Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Predictably Obama was hit from the left and right after his announcement of the surge in Afghanistan. I think it is the right decision although I think he took too long to make it and the setting of a time line for exit is a bad idea. I know this sounds like Dick Cheney. But I am not part of the stupid administration who abandoned Afghanistan and lied their way into an unjust war in Iraq. And forget about the crazy left wingers like Kucinich and Moore. They don't live in the real world. I don't like wars but Afghanistan is a necessary war. If we run like the Soviets did the Taliban and al Qaeda will not only run Afghanistan again but will inspire others to join them. Kabul will become the capital of terrorism. Pakistan, a nuclear power, will be in danger of falling to Muslim extremists.

Look at things from the perspective of a moderate Muslim. I believe that this Muslim felt we had a right to invade Afghanistan after 9/11. He knows that he would do the same if his country was attacked by terrorists. However, he would likely be persuaded by extremists that the U.S. is the great Satan when we invaded Iraq. To him there was no reason to invade a country that has not attacked us. Now if we pull out of Afghanistan, he will view us as a country of of no heart. We can flex our muscles all over the world, with 60,000 troops in Germany, more than that in Korea, a large base in Japan, aircraft carriers patroling all the oceans. But when the going gets tough we bail out. Maybe we should bring all those troops home from Germany and Korea etc. and save our resources and people to fight wars we needed to win? Why do we have all these troops all over the world but when we are faced with maybe 25,000 hard core Talibans we bail? This moderate Muslim will be convinced that we are a nation of lazy, materialistic people as the extremists claim. I think the Iraq war had converted many moderates into extremists. Only by helping Afganistan become a nation free of the Talibans can we recover our reputation.


It is going to be a difficult task, no doubt about it. But I think it is still a winnable situation if we are together on this. This is where I think Obama has not done as well as he should. I think he understands that this war needs to be won but he is trying not to alienate his liberal base. He will need to convince the American people that victory is necessary. Then he needs to follow yhe advice of generals McCrystal and Petreus. These guys understand that you don't win with forces alone. The added troops buy us more time but we must work with the tribal leaders to provide jobs and security. It can be done because most Afghans don't like the Taliban and they don't think of the U.S. as an occupying force. They will turn against us, however, if we are not helping them and if it appears that the Taliban will take over their villages. So we have a small window of opportunity to turn things in our favor. We must do it now!