Sunday, March 11, 2012

Tomorrow Is Too Late

US soldier kills Afghan civilians in Kandahar
A US soldier in Afghanistan has killed at least 16 civilians and wounded five after entering their homes in Kandahar province, senior local officials say.
It's time to leave now.

11 comments:

John said...

Gino,

My question is a simple one.

When we abandon Afghanistan and allow the country to return to opium production, rule by factional warlords, and fundamental Islamic education how should the US prepare for the consequences of the well funded martyrs that will come from it to attack the West?

I don't know that staying is the right option, but just leaving will be worse.

Bike Bubba said...

John hits at the center of the real question; it's not whether one rogue soldier commits atrocities. If that were true, one could have ended WWII with a single killing of Japanese civilians--say in the Doolittle raid.

Rather, the question is whether the "police action" there has any chance of creating something better than a new haven for the next series of Al Qaidas. Keep in mind here that the people of Sudan, Thailand, Chad, Nigeria, Malaysia, China, Paris, and elsewhere are well familiar with Islamic militancy that is not rooted in U.S. action. Our nation may at times make it worse, but violent Jihad is not a U.S. problem primarily, but rather something that is an issue with Islam.

If you doubt this, ask Charles Martel where the battle that made him famous was fought. And when.

(Tours, Frandce, 720AD. I'm pretty sure the neoconservatives are not to blame here)

Gino said...

yeah, i was being rash.

good point from both of you.

this shooter though has done a lot of damage. given their culture, i would expect them to call for his immediate execution.
given the reported facts, if accurate, i have no doubt this is the punishment he will recieve accrding to UCMJ.

Brian said...

No, you got it right the first time. Not because of this, but because we have nothing to gain from being there and we haven't for years.

RW said...

Your weren't rash, you were right. But not because a soldier of ours had enough of the bullshit. You are right because it's over now, and only people who think in terms of set-piece battles and symmetrical warfare can't escape out of their box long enough to face reality. What do we want to do now, civilize Afghanistan? They like how they live. Internal clan warfare is the norm there, and it has been the norm there for a thousand years. Maybe more. I'm not willing to spend the life of one more American in that shit hole. Even if we helped them build the ideal democracy free of angry jihadis and various other nutbags they'd still hate us.

We need to move up the timetable. They didn't ask us in there, and no one will ever solve the Afghan riddle. We have drones. We have precision strike capabilities. The day of us trying to make a point with this is over. We've already done it. Karzai isn't worth one more drop of American blood. There are other ways than massive troop placements and pointless patrols.

Get out. The mission is over. Nevermind the chickenhawks behind the curtain.

Gino said...

RW: i was already mentioning previously, on another page i'm sure, that we should be there in a way that we can deny being being there... just so as to keep the al queida (however its spelled) off balance.
maybe a few trolls in the hills or something...??? somebody to tell us where the send the drones.

Bike Bubba said...

That might be the way to do it--methinks we need a few more people who know the Afghan languages (there are several) who might be able to do what somebody is doing to Iranian nuclear engineers.

I don't (Mossad) know who (Mossad) could possibly (Mossad) be doing (Mossad) that.

Gino said...

yeah, Mossad is badass. so badass that there are arabs who are not convinced that Arafat was not working for them.

been thinging: Obama tripled the troops that we had running through afghanistan since he took office.it was he who expanded operations there. Bush kept it small. this is not a neocon thing anymore. unless Obama is a neocon.

Night Writer said...

For all of Karzai's posturing, if the U.S. decamps he'll have his butt on the first U.S. chopper heading out. Either that, or his death photo will make the Saddam Hussein and Moammar Ghadafi photos look like prom pictures.

Gino said...

i'm for that.

Bike Bubba said...

Prom pictures? You mean like the movie "Prom Night?"