ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION

IMPOTENT DEMS, IGNORANT REPS
No Little Blue Pill Will Fix This Disorder



















DIVIDED WE FAIL




(October 13, Washington, DC) Let's face it, no matter which side of the political divide you inhabit, your Party of choice is letting you down. The perpetual state of gridlock that has come to define national politics, legislating, and governance is now the norm: ineffective, inefficient and rabidly partisan are the defining characteristics of members of Congress and the White House Administration.

Our tripartite system of government has been subverted over the last 15 years or so by ideological divides, endemic corruption, special interest influence and money as well as having people of lesser and lower intellect, character, morals and conscience than at any time in our history occupying offices in Congress, the White House, Governor's Mansions and State Legislatures. Our two Party system is broken, plain and simple. For too long a complacent electorate has allowed the fringe, “base” elements of each Party dominate agendas, platforms and the overall debates no matter the issue, irregardless of the importance. Examples of this dysfunction, just in the last nine years, are too numerous to list.

As a nation we have faced tremendous challenges since 2001 that have required capabilities and abilities from our federal government and those elected to serve within it that simply do not exist anymore. Arguably, this decline has been progressing since the Reagan Administration but has certainly come to be the unimpeachable reality since the turn of the millennium. The fact that the events of September 11, 2001 occurred was the first major indication that there was rampant ineptitude, dysfunction, and lack of sense of duty pervasive in government at every level in the myriad alphabet agencies comprising the “intelligence” community, through Congressional oversight committees. Hurricane Katrina was yet another example, albeit of a different sort and nature, that our federal government had become useless.

There was a time, not too long ago, that principals were motivators for our elected officials, now, it is all about money, incumbency and narrow self interest. Not even the aftermath of 9 11 01 could break the greed mode of Congress. Homeland Security funding devolved into politics as usual even before the smoldering heaps of wreckage in lower Manhattan began to cool. Funds meant for Homeland Security were divided up and diverted to pork barrel spending in an orgy of arrogant greed and self serving largesse. To this day parts of the Gulf Coast that had been decimated by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005 remain in virtually the same condition they did days after the flood waters resided. We remain engaged , after thousands of lives sacrificed and multi-trillions of taxpayers money has vanished in the black hole that is Iraq. The same could be said of Afghanistan except that was where our true enemies and battlefields were and remain to this day. The damage to every aspect of what America is and represents and, actually, how we function, was callously trampled and crapped on by the Cheney / Bush Administration in their eight year reign of neoconservative, messianic, wholly misguided reign of ignorance, idiocy and incompetence. They shred our Constitution with impunity.

Barak Obama won the Presidency last November with a virtual mandate. His was a commanding victory that included winning the majority status in both Houses of Congress. After Pennsylvania spineless, asshole, Arlen Specter, and Minnesotan Al Franken were seated on the Democratic side of the Senate aisle, the Dems had a “super majority”; 60 votes which gave them unlimited ability to pass legislation and usher through important components of Obama's ambitious agenda. The majority in the House was equally significant and the fact was that the Democrats really did not need ANY Republicans to pass bills. If the Republicans had these majorities you can rest assured they would be churning out bill after misguided bill. The GOP had been maniacal lemmings for the entire two terms of the Cheney / Bush Administration; they marched in lock step to the insane drumbeat coming from the White House allowing Cheney and company to have their way in all matters foreign and domestic. Congressional oversight was non existent and, by all appearances thus far, oversight will remain a low priority in the Democratically controlled Congress. We have come to expect nothing less, haven't we?

Yesterday's vote in the Senate Finance Committee on some half-assed version of a “Health Care Reform” bill passed 14 to 9 with the sole Republican vote cast by Olympia Snowe of Maine. This comes after four months of the President advocating for bipartisanship which was met with such overt blatant resistance that many key Republicans spent the month of August loudly and proudly proclaiming they would not “vote for any bill” no matter the particulars. Senate fossils like Chuck Grassley, Mike Enzi and Ben Nelson (among others) held the entire process hostage. These men from sparsely populated state's were in the position to derail all efforts in reform simply because they could; seniority had put them in pivotal Committee positions. It is also no secret that all of them, the entire “Gang of Six” and many others are bought and paid for by the health care industry lobby, the big pharmaceutical corporations pouring huge amounts of money into their campaign coffers. They cast their lot with their contributors and sold out the American people. Yet, the Democrats, from the President on down, insisted in trying to court and sway some Republicans their way. They failed royally. The bill voted out of Committee yesterday is in no way, shape or form, meaningful “Health Care Reform.” It is made up basically of some meager cosmetic measures to be applied to the health INSURANCE industry.

The Republicans framed this debate this summer and the Democrats, despite their majorities, feebly fought back. The GOP was calling the President's efforts “a government take over of our health care.” What the hell were they talking about? Who was going to “take over” what? It was a pitiful summer for the Democrats and, essentially , for the American public, particularly those among us without health insurance or struggling to pay our premiums. The concept of “A Public Option” was torn apart and mutated, bastardized by the GOP and came to represent one of the most damaging of all the outright lies they spewed forth. The media was complicit all along the way no matter what their ideological bent. (Yes, the media, all the media, operate from some point along the social / political spectrum despite their protestations to the contrary.)

We are poorly served by our elected officials and have been for so long that we hardly ever think anything positive, that benefits the greater good, can ever or will ever be enacted. It has been many years since any Congress or Administration acted in accordance with public opinion or for the greater good. Public sentiment in recent years has been callously ignored and continues to be. There is no wonder why American's have become cynical and complacent: they have witnessed a shocking breakdown of American Democracy. From a “war of choice” to the enormous bailouts of banks, brokerages and corporations, our government has acted in direct defiance of the populace.

The true colors of our elected officials have been laid bare by the health care reform debate. What we have seen and learned about some of the players involved is sickening. Until we as a voting people begin to pay attention to issues and express our opinions in the voting booth or at the ballot box, we will continue to have the ilk of people we currently have in Congress and in the White House.

The most misunderstood, distorted and excoriated component of some proposed versions of health care reform is what is known as “The Public Option.” The fiercest resistance to a public option has come from the GOP, Republican members of Congress, most of whom have taken funding from various entities in the health insurance / medical /pharmaceutical / insurance complex. The public option more than any other component or amendment to any reform bill is the most threatening to the status quo. It would not be “government run health care” as the lying, loud mouthed, corrupt opponents have been railing against. It would be no more a government run health care program than Medicaid which, as most users will confess, works quite well for all intents and purposes. Without a public option the health insurance industry, which has all the appearances of a collusive monopoly, will have free reign over the market. A public option would present the public with a choice; voluntarily electing to purchase health insurance from a government entity would make the market competitive and break the stranglehold of the health insurance / medical /pharmaceutical / insurance complex. Heaven forbid there be some equalizing force, some leveling of the playing field for Americans who struggle with medical insurance premium costs, the astronomical cost of medical care and treatment and the restrictive, exclusive practices that leave so many of us uninsured and uninsurable.

The battle is far from over. The bill voted out of the Finance Committee yesterday is just the first piece of “legislation” that will be voted on by various committees and conferences. Sadly, in their pursuit of bipartisanship, the Democrats ceded their numerical advantages and will, most likely, have nothing to show for it aside from some bastardized, watered down bill that falls far short from real, tangible health care reform.

What we have seen over the course of the last few months is that Democrats cannot govern and Republicans are pure self centered oppositionists. The result of this awful equation is that the American public looses, as usual when it comes to Washington DC politics.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-court/why-is-washington-dc-afra_b_312759.html

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/10/05-15

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/shaping-one-overhaul-with-564-amendments/

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20091015/DOSE/310159949

http://washingtonindependent.com/63859/dems-vs-the-insurance-industry-round-ii

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aWZXmErBUvVQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_health_insurance_option

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/29/AR2009092902028.html




Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved

McCAIN, GRAHAM & LIEBERMAN

3 STOOGES SINGING SAME OLD SONG














SUDDENLY THEY SEE AFGHANISTAN?


(October 11, Washington, DC) Moe, Larry and Curly at least were admittedly comedians. The Senatorial trio of John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman actually see themselves as dedicated, thoughtful statesmen. Individually, each represents the worst in foreign policy judgment, military affairs and governance. Collectively, these three imbeciles were among George W. Bush’s staunchest supporters, zealous hawks, and proponents for his ill-fated, disastrous war of choice in Iraq. They gave their vocal support for the neoconservative agenda and, at every step, at each turn over the past eight years, they were proved wrong; dreadfully wrong on all accounts.

Now, these Three Stooges are suddenly experts on Afghanistan and what our military mission should be in that ungovernable land. These are the same men who approved the transfer of military resources OUT OF Afghanistan so Bush could go fight his war in Iraq. Not only were they culpable in the drawdown in Afghanistan well before the righteous mission there was complete, over the ensuing years they actually downplayed the importance of our fight in Afghanistan and were among those who loudly proclaimed Iraq to be the “frontline in the war on terror.” These morons echoed the Cheney / Bush mantra of “fighting Al Qaeda there (Iraq), so we don’t have to fight them here.” Sadly, as we all know today, there is overwhelming evidence that supports the facts that Al Qaeda had no presence in Iraq before our military arrived there, that Saddam Hussein had no role in the terrorist attacks perpetrated here on September 11, 2001, and that Osama bin Laden would be captured or killed “quickly.” Each of these men bear some responsibility for the failures of the Cheney / Bush Administration pertaining to the military efforts in both Afghanistan and Iraq. They could not have been more wrong about all there central premises. Now, all of a sudden, this idiotic trio, are out on the airwaves, in print and in the halls of Congress hoping to steer our future course regarding Afghanistan? All brass, blather and balls; no brains.

John McCain, the leader of the pack, this trios “Moe”, who was roundly and soundly defeated in last year’s Presidential election slunk back to his comfy Senate seat after his electoral ass kicking and immediately began harping on the new Administration. All his campaign rhetoric went out the window and he has devolved into the scorned, bitter, doddering, poor loser that he is. Any credibility he may have once possessed in matters of the military and foreign policy has long since ebbed away. Yes, in the Viet Nam war John McCain was a true hero who suffered more than most men could bear. For many years he was a moderate voice of reason in the Senate but, during and since his failed Presidential bid, has become an angry, rabble-rousing, blithering idiot. He should have retired after the drubbing he received last November.

Lindsey Graham, an early supporter and close adviser of McCain’s during his campaign is no less idiotic in his rants and raves. His bloviating is draped in a syrupy down home southern drawl and he sees himself as quite endowed with wit and wisdom. He is as transparent as Saran Wrap; he does nothing that will interfere with his political aspirations and he obviously can’t disassociate himself with the wrong-headedness of his mentor McCain. His military and foreign policy experience is basically nil. He claims having been a lawyer in the Air Force Reserve endows him with a certain degree of gravitas and military credentials. By the way he speaks about Iraq and Afghanistan; he probably would have gotten more military knowledge had he played with GI Joe’s beneath the Palmetto trees of his home. If he had any personal courage and character he would simply come out of the closet and admit to his homosexuality.

Joe Lieberman, the traitorous “Independent” from Connecticut has one political loafer in the Senate; the other in the Israeli Knesset. A rabid Zionist, all Joe cares about is his own political hide and the interests of Israel. He has no moral or ethical compass, no core beliefs aside from Zionism and appears to serve Israel more consistently, vigorously, and effectively than he does his own constituents and country. He, too, was joined at the hip to McCain during his campaign and views all foreign policy and military matters through the eyes of an Israeli.

The fact that these three losers are now advocating all sorts of military escalations in Afghanistan would be amusing if it were not so serious. The situation today in Afghanistan, going into our ninth year of fighting there, is as bad, if not worse, than it was when our first covert operatives landed there in October 2001. The Taliban has resurged and Al Qaeda remains a thriving, evil, guerilla force. Obviously, had the Cheney / Bush Administration and people like these Three Stooges taken our mission in Afghanistan as seriously as they should have, had they focused solely on Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts, perhaps things would be different for us today. Cheney / Bush began diverting military resources to Iraq in November 2001 shortly after the battle of Tora Bora which they decided to partially out source to the corrupt Pakistani military. Osama bin Laden slipped away into Pakistan along with remnants and some of the leadership of the Taliban. Now, the Taliban occupies or effectively controls more territory than they did in September 2001.

Meanwhile, in the capitol, Kabul, Cheney / Bush’s hand picked puppet president, Hamid Karzai,
Controls about five square miles of his country, has devoured billions of United States aide money and other funds and is the de facto CEO of Afghanistan’s opium trade. He is as corrupt and useless as are McCain, Graham and Lieberman.

There are big decisions to be made by the Obama Administration regarding our intervention in Afghanistan; the mission needs to be redefined, the composition and size of our troop presence there re-evaluated, and a clear path forward identified and acted upon. McCain, Graham and Lieberman should do the country a favor and just shut up. They are not in any way, shape or form part of the “loyal opposition”. Not at all. They are simply ignorant Republicans (even Jewish Joe) who have no interest or cause greater than being opposed to President Obama.

It is stunning that these men can face themselves in the mirror every morning to shave without being sickened by what they see. McCain has become a laughing stock, a regular on FOX News and his rhetoric is the same as it was during the lead up to the doomed invasion of Iraq. Graham is just a clown but a dangerous one at that. He tries to fool people into thinking he is rational and reasonable when he is, at heart, an obstinate politician playing all the games necessary to keep his gay ass in the Senate and, in the future perhaps, beyond. He spouts the GOP talking points with the best of them and, like his two buddies, clearly demonstrated advanced ineptitude in all matters of foreign policy, national security and military missions.

Joe should just move to Tel Aviv. He jumped from his Party’s ship when he saw he was going to be defeated in a primary race and since then has basically been a Republican; he spent the last eight years with his bulbous schnozzolla up the asses of Cheney / Bush. You can bet that any position Joe takes in foreign affairs, national security and military missions is the position of Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu. It is Jewish money that has financed his political career and Jewish issues that dominate his agenda. He seeks to use the United States military and all other resources to the furtherance of Israeli goals. It is amazing he has the chutzpah to go on national TV and speak about Afghanistan and the “importance” of the mission there when he was among the first to advance the Cheney / Bush doctrine of “pre emptive war” in Iraq. Israel is much closer to Iraq than it is Afghanistan. That explains that.

Afghanistan historically has been a quagmire for any outsiders. It is a country only in name. Our efforts there should be reduced to targeting our true enemies, not national building or trying to “win the hearts and minds” of the local, basically tribal and clannish people. They don’t want us there; they don’t want anybody else there. Our military possesses the technological capabilities to hunt our enemies with little to no risk to or need for troops on the ground. After eight years of engagement what have we to show for our efforts, lost lives and national treasure? Nothing, absolutely nothing.


Links:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/opinion/11rich.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=frank%20rich&st=cse

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/the-afghanistan-war-just_b_312870.html

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/afghanistan.war/index.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan22-2009sep22,0,908493.story

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/10/11/afghanistan___the_proxy_war/


Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved

BUSH MADE OBAMA’S NOBEL POSSIBLE

AWARD OR REWARD?

















(October 9, New York, NY) Oslo Norway is a world away from Dallas Texas, the home of former President George W. Bush. Despite the geographic distance, the two locations are sites in the nexus allowing the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize to be bestowed on our current President Barak Obama.

There are not many real surprises in Washington DC politics aside from scandals however, the news from Norway in the predawn hours this morning that Obama had won the Nobel was a major, stunning and, in some quarters, outrageous news surprise. Obama is the first sitting United States President since Woodrow Wilson to win the international honor. To some, the award is a true testament that the world views our President as a transformative figure. To many others, particularly those on the conservative Right wing of American politics, Obama as a Nobel Laureate is something more akin to being name Homecoming King. The truth of the matter lies between these disparate perspectives.

Whether conservatives and Obama’s opponents like it or not, we are part of the world community. Yes, we are the lone Super Power and need not ask permission from the United Nations, NATO or any other nation when it comes to making decisions about our own national security, defense and economy. But, we are the strong giant on a crowded planet and, without international cooperation, some vital initiatives that do in fact impact us directly, including in some components of our national security, we can not accomplish that which we need to. We need only look back in our most recent past, the eight years of the George W. Bush Administration to see where “going it alone” has gotten us.

As loudly as many here on the political Right will protest, it does matter what the world thinks of us. For example, we have a long and proud history of being generous and magnanimous in victory. Not seeking an empire, we helped rebuild the world economy after World War II and, by being temperate in our relations with other nations we were able to forge strong, reliable alliances and to further cement our bond with our historical European Allies. This matters.

George W. Bush’s disdain for the rest of the world and his basically unilateral war of choice in Iraq, alienated America from many of our long time Allies and created generations of new haters particularly in the huge, global Muslim population. We cannot afford to create enemies and to ignore our Allies. The world does indeed watch America and, for better or worse, we set the tone for how much of the rest of the world behaves. Globalization has made it increasingly vital that we act in concert with other nations, that we seek compromise and agreements to avoid tension and conflict.

Naturally we should always act from our strength and in our best interest. There are times when our best interest is just that, ours and ours alone. So be it. However, the majority of the time, our interests coincide with the interests of other nations; coalitions and alliances are more apt to succeed than isolationist unilateralism.

Barak Obama’s Presidency and now, his Nobel Peace Prize, were made possible by George W. Bush and the policies, attitudes and practices of the Dick Cheney Administration. Together, Cheney and Bush did more to destroy the relationships with our Allies and reverse the foreign policy philosophy America had espoused since our birth as a nation. There can be no doubt that Obama’s Nobel is a high profile rebuke to Cheney / Bush and that , in and of itself, is meaningful. World opinion does matter; how we are perceived globally directly impacts our national security.

In some ways the world has become virtually borderless. War and famine cross national borders and disease knows no boundaries or borders. A global pandemic would quickly illustrate the necessity for us to work with other nations for our own good. We have recently witnessed just how interdependent the global economy is; each nation is just a link in a tightly coiled chain of commerce, finance, and trade. We alone can exert little pressure against nation states we view as “bad actors.” If we wish to exist in a perpetual state of war and conflict, than we can go it alone. No one would deny that we as a people would rather live securely among our global neighbors. A huge contributor to our current deep recession has been the cost of fighting a war in Iraq for six years virtually unassisted by our Allies. Our on going mess in Afghanistan is another example of what we can get mired in without strong international, sustained support. The NATO presence in Afghanistan is diminishing as our leaders are debating our future mission in that troubled land.

By his own admission early here today in his brief acceptance speech, President Obama said he did not feel “deserving” of the award but would travel to Oslo in December to accept it. According to CNN, the President , “said he viewed the decision less as a recognition of his own accomplishments and more as "a call to action." The Nobel committee recognized Obama's efforts at dialogue to solve complex global problems, including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons.”

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee sited President Obama’s "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, said the decision was "unanimous" and came with ease.

International reactions have largely been congratulatory towards Obama with many world leaders praising his efforts to “change the dialog” and improve the perception of America around the globe. It is a sad testament to the state of domestic politics that the Republican Party is using Obama’s award in a fund raising campaign. The derision and insults from the GOP seem not only unpatriotic and ignorant but also embarrassing. They challenge the Nobel Committee for awarding Obama on the grounds that he has “not accomplished” anything. The retort from the Committee has been that Obama’s presence alone in the White House and his embracing of a more open and thoughtful foreign policy as sufficient justification for their surprising action.

One senior White House official speaking not for attribution commented, “Every American can be and should be proud that our President has been recognized by the Nobel Committee for his efforts in forging a new foreign policy. The fact that so many here on the right are engaging in insulting, negative commentary show just how far out of touch with reality they have become.”






Links:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/obama.nobel.international.reaction/

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/55246

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/obama-nobel-peace-prize-reaction-transcript-full-text

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,563503,00.html




Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved

YEAR NINE, DAY ONE:

WE GOTTA GET OUTTA THIS PLACE













Change in US strategy a must.
Time to break out the hi tech and crush the low tech



(October 8, Reston, VA) In an amazing exercise of power and might comprised initially of small CIA paramilitary and Special Forces units covertly inserted, the United States began the campaign to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban who had served as protective hosts of the terrorist group,Al Qaeda., who had orchestrated the massive terror attacks of September 11, 2001. After the initial insertions of men and money who joined forces with the Northern Alliance, the remnants of ragtag militias still resisting the dominant Taliban, the United States brought out the heavy bombers and put troops on the ground. The fight was on and the Taliban was crushed within three weeks while their leaders and Al Qaeda fled into the rugged, mountainous, tribal, area near Tora Bora which borders Pakistan. Rather than finish the job then and there, decisively and definitively, the imbecilic, messianic President George W. Bush decided to start his personal grudge match against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The rest, of course, is well known history.

The fact that we remain in Afghanistan after eight years is as troubling as it is costly and, at times, seemingly futile. The Obama Administration who inherited this military morass is now struggling to redefine our mission, strategy and goals there. What was originally a righteous cause where the United States had support of virtually every other nation on the planet has devolved into a complex, confusing, pseudo-quagmire where our efforts appear to be disjointed, scatter shot and inadequate. Our NATA allies are dwindling by the day so the military presence in that vast, perpetually ungovernable country are solely American faces. Even the “democratic” government literally installed by the Bush crowd is rife with corruption of every sort and has virtually no governmental authority beyond the small seat of “power” in Kabul. The recent presidential “election” there has been roundly criticized and effectively neutered by rampant charges of electoral irregularities.

Afghanistan for centuries has been an impenetrable conglomeration of tribes of varying ethnic and religious composition. It is a “country” in name only; forever resistant to a central government of any kind. The history of outside forces in Afghanistan is the very definition of failure – stunning, demoralizing, grinding failure. Just ask the Russians (then, the USSR) about there bruising 10 year war and their ultimate humiliating, empire destroying defeat. Of course during that time period the United States was supplying the mujaheddin with money and arms so they could fight our proxy war with the Soviet Union. Now it is our turn.

There is no way for us to “win” in Afghanistan because there is no way presently agreed upon to define victory. Our righteous battle against those who attacked us here at home in 2001 and their extreme Islamic fundamentalist hosts has devolved into an ill defined brawl with various factions, militias and determined tribal warlords. The billions in aid we have given to the Karzai government has vanished in the vast, deep sinkholes of corruption and narco-trafficking, and fleeting alliances. Who are we “fighting” there today? Who is the “enemy”? Who, in that country aside from the self important, criminally corrupt Hamid Karzai, even wants us there? What are our abilities to conduct military operations on the Pakistani border region? Speaking of Pakistan, what exactly is their relationship with the Taliban and other like minded groups? These are not merely rhetorical questions; these are the core issues at the heart of the serious debate being engaged in today in the White House, State Department, Pentagon and the Intelligence community.

At the center of the debate now is the number of troops that should be kept in and additionally deployed to Afghanistan. This seems to be a question that needs to be asked after several other, far more important questions are asked and answered satisfactorily. We need a true answers of the questions asked above as ell as a complete redefinition of the mission, goal and end game. What will constitute “victory” and how can we accomplish that? What we are involved in right now in Afghanistan is the penultimate example of asymmetrical warfare and counter insurgency. In some ways, despite military successes since Viet Nam, our military appears to have learned little abut the most effective tactics for challenging, fighting and outthinking a hard core insurgency amid a hostile local population.



STREAMLINED AND HI TECH














Air Force pilots operate Predator drones, unmanned aircraft
from an air base far from the battlefields.


To continue our current strategy in Afghanistan essentially dooms our military to a protracted, nasty, bloody conflict. The non combatant citizens of Afghanistan are already beginning to become increasingly hostile to our troops; our continued presence will only breed a stronger, more determined insurgency, gain support for Al Qaeda and, perhaps, create conditions conducive for a resurgent Taliban to exert control over more and more territory. The past eight years have clearly illustrated just how foolish and costly the continuance of the status quo or a mere tweaking of it would be.

The time has come for us to begin to reduce the troop numbers in Afghanistan and refocus on our true enemies - the people who are responsible for 9 11 01 and their hosts. We have the technology that will allow us to continue, if not escalate the fight while reducing the number of troops on the ground. The United States has spent untold trillions of dollars over the years developing new age methods and machinery for modern warfare. Now is the time to use every hi tech tool in our military arsenal to hunt and kill Al Qaeda. Our fight with the Taliban is more nuanced and we need to consider diplomatic efforts with factions of the Taliban who have no use for Al Qaeda and the destruction and devastation they have invited to Afghanistan. The much praised “surge” in Iraq was successful because our military was able to negotiate and ultimately partner with various warlords and tribal leaders to rid specific towns and villages of insurgents and “foreign fighters” - Islamic extremists attracted to Iraq simply to fight “the Americans.” We need a similar approach in Afghanistan.

In October 2001, had we dedicated the vast military resources to Afghanistan that we foolishly squandered going into Iraq in 2003, we would not be in the position we are in today. 160,000 troops, artillery and our stunning airpower, conventional methods, would have yielded quick results. The Taliban fell and fled within weeks of our first air strikes and Special forces skirmishes. That would have been the time to secure as much of the country as possible and allow for some stability which would have bread even greater stability. This would have at least created the basic conditions for the Afghans to decide how they wanted t be governed; no force on earth has ever or will ever be able to govern Afghanistan unless it is homegrown. History is replete with examples of those who tried and failed.

We should stop funding Hamid Karzai and his opium king brother. We are not there to “nation build”. How can you build a nation where one has never existed before? All the schools, bridges, irrigation and electricity projects in the world will not, cn not succeed in Afghanistan unless the Afghans, all the multitude of tribes and clans, want them to. We’ve got to stop wasting our troops lives, national treasure and time. Let all the drones, cruise and hellfire missiles t our disposal dispose of Al Qaeda where ever they may rear their heads. Let’s exert some of the authority at our command as a Super Power and tell tumultuous, nuclear weapon armed Pakistan to clean up their act or there will be no more US dollars flooding in. We could bomb the rugged area of the Afghan - Pakistan border where Al Qaeda is suspected to be until it is nothing but a glass plain. We don’t need top shed another drop of American blood in that god forsaken hellhole. We can fight them with our technology from the comfort of military bases and Naval vessels hundreds if not thousands of miles away. No more “whack-a-mole” tactics. Let’s hit them hard and relentlessly and send the unequivocable message that we’re tired of this shit and we’re not going to take it anymore.



Links:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/obama/2009/10/08/obamas-war-within-the-democratic-party.html

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3399&Itemid=184

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/team-obama-afghan-taliban_b_314144.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/10/07/pakistan-is-the-focus-of-top-level-white-house-meeting/

http://www.newsweek.com/id/216864



Copyright TBC 2009 © All Rights Reserved

A MONTH OF NONEDAYS

BLATHER, BULLSHIT & CRISIS

















We Just Couldn't Take It Anymore


(October 5, An Undisclosed Location, USA) It all got to be just a little too much, a bit too crazy. We had to step back, take a break and let a little water run under the bridge, for time and tide to do their deals. We were tired: tired, angry, frustrated, disgusted and somewhat amazed. Nothing seemed real; there was such a profound disconnect between the discourse and reality, the debate and the facts, the real and imagined, the left and the right, the right and the wrong, that madness was looming. So, we shut down, tuned out, chilled, and otherwise didn’t give a fuck. Uncharacteristically we had reached a point where we just couldn’t care less.

But, now, we’re back.

Are we any better than we were when we went on our sabbatical? In some ways yes, in other ways, no. We have suffered some crisis amongst us Cynyx in addition to all the other crapola mentioned above.

We had gone away, away from the "birthers" and death panels, the town hall meetings and idiocy, the name calling, the race baiting, the talk of Socialism, Fascism, government take overs, special interest groups millions, The Gang of Six, the gangbang by six, John Ensign, Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford, and all the major league assholes on cable newsertainment.

The 8th year anniversary of September 11, 2001 came and went and there’s still a 16 acre hole in lower Manhattan.

We’re still in Iraq and Afghanistan, both fronts continue to stress our military and resolve.

Swine flu, bird flu, pulling the plug on granny and the public option. We couldn’t bear another bailout, handout, cash for clunkers story. It had come to the point where preexisting politics was creating unprecedented governmental maladies. We just didn’t want to be part of it, we did not want to use all the countless medical analogies and metaphors to describe the non stop lunacy that had become overwhelmingly pervasive.

Now that we are back, we see that not much has changed. Autumn is upon us, Congress is back, the Supreme Court is in session and it’s already week four in the NFL. 39 year old NFL legend, Brett Favre is kicking ass as a Minnesota Viking, the Yankees and Red Sox are in the MLB playoffs. We’ve come back to find South Asian earthquakes, tsunamis and mass casualty seismic events. A little different perspective; something else to think about. We’ve come back to say farewell to Lucy and hello to Ardi, our oldest fossilized relative.

Initially there was a period of withdrawal, we were unaccustomed to being unconnected and silent. After few days, though, it got easier and more palatable. Not knowing got easier until it morphed into not even wanting to know. That was a real twist.

Coming back now after a month comes with a distinct sense of deja vu’. Nothing has changed, the same blather, bullshit and bullshitters dominate the domestic news. It is not as if we expected any real perceptible changes but may have latently harbored the thought that perhaps, there had been some progress in at least one or two domestic issues and that the rancor, anger and animus would have cooled some.

Obviously, we were wrong. But we’re back.



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