I took down a factual article published here and elsewhere because I guess not many of you want to discuss the reality of Afghanistan.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TYPHOON44,

Typhoon.. you old reprobate!.. you just love to poke sticks into ant hills, don't ya?

been many a 'commentary' on these threads over the 'Stan and the whys and wherefores..

what would you have ' us' do?

walk away? nuke the place into glass?

Takes money and effort and, above all, time.. to drag a society from the 13th to the 21st century.. especially when we don't have a monopoly on good ideas as to what's worth keeping from the ' old ways' and what's really worthwhile/important to a society to 'adopt' from the 21st.. Afghanis need to see they have worth and purpose and are respected and that their core beliefs are not ridiculed not just placated so that we can steal their oil and flog 'em Big Macs and cheap Walmart trinkets..

okay, back to you to lob the next grenade into this debate...

I've read where the CIC is planning on paying the taliban to 'switch' sides...same game plan for the DNC.

Last night I made the mistake of watching NBC news with Brian Williams.He was reading the news from Bagram AFB.
He actually asked the AF 1-star how can an F-16 stop a terrorist ,dressed as a policeman,from planting a bomb!
The 1-star,was very cool when he replied"They can't,they are not here for that type mission",and went on to explain CAS.
The talking heads don't get it.
Later on in the broadcast,Brian Williams again proved his lack of knowledge by saying Special Forces are doing something new.They are offering Afghan villagers med calls!
Special Forces has been doing that since the 1960s and this azzhat thinks it's a new development!!
I despise the main stream media.

I forgot.
Here is the NY Slimes story of Karzais brother being a drug lord and being on the payroll of the CIA

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10...ia/28intel.html?_r=1

quote:

Takes money and effort and, above all, time.. to drag a society from the 13th to the 21st century.. especially when we don't have a monopoly on good ideas as to what's worth keeping from the ' old ways' and what's really worthwhile/important to a society to 'adopt' from the 21st.. Afghanis need to see they have worth and purpose and are respected and that their core beliefs are not ridiculed not just placated so that we can steal their oil and flog 'em Big Macs and cheap Walmart trinkets..

Rocketeer this is the second time you have used that exact quote and it validates to me that as the years roll by, so does our reason to stick around. What you wrote can apply to most nations in and around said areas. You know as well as I do that a crash course to the future cannot work without a historic chronology to look back on. Most of all the structure of their religion is their core. Whether we like it or not.

All I can is sure is nice of the New York times to identify a CIA informant.

Sully:
quel scandale??

So the CIA put a few bucks into brother Karzai's pocket.. so what? okay, he was/maybe/could still be a drug lord or something.. but.. he's helping the CIA..to do stuff.. I mean the CIA paid Osama Bin Laden when he was a 'good guy' fighting the Russkies [ or was Charlie Wilson wrong? ] even though they knew back then he was a little on the fundamentalist right wing of Islam..

ain't the first time the US has held its nose and forked out taxpayer bucks to 'unsavoury' characters just 'cause they were better than the other option...

[ and it won't be the last, either..]

I've worked plenty with.....unsavory types. Sometimes "we" win, sometimes we lose. It's always a gamble. Bin Laden was a loss....I wasn't "on the ground" at that time, so I hate to armchair quarterback...but it smells to me like we should have known that was a bad idea.

Then again....I lost one in Somalia....big time. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, seems like I should have known that would turn out bad....

Of course, I've won a couple too. And we almost never hear about those wins. And I can't tell ya or I'd have to kill ya....etc.

Rocketeer

How is Karzai helping us? He's surrounded 24/7 by some bad ass people who more or less are making his fictional leadership exist. He will be on a plane as soon as our troops split, you watch.