George Will, Uber-Conservative, on Afghanistan

From ABC's "This Week" this morning: "It's time we get out." --George Will, Conservative, Writer, Author, Columnist

Truth be told: Even American Soldiers are against our wars

Out of Afghanistan now. Ten years is far too long.

10 years in Afghanistan

And to what end? Are they better for it? I hope so. We certainly aren't. We need a plan. We need a resolution. Endless war makes no sense.

The latest on Afghanistan and President Karzai

Did you see this? The latest news out of Afghanistan is that President Karzai now wants to "impose rules restricting international involvement in anti-corruption investigations." One of his underlings also said the following: "The management will be Afghan, and the decision-makers will be Afghan, and the investigators will be Afghan," Mohammad Umer Daudzai, Karzai's chief of staff, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. Foreign advisers, most of whom work for the U.S. Justice Department, will be limited to "training and coaching, but not decision-making," he said. And then Karzai will put in his own, hand-picked staff for the agencies, too, I'll wager and they'll share the take. If it were any place but Afghanistan, you can understand why a leader would want to maintain internal control and not let outsiders in. But this is Afghanistan and Hamid Karzai is overseeing millions and billions of American tax dollars flooding into his country, because of this stupid war there. Last month he fired the corruption investigator. The guy was getting too close to the truth. I have said here before and I will say again, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is fleecing his own country by stealing from us, from the US right now. No one's talking about it in our government because they don't want to undermine the average person's support for the war. But years from now, we'll find out this thief took millions of dollars, at least, for himself, his family and friends and supporters, before he left office and that country. He's likely making like a bandit right now, as long as the American dollars flow in. We deserve to know what's going on over there--we can handle the truth--and we need to push this guy to do the right thing for his own people and for us, too. Link to original stories: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/08/AR2010090805935.html?hpid=topnews; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/world/asia/29afghan.html

Two headlines just now on Afghanistan

First this, from Hamid: Karzai calls for Nato troop withdrawal by 2014 And then this: Rogue Afghan soldier shoots dead two US weapons trainers Let's hope Hamid knows what he's talking about. Links: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7899795/Hamid-Karzai-calls-for-Nato-troop-withdrawal-by-2014.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7900826/Rogue-Afghan-soldier-shoots-dead-two-US-weapons-trainers.html

THE important quote on Afghanistan and the Afghan War

Major General Bill Mayville, Chief of Operations in the Afghan War right now: "It's not going to look like a win, smell like a win or taste like a win. This is going to end in an argument." What a quote that is. You know what that means, right? It means, one day, the United States and its government and military and citizens, collectively, are going to decide we've had enough with this war there. We'll have had enough soldier casualties. We'll have had enough pouring money and materiel into the country. We'll decide we're done and that they don't want us there. What are we waiting for? Today is a much better day for this than tomorrow.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai

 

Okay, sure, it may well be tradition and another culture but I can't help but feel that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has some kind of monumental ego, what with the flowing robes all the time.

I'm just sayin'.


Have a good weekend, y'all.