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The 'Afghan Options' Edition
The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama is not considering a strategy for Afghanistan that would withdraw U.S. troops from the eroding war there.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said "I don't think we have the option to leave. That's quite clear," ( White House: Leaving Afghanistan Not An Option | CommonDreams.org )
That being the case, what options would you recommend to the President?
bebo cynically asks...
before you start debating about what options the president has concerning Afghanistan, remember it took him 4 months to pick out a dog.
DRD said...
In my humble opinion the answer to this question is a moot one. I see it as why are we draining the life's blood from our youngest generation of military as well as the untold gallons of the blood of the natives of the battle zone simply to provide the multinational oil companies security to construct a pipeline from the Caspian Sea to some port in Israel where it will be loaded on some giant oil tankers to transport to Japan or China??? Mr. President, that is my question that answers the original question asked! I pray you make the moral aspect of the situation your Number One consideration when your final decision is made! Thank you, and God bless!!
(There was talk some years ago about a pipeline through Afghanistan to the Indian Ocean carrying oil and gas from the former Soviet Republics to the north. Is that what you meant?)
Adam in NoHo asks...
Obama, do you really hope to accomplish what no other power on Earth has managed to do? (See the Aug/Sept 09 issue of Military History magazine - Afghanistan: Why no one has conquered it)
The military must leave. Tell them top pack up their drones and stop shooting at wedding parties. Replace them with engineers and construction workers. Build infrastructure: roads, bridges, power plants and a transmission grid, clean water delivery. You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. (The Afghans don't want even that! What they want is everybody out, out, out! Even the Arabs!)
fhallall thinks...
Well we could probably assign one Afghan to each WingNut. The WN could go to the home of the Afghan, and protect him from Obama, and also they should bring a Credit Card for some groceries, etc.
Seriously, Kill Them With Kindness tm . Need medicine? We got it! Water, no problemo. Schools? just ask.
Of course this is all predicated on the Afghans wanting to be "Saved". It may turn out they wish only to be left alone to re-re-restack the stones which constitute their domiciles in peace. In which case the WN will have to return to the USA and let them have their country back.
Susan W. Respectfully but hopelessly (her sign off), writes
We don't need no stinkin' options! This will turn out to be Obama's bete noir. LBJ had Viet Nam, Bush had Iraq/Iran, and Obama could very well find his Waterloo in Afghanistan. It's too late to do anything worth dying for in Afghanistan. Even if bin Laden is found and brought to "justice", it's just one head of the hydra. Get the hell out of there. Cut our losses. Don't waste any more minds, limbs, or lives. When do we ever learn???
MD said his piece in the subject line only...
Get used to the phrase, "one term president"
bebo, writing again, adds...
in may of this year, Obama gave a commencement speech at ASU. he wasn't given an honorary degree because" there has been no significant contributions to society over his career."(ASU) fast forward to October of this year, Obama wins Nobel peace prize. the moral of this story; when the going gets weird, the weird go to work for ASU.
SallyP(al) mad as a hatter (her words) storms...
Okay, I realize that is the case, but if the President is not going to withdraw the troops from that quagmire in Afghanistan, after NINE years there, I can recommend NOTHING!!
Many countries and nations have tried to conquer these people over the centuries and have been brought to their knees, like the British for instance. Who can remember the days when their motto was, "The sun never sets on the British Empire?" The Russian military involvement in Afghanistan has a long history, going back to the Tsarist expansions, beginning in the 19th century, in the so-called "Great Game" between Russia and Britain. Neither won their prized Afghanistan. (See above magazine article)
Hell, only a few years ago, the money and men lost to their most recent foolish war, on the impossible terrain in Afghanistan, brought down the mighty USSR!! And remember, many Soviet Muslims in Central Asia had tribal kinship relationships in both Iran and Afghanistan (which we do not).
OTOH, we (the US) have many times supported the mujahideen, et al., supplying them with guns and other weapons when it suited our greed!! Now we want to nuke them (and you know we do) just so we can save face and, "Win!!" (Nuke'em? Come on, Pally! The Man doesn't want to do that)
But, all that being said, remember that the Afghanistan's have fought invaders ruthlessly under the banner of Islam, and they have won. They fight for their country and their God - we fight for prestige and the GD oil!! Furthermore, assuming the impossible and we do, "win" the foreign occupation of Afghanistan, it will be unsustainable. We can crush individual groups, but they will regroup and fight until the last warrior is dead! (Very true)
Do you (collectively) seriously think the USA would be in such dire straights economically had that idiot Bush allowed Haliburton STOCK HOLDER Cheney to race us into a BILLIONS OF DOLLAR'S war in the Mideast? What the Hell do we have to show for the thousands of troops and civilians left DEAD from our fighting over there?? NOTHING, NADA, ZIP!!
And don't you (collectively) preach to me about "killing the dictator Saddam Hussein" because there are many, many dictators in Africa - equal, or far worst than is he, but do we care? NO, no oil over there, huh?? Haliburton. OTOH, has become fabulously wealthy as many, many Americans are left unemployed and begging for some affordable health care... When will they ever learn?
(Who are "they" exactly, and yer sayin' The Man one off them? Hmmmm... I dunno...)
Charlie recommends...
Since I have waited to reply to this one until after Obama won that prize, I will suggest:
Reconsider the options and stop trying to control the planet by force. That is, withdraw from that crazy war ASAP and offer a few billion dollars in reparations (at least) to that unfortunate country. We could pay for this by raising taxes on the rich and decreasing the military budget by about 80%, and I guess the Russians owe them a bit as well. Funny, I don't think this suggestion is gonna fly.
(the 80% reduction in the defense budget certainly won't)
DanD in a three part critique answers...
The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama is not considering a strategy for Afghanistan that would withdraw U.S. troops from the eroding war there.
Okay, when a famously "smart" Commander-in-Chief (as contrasted with the infamously idiotic) ruminates relatively soon after his election that he ain't considering (as he professedly was considering during his campaign) something that a significant majority of his commanders-in-constituency prefer, Do know that democracy IN AMERICA during this era of human tragedy has died.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said "I don't think we have the option to leave. That's quite clear,"
AND THEN when that popularly selected (and corporately allowed to take office) HNIC proclaims (through a "spokesperson" in order to prospectively avoid, by way of plausible deniability, the terminally deposing consequence of nationally redefining, revolutionary activity) that it's "quite clear" that we (mostly meaning the cannon-fodder and all their blood and legal relations) have no option to abandon a previous tyrant's expandingly extravagant war-crimes fuck up, then do know -- as that new tyrant's initiating facilitator -- that we are also now co-conspiratorially guilty of those same ongoing war crimes.
Barack Hussein Obama is quite cynically exploiting the non-American, "black" African half of his ancestry in order to supercharge his inherited "war-president" shield against all criticism of his adopted war-criminal conduct. Because of his own, innately quite superior con-artist talents, President Barry is doing Bush's third term so much better than any Bush ever could have.
Makes you proud to be an American ... don't it?
That being the case, what options would you recommend to the President?
Fulfill the democratic will of the people or abdicate.
I would say that it's pretty unanimous. Get out!... I don't see that happening. Not any time soon, anyway. The Man never said during his campaign that he would do that. I seem to recall that he was calling for an increase of 2-3 Brigades even then. That's about 15,000 troops. Not much was made of it by progressives then as Iraq and Gitmo was the focus... The 42 nations with troops in Afghanistan (Yes, 42! Sweden and Finland have troops there fer cryin' out loud!) seem to think it's a good idea. Check out the 'Official' ISAF website ISAF - International Security Assistance Force - Official Homepage
I'll leave you with a bit of Rudyard Kipling from his poem A Young British Soldier...
"... When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier..."
Thanks to all... Yer the Best!
BadToTheBoneBob
New Question
The 'Nobel Peace Surprise' Edition...
WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) - Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision that honored the first-year U.S. president more for promise than achievement and drew praise... (U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, "His commitment to work through the United Nations gives the world's people fresh hope and fresh prospects."... Former President Jimmy Carter says (it) is a "bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment.")
... and skepticism around the world...
War and Peace Prizes | CommonDreams.org
Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize - Times Online
Do you think awarding Obama the Peace Prize was appropriate?
Send your response to
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
MAUREEN DOWD: Gandhi Wuz Robbed (nytimes.com)
Two former presidents hash out, and bond over, who should have been candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Michael Moore: "Mike's Blog #1: 'Pilots on Food Stamps'"
The plane landed and I stepped into the cockpit. "Read this," the first officer said. He handed me a letter from the airline to him. It was headlined "LETTER OF CONCERN." It seems this poor fellow had taken three sick days in the past year. The letter was a warning not to take another one -- or else. "Great," I said. "Just what I want -- you coming to work sick, flying me up in the air and asking to borrow the barf bag from my seatback pocket." He then showed me his pay stub. He took home $405 this week. My life was completely and totally in his hands for the past hour and he's paid less than the kid who delivers my pizza.
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Garrison Keillor: Health care for all -- even Republicans
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Julie Bolcer: Jon Stewart to Obama on DADT: Eat It (advocate.com)
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Jonathan Pryce: 'The Everyman spoke my language' (guardian.co.uk)
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Roger Rapoport: Michael Moore's new identity crisis (McClatchy-Tribune News Service)
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Will Harris: A Chat with Kevin Smith (bullz-eye.com)
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David Bruce: "Homer's "Odyssey": A Discussion Guide" (lulu.com)
Free download.
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Now With Working Link!
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast, with rumors of approaching rain.
May 22
Harvey Milk
Slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk will get a special day of recognition in California, making him only the second person in state history — in addition to conservationist John Muir — to gain such a designation.
Gov. Arnold $chwarzenegger's signing of the bill establishing "Harvey Milk Day" each May 22, Milk's birthday, was announced Monday.
The Republican governor vetoed similar legislation a year ago. In the interim, Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in August and was the subject of a movie for which Sean Penn won the Academy Award for best actor.
In his veto message a year ago, the Republican governor said Milk should be honored locally by those who were most impacted by his contributions. He did not write a signing message this year saying why he flip-flopped.
Harvey Milk
UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador
Orlando Bloom
UNICEF has named Orlando Bloom its goodwill ambassador in recognition of his commitment to children's rights around the world.
Bloom, best known for his roles in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Lord of the Rings" films, has supported UNICEF's work since 2007, when he first visited schools in impoverished districts of Nepal.
UNICEF said Monday that as its ambassador, Bloom plans to focus on raising awareness of the global organization and advocating for needy children worldwide.
Orlando Bloom
Memorabilia To Auction
Lenny Bruce
If he'd had a Lenny's House to go to, Lenny Bruce's daughter says, her father might have lived to celebrate his 84th birthday on Tuesday.
But there wasn't one, and the groundbreaking comedian who pushed free speech boundaries to the limits with his obscenity-laden routines on such taboo subjects in the early 1960s as sex, race and politics, died of a drug overdose 44 years ago.
In the time since, Kitty Bruce has hauled trunks full of old photos, stage props and other items from one end of the country to the other, keeping alive as many memories as she could of the father she lost at age 11.
Now she's looking to create a permanent memorial to her father in the form of Lenny's House, a recovery home for women returning to society after treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. To raise the needed funds, she's auctioning some of her keepsakes, as well as items contributed by other celebrities.
Online bidding is scheduled to open Tuesday on toddmuellerautographs.com. It will conclude Oct. 28, the same day Richard Lewis is to headline a fundraising benefit at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood.
Lenny Bruce
Charity Auction
Barbra Streisand
Singer and actress Barbra Streisand will auction hundreds of pieces of furniture, art, clothes and other possessions this week in a Beverly Hills charity auction.
The auction on Saturday and Sunday comes as the 67-year-old Streisand's latest album "Love Is the Answer" has landed her back at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart, making her the first artist to top the chart in five consecutive decades.
All proceeds from the sale will go to The Streisand Foundation, which distributes funds to several causes, from the Natural Resources Defense Council to Human Rights Watch.
Known for her liberal activism, Streisand is selling a piano that brings together her musical career and her passion for Democratic politics. It comes with a picture of her sitting at the keys, with portraits of herself with President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton placed behind her.
Barbra Streisand
Paul Anka Co-Wrote New Single
Michael Jackson
With a familiar high-pitched voice counting off one-two-three-four, a new Michael Jackson single debuted online Monday, prompting a hasty response from the singer's estate after Paul Anka revealed he was the song's co-writer.
"This Is It" is featured on the soundtrack to the upcoming documentary featuring the late superstar, but its genesis was actually in 1983 when it was written for a duets album Anka was recording.
The song was titled "I Never Heard," and Jackson and Anka are credited as co-authors on an early 1990s version recorded by the singer Sa-Fire.
Anka said Jackson's estate moved quickly to give him credit, promising Anka 50 percent of the song's profits.
Michael Jackson
DNA Auction
Elvis' Hair
The King may be dead, but that doesn't mean it's too late to run your fingers through his hair.
A Chicago auction house is putting a clump of what it says is Elvis Presley's hair up for auction — along with some of his clothes, sweat-stained scarves and memorabilia. The auction will be held at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on Sunday.
Presley may have lost the hair when he got his Army-issue crewcut when he went into the service in 1958. The auction house says another collector with hair Presley lost to an Army barber has checked the hair out and it matches what he has.
The auction house says it isn't clear how much the hair will go for, but that another clump of the King's hair sold at auction in 2002 for $115,000.
Elvis' Hair
Messiah Hands Off Church
Rev. Moon
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon (R-Propagandist), now approaching 90 and still one of the world's most controversial religious figures, is handing over day-to-day control of his Unification Church to three U.S.-educated sons.
There are some changes afoot in fundraising and boosting membership, the sons say. But Moon — who will preside over another series of his trademark mass weddings on Wednesday — remains in charge as the church's self-proclaimed "Messiah."
The youngest, 30-year-old Rev. Moon Hyung-jin, was tapped last year to take over as the church's religious leader. Moon Kook-jin, 39, is in charge of business ventures in South Korea, while 40-year-old Moon Hyun-jin oversees international operations. The church said all the brothers have Harvard degrees.
Since founding the church in Seoul in 1954, the elder Moon has built a business empire with hundreds of ventures in more than a half-dozen countries, from hospitals and universities to newspapers and even a professional soccer team and ballet troupe.
Rev. Moon
It Was Funny 20 Years Ago?
Harry Connick Jr
An Australian talent show skit based around late pop star Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 has backfired after U.S. guest star Harry Connick Jr called for an apology and viewers accused the program of racism.
The comedy troupe, who called themselves "Jackson Jive," painted their faces black and donned black afro wigs in the skit broadcast on Wednesday evening, prompting talent judge Connick to protest and "speak up as an American."
"If I knew that was going to be part of the show I definitely wouldn't have done it," Connick said after calling a halt to the skit and awarding the six performing members with a zero rating.
The show's host apologized to Connick on air for the so-called "blackface" routine during a special reunion program watched by 2.3 million people, acknowledging producers had been briefed on the skit, based on a similar one performed 20 years previously.
Harry Connick Jr
'Prince' In Nepotism Row
Jean Sarkozy
The imminent promotion of President Nicolas Sarkozy's son to manage France's wealthiest business district drew howls of protest and derision Monday over the 23-year-old's meteoric political rise.
Opposition politicians accused the president of nepotism and charged the "Sarkozy clan" was tightening its grip on the "treasure chest" of La Defense, a district west of Paris where top French firms are headquartered.
Dubbed "Prince Jean" by the press, undergraduate Jean Sarkozy is in line to replace the minister for economic recovery, Patrick Devedjian, as chairman of EPAD, the agency overseeing office development in La Defense.
The blond-haired law student is an elected councillor in Neuilly, the rich Paris suburb that catapulted his father to prominence 30 years ago and leads the right-wing majority in the Hauts-de-Seine regional council.
Former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius jokingly commented: "Europe's biggest business district is in need of a strong legal mind. And Mister Sarkozy is a second year law student.
Jean Sarkozy
Former Flight Attendant Sues
Oprah Air
A former flight attendant on Winfrey's private jet says she was fired after being accused of having sex during a flight in June, and she's filed a federal lawsuit against Winfrey's production company denying the allegations.
Corrine Gehrls alleges that flight attendant Myron Gooch and Winfrey's goddaughter, Kirby Bumpus (Gayle's daughter), made false and defamatory accusations that led to her dismissal.
Gehrls and chief pilot Terry Pansing were fired a short time after the allegations were made, according to the suit, even though they passed polygraph tests about the incident.
Neither Oprah nor her Harpo production company is commenting on the suit. The complaint seeks more than $75,000 in damages from Harpo, Gooch, and Bumpus.
Oprah Air
States The Obvious
Anita Dunn
One of President Barack Obama's top aides says Fox News Channel acts like a wing of the Republican Party.
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday that Fox News operates "almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party."
Commentators Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity have been strong administration critics. The president avoided Fox when he visited five Sunday morning news shows last month, and a recent White House blog post accused Beck of lying.
Anita Dunn
In Memory
Stephen Gately
Stephen Gately, a singer with the Irish boy band Boyzone who made headlines when he came out as gay a decade ago, has died while on vacation in Spain, the group said on its Web site. He was 33.
Gately "tragically died" on Saturday while visiting the island of Mallorca, the band said in a brief statement. The cause of death was not immediately clear.
Gerald Kean, a Gately family friend in Ireland, said Sunday the singer died of natural causes, without identifying them.
Gately and his partner Andrew Cowles, who were wed in a civil union in 2006, were in Mallorca together, the band's statement said.
Boyzone was one of the biggest acts to come out of Ireland in the 1990s. Former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said Gately's death was "a huge tragedy to Irish entertainment, Irish music and further afield as well."
Stephen Gately
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