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First
off this is what I believe.
- That Bush going into Afghanistan to destroy
al-Qaeda and their Taliban host was a correct, honorable, and necessary
thing.
- That going into Iraq because it was an outlaw
regime with Weapons of Mass Destruction (that they never had after
moving them to Syria) was also a correct, honorable, and necessary
thing.
- That by occupying Afghanistan and Iraq we
effectively isolated Iran, which was and still is the real world
threat, and sponsor of Islamic terrorism. A brilliant strategic move.
- That by January, 2009, even though
congressional Democrats had aligned themselves with every leftist group
trying
to undermine Bush's policy, the Taliban were deemed effectively
destroyed; al-Qaeda was scarce heard from.
- That I was spot-on when I said back in 2002
that the United States can never again prevail as long
as post Watergate brand Democrats have ANY influence whatever in
government I see that sentiment expressed a lot lately.
Now, skoonj sent me this
Fred on Everything treatment, and
expressed "hope someone learns from it." Call me a
curmudgeon, but I see very little chance of that.
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[snip]
OK. In the Guardian, I learn that actual
Pentagonal military psycho-wonks have done a study on what Afghans and
gringos think of each other. (report) Saith the Guardian:
Please
don’t send me growly mail about Our Boys and their courage, training,
sacrifice, honor, and the rest of that string of beads. ... A hit
man for the Mafia is exactly as honorable. For another thing, an army’s
job is not to be brave, selfless, yada yada, but to win wars.
"One group sees the other as a bunch of violent,
reckless, intrusive, arrogant, self-serving, profane, infidel bullies
hiding behind high technology; and the other group [the US soldiers]
generally view the former as a bunch of cowardly, incompetent, obtuse,
thieving, complacent, lazy, pot-smoking, treacherous, and murderous
radicals. Such is the state of progress in the current partnering
programme. Over a decade of fighting shoulder-to-shoulder had created
mutual loathing that was impossible to camouflage.”
Who would have
thought it?
Anybody with the slighytest acquaintance with reality.
Tell you what, brothels and cisterns, I could have written every word
of it, and I’ve never been to Afghanistan. It’s Viet Nam all over
again. Which means that it’s all over, again. GIs and Afghans hate each
other.
What do you expect when you put combative, not too
bright, half-educated, unsophisticated lower-middle-class guys into an
illiterate thirteenth-century culture with a history of detesting
invaders? I know, I know: you figured it would spark a love-in,
koom-bah-yah, Oprah as featured speaker.
This comedy occurs because the military inhabits a parallel reality. In
its experience, you tell a thing to happen, and it does.
[Full]
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sigh
