Comments on: Updated: No News On Afghanistan (Except From The Taliban)

By: M. B. Moon

M. B. Moon — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:04:22 +0000

"Why lose millions when by acting earlier you lose many fewer – e.g., WWII." Haym US entry into WWI was a major cause of WWII since it allowed an unjust peace to be imposed on the Germans. Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him. Proverbs 26:17

By: haym

haym — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:29:57 +0000

M.B.: You are right, I should distinguish between pacifism and isolationism. I’ll be more precise next time.

Sometimes a strong defense is not enough. In the same vein, why not nip it in the bud. Why lose millions when by acting earlier you lose many fewer – e.g., WWII.

I always agree with true liberty and the rights of the individual as being paramount.

The Lord – with all due respect, many go and have gone to their deaths with trust in the Lord. Again, e.g., WWII, and all wars before and after.

I have little regard for the Swiss. Hitler used the Swiss – he needed them.

By: M. B. Moon

M. B. Moon — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:36:19 +0000

“So someone out there please tell me: Where is the Plan? other than staying home and burying our heads to the real danger.” Haym

1. Trust in the Lord.
2. Maintain a strong DEFENSE and deterrent.
3. Allow true liberty, INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY MONEY CREATION.
4. Serve as an example to the rest of the world.

Haym, why do you conflate non-aggression with pacifism? The Swiss are completely non-aggressive but even Hitler feared to invade them.

By: Gringo_Malo

Gringo_Malo — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:55:48 +0000

“It looks like that investment will be Chinese not American. Maybe that’s why they financed the war in the first place!”

According to the more recent NYT article linked in my post above, Exxon, Occidental, and Royal Dutch Shell have made deals to develops other Iraqi fields.

By: Robert Glisson

Robert Glisson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:34:32 +0000

HAYM asks “Where is the Plan” I can’t speak for anyone else but myself. Over the last ten-fifteen years I have seen NATO bomb the — out of Serbia because we assumed they were ethnically cleansing their country. After we bombed their country for approximately a year and killed over a hundred thousand Serb men women and children, we had a trial and found the Serbs were not guilty, meanwhile the Muslims are still killing Serbs and burning Christian Churches in order to force them out of their area. Meanwhile, we ignored Black Africa and the massive destruction against tribes and religions going on there. South Africa has lost 300, 000 citizens because we insisted that they become a democracy without a means of checks and balances. We have spent 8 years mucking about in Afghanistan and Iraq and truth be told, Pakistan with our smart bombs. How has the US done better in the countries that it had a plan for, Serbia-Iraq-Afghanistan; than it has in the countries it didn’t plan the destruction of? Russia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Australia don’t have a plan either, who appointed us God?

By: Bob Harrison

Bob Harrison — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:24:03 +0000

“…we’ll need to shift troops back to Iraq, to protect the American investment in the Iraqi oilfields, won’t we?”
It looks like that investment will be Chinese not American. Maybe that’s why they financed the war in the first place!
Afghanistan is an absolute disaster. The longer we are there the more the chaos we cause spills into Pakistan which could turn into a REAL disaster. Obama expects our allies (NATO) to put forward 10,000 troops when most of them are getting ready to pull out of what is the most unpopular war in Europe since our Iraq adventure. Maybe Obama will convince them otherwise with an ipod full of his speeches? More likely, NATO will cease to be relevant and Russia will take advantage of our weakness.
And unlike during the Bush regime, domestic opposition to war has vanished. The “anti-war” left has fallen silent and some, like code pink, have even started to cheer lead for Obama’s war lest the evil Taliban return and oppress women. Karzai and his drug-lord allies are enlightened progressives you see!
Unfortunately, no one in power listens to the principled Libertarians.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1006/p06s10-wosc.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703740004574513192925257848.html

By: Myron Pauli

Myron Pauli — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:09:35 +0000

Haym:

One has to hope that Pakistan will secure its own nukes. A fallback is, of course, the Hinduist Entity which may take action if it deems it necessary.

Iran – make it difficult for them to get the materials and possibly assure them that we will not overthrow their idiotic government.

Al Queda – Use the CIA and foreign intel. agencies and law enforcement to get them when you can – track their movements.

Taliban – Make it clear to them that if they don’t mess with us, we won’t mess with them.

That’s my plan! – Myron

By: Haym

Haym — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:15:46 +0000

I would like to read a credible plan for dealing with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda that is connected with some reality out there and not some libertarian view that we should do nothing until we are attacked (again). I have read all the comments here and elsewhere related to this issue and I have not read a plan.

What is the plan? Bring the troops home? Then what do we do about the Taliban and al-Qaeda? What do we do when they go after the Pakistani nukes? What do we do to stop Iran from getting nukes? How do we prevent an electromagnetic pulse attack on the US? (Look up EMP if you need to.)

I don’t see any inkling of a plan. All I read are attacks on what we have done and what Obama is proposing to do now.

So this is what Ron Paul says:

http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-09-14/ron-paul-on-afghanistan/

In summary, stay home do nothing. There is nothing out there that is a danger to us. We are the cause of the danger because we are out there. So stay home, be happy.

I wonder what Paul would have said in 1935. Maybe he would have been marching in the streets with the pacifists.

If it walks like a duck …

So someone out there please tell me: Where is the Plan? other than staying home and burying our heads to the real danger.

By: Barbara Grant

Barbara Grant — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:45:01 +0000

For quite some time, the aerospace industry, largely funded by the defense budget, has suffered due to the preference for bullets, bombs, and bullet-proof vests that accompany large-scale troop deployment in our wars of choice. Now, it seems as though a once-great American industry’s death knell has sounded. Funds will continue to be diverted to the troops, to the front, and to a mission in Afghanistan that will fail. I’m sure that the Americans working at Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrup-Grumman, etc., will take some comfort in Obama’s grand vision as they receive their layoff notices, are asked to clean out their desks, and are marched out the doors of their companies by security personnel.

By: Gringo Malo

Gringo Malo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:10:17 +0000

So much for the peace candidate. I suspect that he'll accept the Nobel Peace Prize anyway. The shift of focus to Afghanistan puzzles me. There's oil in Iraq, and U.S. companies are about to start producing it. (Please, Lord, take my Baker Hughes shares back to a hundred bucks just one more time!) There's nothing in Afghanistan but rocks, sand, and dope. When the Iraqis grow restive again, as they surely will, we'll need to shift troops back to Iraq, to protect the American investment in the Iraqi oilfields, won't we?