Comments on: Burning borrowed money in America’s wars

By: paintcan

paintcan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:11:08 +0000

Karzai’s government may be corrupt but that doesn’t say the Taliban aren’t.

An Afghan can apparently argue with the Karzai government and live. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Taliban(s). And the Taliban, like the Myanmar Generals, are big into the opium trade.

The Taliban seem to believe they have sole ownership of “God” and they will kill a disbeliever (or even a sloppy believer) for infractions of their interpretation of his book of spiritual etiquette. If a movie like “The Kite Flier” is accurate, they can also be very venally corrupt as well. They do not seem to be people who accept other people having minds of their own. Seminarian’s with guns.
Not an heartwarming prospect, is it?

What if that becomes a very popular attribute in other religions besides Islam? There are some extreme Christian Fundamentalist sects who could easily emulate them. The Settlers on the West bank give themselves the same dispensation to kill for their interpretation of “God’s greater plan” too.

I think we could say we are caught between Iraq and a hard place. As an aging baby boomer, I’m glad I’m on my way out and probably won’t live to see the final, if any, ever, resolution to this impossible conflict. It makes the cold war look comfortable and nearly sane by comparison. And it was, usually, for almost all the parties involved.

By: scheng1

scheng1 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:41:31 +0000

Maybe US is banking on the fact that it is too large to fail. I wonder which country will perform the “bail out” for US?

By: HBC

HBC — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:49:06 +0000

The only winners in war are those who make money from making war.

And they don’t care how much debt the public has to assume to pay for their horrid wares. They don’t really care whether wars are won or lost: of course, better for them is if wars are lost because winning would mean the end of the Big Sugar train. They care even less whether their stuff works at all, or who gets hurt by it, as long as lots of their overpriced gadgetry gets wasted in order that more can be ordered up.

The only war worth fighting is the war against war profiteers.

By: jborrow

jborrow — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:10:45 +0000

did it ever occur to anyone that the fight is taliban vs. taliban?

the american right-wing christain gun tot’n abortion dr. hunt’n and kill’n is our taliban! and yes, they know their terrain (just look at how long that prolife killer who shot the abortionist in n.y. was able to hold out in the mts. in n.c. against the fbi, army rangers, etc.) and no matter what you do (short of killing everybody) they just keep coming back (and crazier–e.g., sarah pallin–each time)!

look out, ron paul is still right-wing, no matter how reasonable he sounds!! (just look how different obama is from what he said during his campaign.)

By: donnellmike24

donnellmike24 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:30:43 +0000

A local pole here in Wisconsin 86 percent disagree with the presidents decision to send more troops to Afgahnistan I wonder is anyone listening to what we the taxpayer are saying or does big business dictate what is to be.This should not be the case we have no “right” to tell others how they should live our government is mistaken in believing we are rightous in or endevors we should mind our own business and no troops should of died in this this is a travistey bring the troops home enough of this hero crap this is wrong and this surge is not going to make it better.

By: USSoldier

USSoldier — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:49:53 +0000

Bring the troops home from everywhere, Iraq, Korea, Afghan, Germany, Africa, Poland, Japan, Kuwait, Saudi, Qatar, Britain….

Ron Paul in 2012!

By: johngarnache

johngarnache — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:41:07 +0000

does anyone yet regret not voting for Ron Paul?

By: russdward357

russdward357 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:36:26 +0000

It is refreshing to read some common sense truth in the media. Sometimes, I really think that either I am crazy, or everyone else is. When I start thinking that I’m crazy, I slack off on stockpiling the end-of-the-world cellar. Thanks to Mr. Debusmann, Gander Mountain will probably make some money this weekend.

By: tomjeff

tomjeff — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:42:11 +0000

It is desperately sad to see America’s leadership still struggling to cope with the legacy of Vietnam. The spectre of an implied military defeat by withdrawing dictates that the only move possible is forward, despite the clear lack of military objectives. Afgahnistan is a theatre for intelligence gathering and surgical strikes by special forces, nothing more. The real problem is the serious risk America’s presence in Afgahnistan creates to a destabilsation of Pakistan.

The Taliban are no more of a threat to America than any right wing christian group in Texas are to Afgahnistan. Al Queda are a different matter, but by confusing the two groups, all perspective has been lost.

By: Pilot

Pilot — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:15:04 +0000

We have exported our civilian economic engines of support.
Our factories! Our people have no jobs, we lie to ourselves, borrow money, and our people have no jobs. Only a matter of time. We WILL be bankrupt, without massive changes in how we conduct ourselves.