Too bad there aren't more adults on the right, or the left.
Let's hope this and this represent a start.
Out of Afghanistan.
Out of Iraq.
Admit to the mistakes and move on.
Grow the f*ck up, and get America back on track.
George Will has now given crucial political cover for Obama to do the right and smart thing. Let's see if he takes advantage of this golden opportunity. Or not.
George Will's Moment of Courage, September 2009:
On Afghanistan:
"Forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent special forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters. Genius, said de Gaulle, recalling Bismarck's decision to halt German forces short of Paris in 1870, sometimes consists of knowing when to stop."
On Iraq:
"Many scholars believe, Pollack says, that nations that suffer civil wars as large as Iraq's between 2004 and 2006 have "a terrifyingly high rate of recidivism." Two more years of U.S. military presence cannot control whether that is in Iraq's future. Some people believe the war in Iraq was not only "won," but vindicated by the success of the 2007 U.S. troop surge. Yet as Iraqi violence is resurgent, the logic of triumphalism leads here:
If, in spite of contrary evidence, the U.S. surge permanently dampened sectarian violence, all U.S. forces can come home sooner than the end of 2011. If, however, the surge did not so succeed, U.S. forces must come home sooner."
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16 comments:
We only need agonize over Will's call should we continue to fantasize over some miraculous turnaround for our nation.
On the contrary, we've seen nothing substantial to indicate we're serious about that; no calling to account the enormous fraud/criminality so pervasive in our system. Millions of mortgage felons roam the streets unconcerned.
Let's embrace this fukkup for what it really is: the arrogant, self-indulgent nadir of a nation not only in denial but in irreversible decline.
Pass me that feather, Bruté; I'm gonna puke.
If you want to know the truth about what's really going on in Afghanistan, check out what Jeremy Scahill has to say at:
http://rebelreports.com/
The War is no longer about Al Qaeda and the Taliban (if it ever was), it's about the private military force called Blackwater that is profiting from our false flag occupation in that country.
Keith,
If we leave Iraq and Afganistan how with Cheney and Co. make any money?
RayNLA
Another case of some fcuker who was wrong about everything the first time, and now because this all-wrong idiot finally gets it right, we're supposed to be all grateful and listen to what he says. Meanwhile, the Left has been right all along. But who pays attention to those lunatics, eh?
Keith,
There's an agenda, somewhere, which has nothing to do with common sense, dead people, decency, morality, et al.
And for the record, here's the scoop...
"Grow the f*ck up, and get America back on track."
Nobody ever grows up.
As far as Decent Human Beings go, that doesn't make much difference.
But when the Sociopaths and Narcissists slither their way to positions of power -- "nobody ever grows up" becomes a whole 'nother deal.
The above paragraph is, IMO, the only insurmountable reason that we're doomed.
Said another way -- get Human Nature fixed up, and we'd be fine.
Sorta wish I were older...
Here's my contrary viewpoint...you bring back 150K soldiers who have some level of post-traumatic stress disorder back into an economy that already has 10% unemployment rate? What would they all be doing for a living?
I'm against the war in Iraq 100%, and think the war in Afghanistan needs to show some serious results soon, but I want know if it is wise to bring in that many soldiers to an economy where they will be unemployed?
investorinpa
And Iran march to have nuclear weapons continues... Burger king goes up in Afghan.
Investor, in light of what you said about he returning traumatised soldiers, I was thinking about this story about the sex freak who kidnapped that 11-year-old girl in California and had her as a sex slave for 18 years. It said he was a normal guy until his brains got scrambled in a motorcycle accident. Then he turned into a violent dick-monster. How many brave troops who went to serve their country and got their skulls rattled by bomb blasts are going to return terminally bent?
I see very little difference between Obama and Bush in this regard. Obama's withdrawl plans for Iraq are identical to the Bush plans. With regard to Afghanistan, Obama is even more hawkish. Electing Obama made some anti-war type feel good for a while, but there is no evidence that he is one of them.
He's clearly no closet 911 Truther. Someone with stars on his jacket told him Afghanistan is the "good" war, and he believed it.
Too bloody right.
Neither of those countries is worth 1 American life.
Bugger the bloody lot of them.
Keep our distance and just send in the cruise missiles, bombers and predators.
And cut all foreign aid.
Let the politicians pay with their own money.
edenz
They also said that that kiddie fiddler Garrido blew his mind on acid... all I know is that he won't last long in jail, which says something for the inmates of our correctional systems being more just than the people who put them in there.
We never should have gone to Iraq, and we should have been out of Afghanistan years ago, after bagging Osama Bin Laden, who we still have not caught. It's all just a scam for the military industrial complex to keep lining their pockets... more corruption!!
A hard rain is gonna fall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKmxEJLcsIQ
Bucco,
I do not think that Will was a supporter of wars in Iraq and Afganistan - he has criticized those at least since 2005. There are plenty people on right who oppose the wars, and if there is a desire to get out of there, left and right who are against the wars should work together ON THAT ISSUE without name-calling and hatred.
drb
Keith your smoking again I see... There is NO WAY in h%^l that Fraudbama is going to do this!!
You really do hold out far too much hope for a good Obama. It's done Keith!!
Impeachment at some point will be the only answer, so until then deal with the hope and change you voted for...
One can ONLY hope for a better group in 2010 than we have serving (well actually NOT serving) us today.
Vote each and every incumbant OUT of office in 2010!!!
Let it be written, let it be done!
Anon 10:40: Great post, now get a handle!
CR: "What would they all be doing for a living?"
If history is a guide, I'd say assisting in the coup.
See you in The Glorious Revolutionary Leader's Landfill Mine and Work Camp!
drb, if you care to read it, here's a recounting of George Will's positions (plural) on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (On the Internet, there's always someone who's analysed big names like Will in depth. And it's from a right-wing, pro-Israel publication, not some leftist rag like I'd read.) While Will has been more nuanced than neocon chickenhawks such as William Kristol and the Kagan brothers, he was basically FOR the wars as long as the U.S. was winning.
That said, Left and Ron Paul Right do need to get together to agitate for a sane U.S. policy. If America had dropped money bombs on Afghanistan like Obama did for the U.S. banks, we'd have a friendly client state there. But most of the money was directed to the MIC and corrupt drug warlords. Pat Tillman and hundreds of other brave guys died for that?
As for name-calling, that seems to be the zeitgeist on Keith's blog. Lively, intemperate debate. I don't want to seem like a wussy liberal!
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