One thing I have noticed from reading bits and bobs is that the USA is ramping up supplies to Afghanistan. Russia is allowing military hardware and personnel to fly over their territory, when previously they did not use to allow it. So it is clear there are going to be more boots in the ground, dunno why they have not done it already.
You would have thought the surge in Afghanistan should have been coordinated with Pakistan’s push into Waziristan as well…
Dealing with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their successor groups can be likened to the way local cops deal with vice enforcement. They don’t really try to squash it out, because, there is really no way to do that. There is always someone new ready to come on the scene and fill in where their predecessor left off. Instead the cops try to keep vice corralled in neighborhoods where no one will complain to much about the problem.
In retrospect, I think that was the Bush Administration’s approach to dealing with terrorist groups. Keep them out of places that matter, Iraq, Saudi Arabia; and corral them in places that don’t matter, like Afghanistan. That’s probably the correct approach, and Obama now realizes that. The problem is that he is a member of the ruling party which says that the war in Afghanistan is the good war, the war that has to be won. It’s not, it’s merely the place where you herd the troublemakers to keep them from making real mischief in places that count.
(h) We should be bolstered by our success in Iraq, and the enemy demoralized by its failure; rather than vice versa.
And the author was doing so well until this one.
We’re reaping what we sowed in 2003 by not finishing the job that was started and getting side tracked with the circus in Iraq.
We’re not quite at the worse case scenario I was scared of then, but with the increases in violence in Pakistan we’re getting damn close.
“We’re not quite at the worse case scenario I was scared of then, but with the increases in violence in Pakistan we’re getting damn close.”
.
The worst case that we were worried about at the very start of the Bush Administration was full on nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Both countries had mobilized more troops (2x!) than we’ve ever had in Afghanistan and Iraq combined to their border regions.
And we were told that Pakistan wouldn’t work with us, because Bush couldn’t name the Pakistan leader in a gotcha question during the 2000 Presidential campaign.
So the worst case scenario never occurred under Bush, and was rolled back. But now, we are suppose to take overflight of Russia as a positive sign that more troops will be heading to Afghanistan, despite no sign of funding to make that happen.
And we were told that Pakistan wouldn’t work with us, because Bush couldn’t name the Pakistan leader in a gotcha question during the 2000 Presidential campaign.
That was never really a worse case scenario. Pakistan falling more to the Islamic extremists really is. While Musharraf was in power, cooperation with the US was always likely. They were the ones that recognized the cesspit that was the Taliban as a real government.
With Afghanistan falling apart because we didn’t finish the job properly in 2003; the Taliban operating cross border in Pakistan with relative impunity; Musharraf no longer holding down the political class in Islamabad AND nuclear weapons?
And after Iraq and North Korea everybody seems to have the idea that having nukes keeps you safer from US interference…
Even though Al Qaeda declared Iraq to be the key front in their efforts, and they got spanked, somehow our efforts in Iraq was “taking our eye off the ball”.
That never made sense to me, until I heard all this “Tea-bagging” nonsense.
“Taking our eye off the ball” isn’t referring to football. It is referring to a rather different thing.
I for one, and delighted with our taking our eye off that ball.
And after Iraq and North Korea everybody seems to have the idea that having nukes keeps you safer from US interference…
Yeah, Bush was so wrong with calling Iran and North Korea an axis of evil with Iraq. Forgot about that catcall too.
One thing I have noticed from reading bits and bobs is that the USA is ramping up supplies to Afghanistan. Russia is allowing military hardware and personnel to fly over their territory, when previously they did not use to allow it. So it is clear there are going to be more boots in the ground, dunno why they have not done it already.
You would have thought the surge in Afghanistan should have been coordinated with Pakistan’s push into Waziristan as well…
Dealing with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their successor groups can be likened to the way local cops deal with vice enforcement. They don’t really try to squash it out, because, there is really no way to do that. There is always someone new ready to come on the scene and fill in where their predecessor left off. Instead the cops try to keep vice corralled in neighborhoods where no one will complain to much about the problem.
In retrospect, I think that was the Bush Administration’s approach to dealing with terrorist groups. Keep them out of places that matter, Iraq, Saudi Arabia; and corral them in places that don’t matter, like Afghanistan. That’s probably the correct approach, and Obama now realizes that. The problem is that he is a member of the ruling party which says that the war in Afghanistan is the good war, the war that has to be won. It’s not, it’s merely the place where you herd the troublemakers to keep them from making real mischief in places that count.
(h) We should be bolstered by our success in Iraq, and the enemy demoralized by its failure; rather than vice versa.
And the author was doing so well until this one.
We’re reaping what we sowed in 2003 by not finishing the job that was started and getting side tracked with the circus in Iraq.
We’re not quite at the worse case scenario I was scared of then, but with the increases in violence in Pakistan we’re getting damn close.
“We’re not quite at the worse case scenario I was scared of then, but with the increases in violence in Pakistan we’re getting damn close.”
.
The worst case that we were worried about at the very start of the Bush Administration was full on nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Both countries had mobilized more troops (2x!) than we’ve ever had in Afghanistan and Iraq combined to their border regions.
And we were told that Pakistan wouldn’t work with us, because Bush couldn’t name the Pakistan leader in a gotcha question during the 2000 Presidential campaign.
So the worst case scenario never occurred under Bush, and was rolled back. But now, we are suppose to take overflight of Russia as a positive sign that more troops will be heading to Afghanistan, despite no sign of funding to make that happen.
And we were told that Pakistan wouldn’t work with us, because Bush couldn’t name the Pakistan leader in a gotcha question during the 2000 Presidential campaign.
That was never really a worse case scenario. Pakistan falling more to the Islamic extremists really is. While Musharraf was in power, cooperation with the US was always likely. They were the ones that recognized the cesspit that was the Taliban as a real government.
With Afghanistan falling apart because we didn’t finish the job properly in 2003; the Taliban operating cross border in Pakistan with relative impunity; Musharraf no longer holding down the political class in Islamabad AND nuclear weapons?
And after Iraq and North Korea everybody seems to have the idea that having nukes keeps you safer from US interference…
Even though Al Qaeda declared Iraq to be the key front in their efforts, and they got spanked, somehow our efforts in Iraq was “taking our eye off the ball”.
That never made sense to me, until I heard all this “Tea-bagging” nonsense.
“Taking our eye off the ball” isn’t referring to football. It is referring to a rather different thing.
I for one, and delighted with our taking our eye off that ball.
And after Iraq and North Korea everybody seems to have the idea that having nukes keeps you safer from US interference…
Yeah, Bush was so wrong with calling Iran and North Korea an axis of evil with Iraq. Forgot about that catcall too.