February 17, 2009
President Obama announced today he is sending 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan.  But he is still faced with a decision about what to do long term in Afghanistan, and with worldwide terrorism.  If there is one point of agreement between Republicans and Democrats, it is that the U.S. war in Afghanistan was a legitimate response to the September 11 attacks, mainly aimed at bringing Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to justice–unlike the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which was bogus, based on the Bush administration’s falsehoods regarding Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s links to al Qaeda.
President Obama and Congress must now deal with the root causes of terrorism in Afghanistan and around the world, i.e., poverty, repression, and a sense of injustice that many Muslims feel at the hands of their U.S.-backed governments. Â After all, terrorism was not a sudden anti-Americanism, but the result of past American policy failures. Muslims don’t hate our freedom; they hate our policies. Â And our image abroad was not helped by our promoting or condoning torture, disappearances, secret jails, and rendition. Â Troops and money are not long term solutions to the war in Afghanistan.
What is the cost of the Afghanistan war so far? Â As of January 29, 640 Americans have died and 1,722 have been seriously wounded; 11,017 Afghan troops and 7,373 civilians have been killed; and 33,051 Afghan troops and 13,271 civilians have been seriously injured. The estimated dollar cost for the war in Afghanistan is estimated to reach $439.8 billion by the end of FY 2009 and at the current rate of spending, could reach $1 trillion by the end of Obama’s first term. Â Can we afford this expenditure, especially with our faltering economy?
What have we achieved so far? Â The Taliban have reorganized and now control over 70 percent of the country – up from 50 percent in November 2007 -Â where they collect taxes, enforce Sharia law, and dispense rough justice. Â But they do succeed in containing crime and corruption, which characterizes Hamid Karzai’s rule. Â The Taliban is even threatening to surround Kabul.
In addition, neighboring Pakistan — our reluctant ally in fighting the Taliban — is suffering a meltdown under Asif Ali Zardari. Â His government has lost control of the North West Frontier Province to the Pakistani Taliban, who now control the Khyber Pass, the key route between Pakistan and Aghanistan through which 70 percent of supplies for U.S. troops pass. The U.S. is now forced to seek alternative routes. Â And it was recently reported that Pakistan is about to agree to ca ease-fire allowing the imposition of Islamic law in the Swat Valley, which will likely increase Taliban influence. Â Islamic law is already in effect along the Afghan border and elsewhere in Pakistan’s northwest.
Before the U.S. sends more troops or spends more money in Afghanistan, Congress must have full and open hearings on the future of our war on terrorism. Â Congress cannot just continue to rubber stamp further expenditures of manpower and money as it did during the Bush administration.
The Hunger Site
February 20, 2009 at 1:13 am
Kip,
are you serious? You’ve drmatically under-estimated. Split-crotch desert fatigues (with pink trim) havre to be procured as well as baby oil (1,000 bottles), beard trimmers (12), toys for the boys (50) and dust resistant false eye brows, mascara and lip stick. There are of course medi-vacs and costs related to re-stitching to be considered. Operation “man-ner from heavan” is not coming cheap.
February 19, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Aj, did you factor in the cost of medical services for the unfortunate 500 SF lady boys to be ravaged by thousands of angry, musty, dusty, stoned and fervently religious Taliban fighters?
Oh, and have you factored in the hygienic conditions faced by these 500 lady boys parachuted in from the chic, cosmopolitan San Francisco. I’m sure they’d demand showers and possibly even complete makeovers prior to providing stress relief services.
Estimated additional costs of additional MANpower = 260 mil.
Estimated cost to provide makeover services = 126 mil.
Estimated medical costs = 185 million
* laughing uncontrollably*
February 18, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Compadres, I have friends working in Afghanistan with the military-industrial interests. Spikes job is to periodically pay off the local war lords with tax payers $$, trash poppy fields with the stoned Afghan army and on occasion drink scotch down a ready made hole when the Tallies open up. Surely, money would be much better spent on parachuting in 500 SF lady boys so that the tallies can have some stress alleviation? If Barack wants change, he should get some through this strategy. I estimate about $8bn dollars in 2009.
AJ
February 18, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Patrick said:
“Kip, one option might be to first decriminalise drug use, especially the bud.”
Patrick I admire the attempt at considering how to actually solve a problem. While some talk religion and geography Taliban narco-terrorists have replaced Columbian drug lords as the #1 supplier of Heroine in the United States. Shockingly, the increase in drug trafficking was unthinkable until the US military established itself in Afghanistan.
SOURCE: http://tinyurl.com/t8tcq
I think the best approach here is to stop bashing Muslims and ask ourselves why the US won’t BURN THE FREGGIN BLANK CHECK (OPIUM CROPS)!
Considering the large amount of money spent and lives lost. Why would the US allow a crop to grow anywhere on the surface of the earth that would enable terrorism at the expense of American drug addicts, tax payers and the military?
Islamicists aside – I hope Obama lives up to our expectations.
February 18, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Kip, one option might be to first decriminalise drug use, especially the bud. It could free up a lot of wasted time, resources and money. Then we purchase all the Opium, Grass and Coca leaves from the source. What can’t be used to process into ‘legitimate’ medicines, supplied to needy patients worldwide at low cost, or provided to those dependent on the illicit products, could be stored or incinerated. If marijuana was legalised then it could be sold like booze, the quality could be guaranteed and it would generate revenue via profits and taxes. The official federal agency to implement and oversee this policy would probably be the CIA and Military Special Forces, after all they have extensive experience in facilitating the drug trade for nefarious purposes, they could now turn over a new ‘leaf’ and beat their bayonets into bongs, end of problem.
February 18, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Comments on the comments: All Muslims are not terrorists and all terrorists are not Muslim. To believe otherwise is at best stereotyping or at worst racist. By the way, there are more than 1.5 billion Muslims in the world; 1 in 5 persons is a Muslim. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the U.S., especially among African-Americans. It behooves Americans to make the effort to understand Islam.
If other countries believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) it was largely because of U.S. false assurances that such WMD existed. Remember, Colin Powell’s infamous appearance at the UN. Remember, Scott Ritter and Hans Blix, who each headed the UN weapons search in Iraq and came up empty and who opposed the U.S. invasion. Also, Bush went to the UN for authority to invade Iraq, but once he realized he did have the votes, withdrew the request, and we invaded w/o UN authority. Finally, Bush fessed up that there was no link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.
Jingoism=extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy. Time for a change.
February 18, 2009 at 9:35 am
The writer implies that the “War on Terror” is legitimate. It is not.
Indeed, the circumstantial evidence that Muslims were involved at all in the attacks of 9/11 is extremely poor. (See: Elias Davidsson http://mujca.com/eliasdavidson.htm)
Part of the reason the anti-war movement has been so ineffective in stopping U.S. imperial adventures (and mayhem) in lands that do not belong to us is because leading “enlightened” progressives profess that Muslims for whatever reason “hate us”.
Most Muslims in this world simply want to be left alone to pursue their equal claim on life and happiness.
It is our bought and paid for leaders that hate us and the innocents they kill daily– manipulating us with audacious promises and lies. It is they who were most likely behind 9/11– it is they who threw us into Iraq, and at Iraqis who were killed, crippled and made homeless by the millions. It is they who promised to conduct the war(s) smarter and with better protected and more numerous troops. It is they who funneled arms and money to Israel to conduct their genocidal blitzkriegs against Lebanon and Gaza. It is they who want to plow us into more war in Afghanistan (which no imperial power ever vanquished)– and across the border into the frontiers of Pakistan– a nuclear power and one of the most populated and volatile nations on earth. (And all at a time when Americans are losing their jobs and American industry and capital is being liquidated.)
Is it any wonder that the junior senator with a murky past, who promised hope and change and who is now president– is on board with Extraordinary Renditions? See:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/us/politics/18policy.html?ref=us)
Whether Republicans or Democrats are in control– America conducts itself as an intolerable thug in the world– pursuing a long-term strategy of winning geopolitical and military dominance. This strategy is deadly and is conducted outside of any real participation of the people it affects.
The best strategy of hope and change is to bring our troops home at once– to return to the rule of law and the wisdom of checks and balances (no more secrecy and executive privileges)– to jail the financial criminals that incinerated our economy– to bring past government war criminals to justice– to reinvestigate 9/11– and to institute real recovery programs –health relief, job works and infrastructure and industrial enhancement– which emulate the successful ones implemented by FDR. We must divest the Federal Reserve of private control and make it the servant of the people by folding it into the Department of the Treasury.
The sophistry of assuming that our government leaders now know better without considering the full panoply of choices they are capable of making– can only excuse them in the future for the further tragedies they are likely to reap.
To assume that they are on our side has yet to be proven. So far, I only hear talk and see tokens.
February 18, 2009 at 9:24 am
“Muslims don’t hate our freedom; they hate our policies.”
Wrong! The Islamists hate the freedom we have in the West because they are religious crackpots, much like the Christian fanatics in the US that bomb abortion clinics. The Islamists also hate gays and abuse women as a matter of principle. None of this has anything to do with US policy.
“…the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which was bogus, based on the Bush administration’s falsehoods regarding Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s links to al Qaeda.”
Every intelligence agency in the world assumed Iraq had WMD. After he was captured in Iraq, Saddam Hussein was asked by the Arabic FBI agent who interviewed him why he continued to give the world the impression that he had WMD when he didn’t. He answered that the bluff was important for Iraqi security, especially against the Iranians, who wouldn’t invade Iraq as long as they assumed Iraq had nuclear weapons. He also said he didn’t believe that the US was going to launch a ground invasion of Iraq but just air strikes.
February 17, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Afghanistan is a major source for the cultivation, processing, and trafficking of opiates, producing 93 % of the world’s supply of illicit opium in 2007. US activity in the North of Afghanistan as pushed narco-terrorists and drug cultivation to the South of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.
It would be an inexcusable strategic flaw for the Obama administration to allow fields of dope to be cultivated by terrorists to fund their activities. It’s as easy as burning poppy fields. Not doing this as a next step would speak volumes of the Obama administration.