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Afghanistan is the New Iraq: Al-Qaeda and Taliban back in Action

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 12:35pm.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Remember Afghanistan? You know, the country we invaded when we actually did have international support and, more importantly, reasonable justification. It turns out the mission is far from accomplished there after all, and it's not just because Bush let Osama bin Laden get away. Both the Taliban and al-Qaeda are alive and well in Afghanistan, and they are growing stronger.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave only a few thousand troops there while we've continuously had about 140,000 in Iraq, even though Iraq is actually about 70,000 square miles smaller, has fewer people, and, of course, presented no urgent threat.

Britain's top counter-terrorism official, Peter Clarke, said today that Al-Qaeda is still directing terrorist operations around the world, and terrorist camps are still flourishing in and out of Afghanistan. Clarke believes authorities overestimated the damage done to terrorist infrastructures after the 2001 Afghanistan invasion.

Just how bad are things going in Afghanistan? Coalition nations can't even agree on how long they think it will take before they can leave. Canada says two to five more years, Britain says three to five more years, and the U.S. says we will need at least five more years.

Yesterday's excellent article in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights some of the many problems going on these days. Fighting is at its highest level since the invasion. Warlords control nearly the entire country. Opium production is at a record high. Militias are adopting Iraqi-insurgent-style suicide attacks and killing high government officials. 97% of Afghans lack constant electricity, and 60% have no electricity at all.

What can you expect when Congress appropriates $34 billion for Iraqi reconstruction but just $9 billion for Afghanistan, of which only $2.5 billion has been spent? Horrendous planning and gross mismanagement hasn't helped either. Britain's former top soldier in Afghanistan described Coalition efforts as "a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency" before he resigned from the army last month in disgust.

Great, now the president who never read a textbook is writing one.

With a foreign policy dumbed down to "stay to course" and "kill 'em all," you might think Bush would have at least finished the job in Afghanistan. But that would involve him not screwing something up, a feat he has proven to be utterly incapable of.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS




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Bomb, bomb and more bombs...

Submitted by gmathol on Sat, 09/23/2006 - 4:24am.

The American way. It makes me sick, to see inocent civilians die in Iraq, Afghanistand and Palestina, because of American "heroic" attrocities.
The U.S. - United Skunks - have become the "threat" to world peace and a threat to the civilized world.

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There you go again...

Submitted by marlow on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 8:34pm.
Who said they're the nice guys, traitor? The previous president you're psychotically frothed up about took down the WTC bombers, tried them, and shut them away. Your fearless leader let OBL go; talk about doing nothing. You take a nap. Sweet dreams of pulling your head out.
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Miranda for OBL?

Submitted by zorro on Fri, 09/22/2006 - 9:22pm.

Let's do it the Clinton way! It is after all a matter of law inforcement and that's why billy bob did not kill OBL. Let's go back to the way it was done because it so much more effective. :)

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Let's get out...

Submitted by zorro on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 1:39pm.
Let the Taliban and AQ go back in then send in the b-52s and bomb them. That way they're in the open and we'll make a short order of getting rid of them. No need for more troops, NATO or otherwise. :)
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Yeah right

Submitted by VettaKing on Tue, 09/19/2006 - 12:22am.
That worked so well when the Israelis did that in Lebanon last month. The bottom line is rethugs can't win a war. They are the most cowardly pathetic fighters of all time. The right wing side has lost every american war: The revolution, civil, WW1, WW2, Vietnam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan. No one should ever support a war raised by Republicans, no matter if it is justified, they will just blow it and screw over our country.
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It's people like you...

Submitted by zorro on Tue, 09/19/2006 - 8:02am.
That do nothing and it encourages terrorism. The terrorist know full well that you're afraid to do anything and that's why they pounce on us during the Clinton years. :)
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Again, I ask you what war

Submitted by VettaKing on Tue, 09/19/2006 - 11:25pm.
Again, I ask you what war the Conservatives have ever won in this country? If you were paying attention, you would have noticed in my statement that I said con republicans should not have their wars supported because they always screw it up. I never advocated the U.S. not taking any actions. Osama and Al Qaida should have been dealt with in Tora Bora when Bush had the chance to destroy them once and for all. They let them slip out the back door, and then turned their attention to their original and ultimate wet dream of overthrowing Saddam. Osama has gotten exactly what he wanted from Bush. He has bogged down the American Military in the mid-east and turned the Islamic world against America and the west. Osama's stated goal has always been to kick the west out of the middle east, overthrow the Saudis and turn Arabia into an Islamic state. If Bush had killed Osama and Al Qaida in Tora Bora, Bin Laden's plan would have failed. He would be dead, Al Qaida destroyed, and the middle east would be more stable because of it. Instead we have a chaos in Iraq, a radicalized emboldened Iran, a mid east peace process going in complete reverse, and the U.S. dependence on oil continuing to increase and endanger the American people. By the way, you wouldn't happen to be one of those guys who accused Bill Clinton of wagging the dog to get attention away from the Monica fiasco when he launched missiles into Afghanistan to try to kill Bin laden would you?
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Again, I ask you what war

Submitted by restwelll on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 7:09pm.
Truer words were never spoken VettaKing
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Right...

Submitted by zorro on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 5:43am.
Clinton the "do nothing" pretend prez trying to kill OBL! Give me a break, he probably called OBL and told to get out as a courtesy a full 6 hours before the missiles arrived. Because of slick willy we are in this qagmire of terrorism and lunatic supporters such as yourself. :)
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Again I ask you

Submitted by VettaKing on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 9:16am.
Which war has a con republican ever won in this country? Did you even read my post? Did you accuse Clinton of wagging the dog like your little coward repub heroes on the hill? You have not responded to a single thing I have said. The problems in the middle east go back much longer than Clinton. The U.S. overthrow of a secular democratically elected president in Iran in 1953 to secure the oil rights for British Petroleum(He was threatening to nationalize his own nations oil) comes to mind. As does the cobbling together of disparate peoples into artificial nation states following WW1(Iraq). The treatment of Israel as a de facto 51st state even though they serve no real interest to the U.S.(The U.S. survived just fine 150 plus years before Israel came into existence). And to clarify, as a reality based secular atheist I find all of the extremists of the Judeo/Christian/Muslim faiths to be completely repugnant. That is why it would have been nice for Bush to have finished off Bin Laden and Al Qaida in Tora Bora, instead of going after the neutered secularist Saddam. I also am not that big of a Clinton supporter. I never thought he was much better than mediocre. It's just compared to Bush and the cons of today he seems great.
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What wars?

Submitted by zorro on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 9:55am.
Well, let's see: North Korea -- stalemated! Under Harry S Truman (a democrat). And, now they have nukes. Vietnam -- We bailed out(lost)! Started By John F. Kennedy (again, a democrat). Iran -- We bailed out! -- Under Jimmy Carter (once again, another democrat). And, now, soon to have Nukes. India and Pakistan -- Developed their nukes right under Clinton's nose (another democrat). What else do you want to know? :)
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Wrong again, crackboy!

Submitted by marlow on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 9:27pm.
Glad to see others are taking you for the person you are. Korean War ended in a stalemate in Eisenhower's Administration; Not that I would hold him responsible, as a reasonable person unlike your politico-protoplasmic self, I can fathom the complexities of that conflict. Abdul Q khan is the Pakistani scientist credited with providing nuclear secrets to North Korea. Where is he now? In a protected villa in...Pakistan, our "close ally" in the war on terror. Is monkeyboy hunting him down? No!! Does monkeyboy care? No!! Vietnam started by Kennedy? Wrong again, slappy! Eisenhower sent in the advisors and unleashed the CIA campaign against the North. Kennedy was preparing to withdraw and had realized his generals were handing him loads of crap. Troop levels numbered around 17,000 during his administration. India/Pakistan nuclear programs have existed since the 1960's, may as well blame Ronnie for that. But Ronnie did do business with those Iranians after promising not to negotiate with terrorists, selling the ayatollah around 1000 TOW missiles; thats some serious sh*t, slappy. You've tied your hitch to a psycho, and you love him so much, you'd ditch your country to make him a king. Like I said, Zorro's the wrong name for you.
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Cuba?

Submitted by zorro on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 7:20am.
What about Cuba? Where are we with Cuba? We almost got nuked by them. Wasn't it on Kennedy's watch? It is still stalemated. :)
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I'm getting sick of kicking your ass, crackboy...

Submitted by marlow on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 11:52pm.

No slappy, It wasn't on Kennedy's watch. The bay of Pigs was conceived and organized and funded on Eisenhower's watch. Kennedy went along with a plan already in motion, under massive pressure from the military and other stupid people who think like you. If there's one thing repugs excel in, it's creating a disaster and leaving it for the democrat to clean up. Ever since the Great Depression. Kennedy stood down the soviets during the missile crisis; that was a victory.

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Take it easy

Submitted by zorro on Fri, 09/22/2006 - 9:09am.

Hey Marlow,
Use your energy to convince people like me instead of bashing me. Your 2006 dunce dems numbers don't look good right now. Also, spend your energy to prove all of those theories and conspiracies that you and other liberals say that they exist. We could go on and on but the reality is that you're just angry and you really don't know why. I have asked on this web site as to where your proof is? Also, I asked what rights have the ordinary citizen lost because of the Patriot Act? Whom, specifically was arrested and their rights trampled? I really don't care for the terrorist rights. As far as I am concerned they can die without a trial. :)

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Funny....

Submitted by marlow on Tue, 09/19/2006 - 8:25pm.
How such a scared, cowardly person as yourself, so craven that you would actually suggest that the United States should ever, in any situation, name a dictator (previous posting), so scared that you would turn your back on the principles of this nation, would actually take the name of Zorro. In reality, you would be the trembling, syncophantic government trooper that Zorro would run his sword through without even trying. Put away your fantasies of personal heroism and get back to merging with your great leader. You'd be happy living in a tub of warm Bush-flavored goo. It's morons such as yourself and monkeyboy that do absolutely the wrong thing and f*ck everything up to a mindbending extent.
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Am I missing the point?

Submitted by zorro on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 5:39am.
We are fighting terrorists right? Are the Taliban and AQ the nice guys? Your postings here reflect sympathies for them? Why? Are you traitors yourselves? You're raving mad so much so you don't even know where you stand. Take a nap and think about it. :)
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Where you at?

Submitted by marlow on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 9:34pm.
We WERE fighting terrorists, right up until President Daisycutter decided that he'd fooled enough people, pulled out of Afghanistan and did his little Bush family vendetta in Iraq. OBL let go at Tora Bora. Taliban, down for a little but not out. Warlords, as well armed as ever. Opium harvest, never been better. Failure, failure, failure. Kinda like yourself, I'd bet.
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On the surface...

Submitted by zorro on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 7:23am.
It is cute how you think that all of those theories and conspiracies exist yet you'll be hard pressed to prove any of them. Stop spreading fear because you dunce dems could not win the last 2 elections. :)
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