RANGER AGAINST WAR: Down the Rat Hole <

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Down the Rat Hole

You can ask about it,
but nobody knows the way

No breadcrumb trail

to follow through your days

--All This Beauty
, The Weepies
_____________

A few sundry thoughts as we pass the first week of Mr. Obama's presidency.

VP Joe Biden said we will continue to support and ramp up the war in Afghanistan (
"Biden Sees Afghanistan 'Uptick'.") Mr. Biden is being as disingenuous as any politician by casting the situation as a case of "reclaiming" lost territory, the prefix "re-" presuming a prior situation.

The administration's stated goal is not only to deny terrorists safe haven, but to free the people
from corruption, warlords and druglords. An ironic goal as it does not jibe with the other stated goal of bringing democracy, for the freely-elected government is run by and with the support of drug lords. Warlords are US, could well be their motto, and sharing kinship with the Central Intelligence Agency and Special Forces.

As Obama said, he won, but
in continuing the futile war in Afghanistan, he is playing politician, which means following certain preordained rules in order to curry favor. He will not make the same mistake that Clinton made alienating the Department of Defense out of the gate.

Clinton's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy effectively destroyed his credibility as Commander in Chief, tacked on as it was to his early anti-war stance and his clumsy handling of Mogadishu. He sat squarely behind the eight ball with the military after that.


Obama will not allow this same strategic blunder, even if it means that Americans will continue to fund, fight and die in another phony war.
Helen Cooper in the New York Times questions even what the mission is (Fearing Another Qaugmire in Afghanistan.) Andrew Bacevich said,

"'There's clearly a consensus that things are heading in the wrong direction. What's not clear to me is why sending 30,000 more troops is the essential step to changing that. My understanding of the larger objective of the allied enterprise in Afghanistan is to bring into existence something that looks like a modern cohesive Afghan state. Well, it could be that that's an unrealistic objective. It could be that sending 30,000 more troops is throwing money and lives down a rat hole.'"

How can the American people end this elective war? As
WaPo's Dan Froomkin put it, "Congress -- that dysfunctional and widely despised institution that by all appearances still lives and breathes partisan politics" won't do it.

Meanwhile the U.S. government spends $100's of billions on foreign and domestic intelligence, yet we the people never see the data on the actual threat posed by al-Qaeda, including those elements in Afghanistan. U.S. policy continues to react to emotion and political considerations, versus hard intel.


The new president promised transparency and reckonings -- lay on, Obama. Why does no one in the National Command Authority give the American people a realistic appraisal of al-Qaeda's capabilities and intents?


This is not the change the people had hoped for.


--Jim and Lisa

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9 Comments:

Blogger Ranger Hazen said...

The key to Afganistan is Pakistan which is close to being a failed state. I am holding my judgement until Holbrooke is wheels down in Pakistan next week to make an assesment. I also feel that the new Presidents National Security Team has yet to make an assesment. If eith one of you get the chance i hope you caught Dan Rather's special report on Afganistan on HDNEt. He was also a guest of the Rachel Maddow shoe this evening.

So again I am withholding my assesment pending more information I mean jeeez the dude has been in office one week! LOL

Hi Lisa. :) XXOO

Sorry Jim no hugs and kisses for you just a strong pat on the back. :)

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 3:58:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Ranger Hazen said...

Sorry for the poor spelling I hate blogger software! LOL No chance to edit!

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 3:59:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Lisa said...

Ranger Hazen,

Yes, we must wait for Holbrooke's visit and the security team's estimate. This is all all early speculation. All thinking people remain hopeful for the best outcome possible here.

Hope all is well,

xoxo,

L.

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 10:03:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think what bothers me is this:
1) I think we had righteous cause in the beginning...with Afghanistan, only.
2) Iraq totally sidelined Afghanistan and our raison d'etre for going ape-shit on a nation that embraced stupid.
3) After reading Jim's thoughts, and though we still disagree on a few items, he has brought me around to see that we're just pissing away good men, and women, along with money down a sh*t hole that has no bottom to it.

I'm sorry, but Afgahnistan is no longer doable. Bush screwed the pooch, and hung ourselves on our own petard, so imo, it's time to unass Afghanistan as well.

And then in a final cap to this incredible idiocy, legislate an amendment to the Constitution which forbids any member of the Republican party, or political outgrowth of said cancer...I mean, party to ever take the US to war, again.

BTW, Hazen, use Mozilla, has a built in spell checker.

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 11:29:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was disappointed to see that Obama continued the air attacks in Pakistan. I’m afraid that he’s going to destabilize that country even more than it already is. The air war in Afghanistan has succeeded in turning the population against us. We’ve shot up too many wedding ceremonies. Way too many civilian casualties but then it’s easy to call them insurgents and write it off, but the people don’t forget.

I’ve had the pleasure of communicating with Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan over the past couple of yrs. Jim, they don’t call it a rat hole, they call it a shithole. Also, Asscrackistan ! They talk about how the mission objective is nation building but how the war fighting activities soon eclipse that. They’re also in no illusion that it’s going to be an easy or short mission. But Canada’s’ Nato commitment to Afghanistan ends in 2011 and it’s highly unlikely that it will be extended. The Canadian public will not allow it. Unlike in the US media, every returning casket from Afghanistan with it’s Honor Guard ceremony is shown on all the Canadian TV news programs. On CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada’s Coaches Corner, Don Cherry ends his weekly program by showing pictures of the fallen from that week. The only thing close I’ve seen on US TV is Sunday morning with Stephanopoulos and that’s only a quick scroll of the names. Control of the media was one of the things that the Bush Administration learned from

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 6:05:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last sentence should have read

Control of the media was one of the things that the Bush Administration learned from VN

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 6:09:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Range, there are plenty of wayward criminal snakes in AFGHANISTAN as well. Cuff 'em, Dan-o.

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 7:20:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

and the answer my friends

is pissing in the wind.......

the answer is pissing....

in the sink.



jerry jeff

Friday, January 30, 2009 at 7:22:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

TW,
Control of the media is a given and we continue to say that we are free men.
jim

Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 10:24:00 AM GMT-5  

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