It just occurred to me.

[rug]

What the fuck are we still doing in Afghanistan?

[young but wise]

1. Really, this JUST occurred to you?

All these years we been there, and only now you ask that?

[rug]

4. No, I haven't been paying attention.

Thank God somebody prompted me to.

[Autumn]

2. Did it ever occur to you?

We really don't fucking know?

[Ian David]

3. Winning Hearts and Minds. With bombs. n/t

[VMI Dem]

5. Carrying out Bush Doctrine.

Obama is a fan of it apparently.

[jonnyblitz]

14. in more ways than one. I guess we just want a "superman".

fucking libruls. :sarcasm:

[VMI Dem]

16. You're either for war in Afghanistan or for Palin as President. Choose or die.

[doc03]

6. Trying to save face, can't just cut and run. It's the old

Peace with Honer thingy Nixon tried.

[rug]

8. That's right. I believe the President declared peace in Paris two years before the fall of Saigon.

Now we have a lovely embassy there.

[zipplewrath]

7. Interesting analysis of this over the weekend.

Obama campaigned on the concept of Afghanistan being the "good war". So now he's stuck explaining how he doesn't wanna fight the "good war".

[Little Star]

9. We are spreading democracy.

[lunatica]

10. I was against going there in the first place almost a decade ago

As were millions and millions of people worldwide.

I don't recall a single Taliban or Afghani being in the group of terrorists allegedly involved in the attack on 9/11. Same with any Iraqi.

[valerief]

11. Making rich people richer. nt

[The_Commonist]

12. It's a convenient place...

...for the Military/Industrial Complex to dump large amounts of expensive ordnance, and very few in this country really give a rat's ass about the brown people we kill there.

Is that clear enough for you?

[COLGATE4]

13. Winning the hearts and minds of the people?

:sarcasm:

[rurallib]

15. can you say oil and minerals?

[jdlh8894]

17. Why is NATO there? N/T

[Catherina]

18. You never really loved him

:cry:

[muffin1]

19. He doesn't deserve him, either!

None of us do!!11!!:cry:

[woo me with science]

20. "Has it ever occurred to you?!" Uploaded by Jack Torrance

"Has it ever occurred to you?!" Uploaded by Jack Torrance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq5R0KNVyMM

[mkultra]

21. killing Al Queda?

just guessing. Remember them. the insane people that vowed to kill us. and NO, there are more than 300 of them.

[rug]

25. I asume you mean al Qaeda, you know, the greatest threat to the world since Pol Pot.

[mkultra]

47. yes, al-Qaida a material threat to us.

you know, the people that made it clear that they want to hurt us through the World Trade Center bombing, 1998 United States embassy bombings, USS Cole bombing, and the September 11 attacks.


regardless of the fact that we caused this problem through our own stupidity and nationalism, the fact remains that they have chosen to pick up weapons and kill us. Beyond ignoring that point completely or taking a single report of diminished al_qaida membership as fact, there really isn't enough excuse to wave that away.

We need to get them fast and get out before we stomp around to much and do more damage. It has been well proven that al-Qaida operations in the various worldwide cells are directed by those in the Pakistani tribal region.

This is a situation that has no good solution. Complain all you want, but pulling out will not result in them just being ok with us.

[Writer]

22. Because war and peace aren't settled like the end of a novel.

Okay, carpet?

[displacedvermoter]

24. Actually, most good fiction about war, like, say,

"All Quite on the Western Front" makes it pretty apparent that war and peace are settled pretty much like the
current messes we are involved in, with young people dying and old men making speeches, and nothing much good coming from the
exercise.

[Writer]

32. That would be "All Quiet on the Western Front..."

And I would never take cues from a novel on how to solve complicated foreign policy.

[vaberella]

35. Another one....I love it.

:rofl:

[displacedvermoter]

41. You got me on the spelling error

But you should always take wisdom wherever and whenever you find it.

[Writer]

42. Not from a novel, though!

Take it from a 'writer.' Or as those less clever in retorts will say, 'righter.' Which is truly original.

[rug]

26. Yeah, a novel is the first thing that comes to mind when contemplating Afghanistan.

We should have a metadiscussion about that someday.

[Writer]

31. C'mon, carpet! You can do better than that!

Yes, I think that some do believe that a war can wrap up tightly like the end of a novel. That's why we can't simply 'pull out,' rug. (I dare you to reuse that in a sentence.)

And just FYI, two people can't have a "meta-discussion."

[rug]

36. What, no one ever used the phrase "pull out" while speaking to you?.

Well, I won't be the first.

[Writer]

39. I'll certainly be glad to use the phrase...

'pull out' when referring to you, RUG.

[rug]

You'll never have the chance. Meanwhile, enjoy being in Afghanistan,

Righter.

[Writer]

43. Okay.

:thumbsup:

[vaberella]

37. !

:rofl: I couldn't get past carpet.

[Writer]

40. What's easier...

pulling out of a 'carpet,' or pulling out of a 'rug?'

[displacedvermoter]

23. We are there so we can spend the money a lot of folks don't

want us to spend on education!

displaced

[vaberella]

27. We won't be there long. We're out next year. That's the timeline. n/t

[displacedvermoter]

34. Truly spoken like someone who isn't there.

A lot of dying can and will happen in a year.

[vaberella]

44. Yes there will be.

Please don't think me flippant about the issue because of my comment. I know all too well the causes of war and civil war (wars that on the face are called as such but seem to have no purpose and aren't really wars---just generally defined as such)---I'm Haitian just so you know. And I know death is evident. However, unlike Petraeus who wanted a war that goes on endlessly---with endless killing this followed by his Republican cronies, followed by his other military buddies---we have a President who wants to end this shit. He wants to give a chance to centralize the problem, but he genuinely wants us out. I'm not going to sit here and make apologies or beat this dead horse of "why are we there" ----everyone knows the reason we went into Afghanistan---several posters answered your questions politely. Why is it continuing and to what end could have been asked if it was McCain President. Shit if McCain or anyone but Obama was President, and yes this includes HRC, we'd be nearing to eliminating Pakistan off the map. However, Obama has given a reason, no matter if I or you or everyone finds it unsatisfactory, we have a reason and he gave us a timeline to it's end. This was what he stood by in Iraq and he's followed through with that. You can then start arguing the 50,000 or so troops left---but they will be withdrawn by next year as well which was confirmed twice on the Rachel Maddow show. Yes, there will be death, but this is to be expected when our men and women are sent to dangerous areas of the world...and make no mistake they are dangerous not only to the citizenry but also to us.

[displacedvermoter]

48. He is he one making flippant Bush-like

comments on using a killer drone to blow up one of the Jonas Brothers (hopefully the Reagan commission one) if they got weird with his daughters, a comment, again, that leads me to question the effect power over life and death has on people. It seems to make them callous and indifferent to life. Even Nobel Peace Prize winners. (I know, it was just a joke, so I should lighten up!)

I could argue about the 50,000 troops who went from a Combat Brigade one day to a Support and Training Brigade the next, and how if Bushed pulled something like that folks here would howl (or if he made a joke about blowing up one of the Neville or Gatlin Brothers for putting the moves on one of his little jewels). But Obama has "given a reason", so you and lot of other folks are satisfied.

Thanks for agreeing that death will continue, as Obama "centralizes" the problem.

displaced

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. Fighting the Taliban

[rug]

29. Why?

[Freddie Stubbs]

30. Because the last time they ran Afghanistan they allowed Al Quada to use the country as

base of operations for terrorist activities.

[vaberella]

33. Your response sounds as though you're talking to a child.

:rofl:

[rug]

38. Now it does.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

45. because we didn't learn anything in Viet Nam...

:shrug:

[cherokeeprogressive]

46. I thought this would be a NanceGreggs thread...