to be from the West African country of Niger.

When asked to account for his whereabouts, Mr. Chicolini's aide stated
that he had visited Niger to take pictures of the native girls, but
they weren't developed. However, he is planning to return there next year, and --

This just in, another White House aide, "Scooter", has been arrested
on charges of consorting with a Freedonian page of the opposite sex!

When asked to comment, Mr. Scooter produced a fish.

http://filmsite.org/duck.html