NPR just aired a fine story about a US-Afghan raid on a western Afghanistan village last month, looking for a Taliban leader, that left either 40 dead, most of them Taliban fighters–or 90 dead, most of them children, depending on who is telling the story. The lesson to me is that we're doing a lousy job of occupying a country; and I recall statements made by former Ambassador George Lane, a career foreign service officer, at the August 24 event I blogged about before.
Lane emphasized that people hate occupations. "People don't like foreign troops on their soil."
It's just a fundamental factor in national life. "It would bother us if we had foreign troops on our soil, going around policing things, kicking down doors, inspecting your wife's bedroom, I don't think you'd like that." And asking Marines to be policemen, "and they don't even speak the local language," is folly.
The realist ambassador extended this lesson to Iraq, where he thinks we should announce a drawdown starting in three months, and Afghanistan. He asked whether it didn't make sense to work with the Taliban to get Al-Qaeda. The Taliban is a fact of Afghan political life. How much power do we have to change that political landscape; and so why should American troops be working with one faction against another, when the American interest is really: Al-Qaeda. Lane, not surprisingly, took a very dim view of the idea of regime change.
The lesson to me is that we're doing a lousy job of occupying a country
And Barack Obama will do a better job of occupying Afghanistan!
I just know that once Afghans listen to one of his speeches, they'll get behind this whole American imperialist invasion thing!
Your first glaring misspeak: "The lesson to me is that we're doing a lousy job of occupying a country" (as though occupying a country more effectively is *good*) explains the later: "when the American interest is really: Al-Qaeda".
No, no, no. The American interest is in BREAKING its ties to Al Qaeda, including, specifically, the American empire.
Al Qaeda will quicky lose interest in you, if only your politicians will lose their interest in controlling the geopolitics of Arabia and the middle east.
Support for Jewish tribalism and expensive oil (because of Jew instigated wars) vs. ethnic even-handedness and cheaper oil. That's the choice.
That's the choice.
And what's worse, it isn't even a 'choice' for any ambitious politicians in your 'democracy'. They MUST put the Jewish refuge (for criminals) before everything.