Afghanistan dilemma

I have avoided making any comments on the Afghanistan situation. In the past, all my blogs were limited to saying that it was because the Bush administration didn’t keep their eyes on the ball and concentrated all their efforts to fight in Iraq, that the Afghanistan situation worsened. I have said it and will say it again, IT IS THE FAULT OF BUSH AND THE REPUBLICANS that we are in this mess in Afghanistan. President Obama should not be blamed for our failures there, nor should we force him to “own it” even though he is responsible for the continuation and eventual exit strategy.

The questions have been presented: Is the original reason for going to war in Afghanistan still valid? What is our mission there? Do we have an exit strategy? Are we nation-building or just trying to get the Taliban out? Do we support a flawed and corrupt government there? Is the war on drugs a part of this? What is our ultimate resolve, what are our objectives, are we willing to spend lives and treasure to accomplish something stupid?

As I wrote in my blog before, Afghanistan has been deemed “the graveyard of empires”, it was so with the British and recently with the Soviets. Are we going to follow the same route?

Having been “burned” in Vietnam, I should think that we have learned as a nation something from history.

There are “hawks” who want us to continue there and to escalate the war, sending more troops and more treasure. People like Noelle Nikpour argue that we can win this war and to exit Afghanistan would dishonor those who already paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Disagreements have been expressed by the likes of McNamara, Westmoreland and even Rumsfeld, who are supposed to be expert strategists on the subject. The criticism is that soldiers who are fighting do so not for ideology but for their own survival and that of their fellow soldiers. The ideology is interjected in Washington and other world forums, usually by white haired old men who never fought in a war.

Our President, who is a very pragmatic fellow, has made it a point to take his time in reaching a decision to send in more troops and has made it clear that he wants a more in-depth analysis of the situation, something his predecessor failed to do. Of course, critics are saying that he is taking too long, therefore setting up a trap for him.

I personally don’t think that President Obama would benefit either way. If he says “let’s pull out of there” he will face the anger of the ultra-right wingnuts, if he says “let’s escalate and send in more troops” then he will face criticism from the left and the wingnuts will still not be satisfied.

It is for sure a lose-lose situation both for President Obama and for our country. I suspect that our path is to eventually leave Afghanistan. But first we have to make sure that Pakistan understands that if they are to survive as a nation they are going to have to go after the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. Not to do so, even if we continue to give them large sums of money is like committing suicide. That is why I said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was right on the money when she went and spoke “tough” to the Pakistanis.

One last remark: Who are we to criticize the Karzai government saying that it is corrupt and they rigged the elections when we, right here in our country had one that didn’t win the 2000 or the 2004 elections with a clear mandate and there are still questions as to the legitimacy of those two elections?

Dede Scozzafava will be supporting Democratic candidate. Does the term “landslide loss” mean anything to you?

Late yesterday news broke that the moderate Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, candidate in the hard-fought special election in New York's 23rd Congressional district, had been driven out and the Republican party was throwing their weight behind the Palin/Limbaugh/Glen Beck endorsed radical tea party candidate instead.

Today, the moderate Republican threw her support behind our proud Democratic candidate Bill Owens.

It has never been clearer that the Republican Party has been hijacked by extreme right wing ideologues with a radical agenda that would effectively dismantle Social Security and Medicare, and are out of step with a vast majority of Americans.

Eight extreme right wing groups spent more than $1 million on this campaign including the Minute Men, Club for Growth and the Family Research Council. But no matter how much money they put up, the reality remains that this is an extreme right wing faction of the Republican party and if the trend continues, both the 2010 and 2012 elections are going to spell disaster for them. There is of course the possibility of a third party, that is if they fragment enough to motivate the right to center Republicans who are a majority to go at it alone.

Pawlenty threw his support along with Sarah Palin to Scozzafava’s opponent, a super-right wing asshole and Palenty said: “I think you have here a very just poor decision by the small group of party leaders who made this decision. It wasn't a grassroots decision. They endorsed a candidate who has voted to raise income taxes in New York, who's in favor of card check, who's voted in favor or supported the stimulus bill, has voted in favor of bank bailouts, has voted in favor of all sorts of other issues that just are inconsistent with being a Republican." “

So now we have people on the extreme right defining who is and who isn’t Republican enough. But that is just fine with everyone because at the end of the day, they are going to end up losing every fucking race they enter. The American people are right to center, not right to extreme right and they are fed up with the wing-nuts and the Tea-baggers.

No doubt this is a well-funded extremist GOP who will stop at nothing to win and whose agenda could quite literally take us backwards to the days of Bush-Cheney.

This combination image of Oct. 2009 file photos shows Congressional candidates in New York's 23rd district, from left, Democrat Bill Owens, Conservative Party Dan Hoffman, and Republican Dierdre Scozzafava. Scozzafava is endorsing Democrat Bill Owens. Scozzafava said Democrat Bill Owens would be better at building on the legacy of Republican John McHugh, who previously represented the 23rd Congressional District.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/t/Bill_Owens#ixzz0Vekc7IN4

SOURCE: http://www.nypost.com/t/Bill_Owens