Kandahar is lost

[Extend a Hand]

From the sorry little shrubry's press conference on Iraq this morning...
"We're not leaving, so long as I'm the President. That would be a huge mistake. It would send an unbelievably terrible signal to reformers across the region. It would say we've abandoned our desire to change the conditions that create terror. It would give the terrorists a safe haven from which to launch attacks. It would embolden Iran. It would embolden extremists."

I wonder why he didn't even mention Afghanistan...hmmmmm
Things aren't looking so great there either.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=703377

Under the American administration, "warlordism" and poppy cultivation soared. Kandahar owed its new wealth in part to drug money. But with the shift from US to Nato forces, there came a "War on drugs" and Nato launched a relentless campaign to stop poppy cultivation. Using Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army, the Canadians and the British started to destroy the poppy fields, a policy which faced opposition from both the traffickers and the farmers. The first casualty was the power supply.

"When Nato took over, the electricity disappeared," says Ahmedallah. The Americans had apparently donated 14 powerful generators to the city, seven of them operational at any one time. But the Kandaharis are paying the price for the oil-operating machines, which provide the city with a few hours of electricity every other day. "We only had power for four days, if you counted all the hours together. And the bill for the month was $40," says Ahmedallah of his own home. An average government employee makes about $50 a month.

...

No Nato patrol can pass through here. "They are too scared to come to this area," says my guide Ahmedallah. So the Taliban don't attack the market because there are no foreigners - or perhaps, as the Kandaharis claim, because this place is their nest. Kandahar is lost.

[az chela]

1. Bush has caused more chaos than anyone in the last 500 yrs

He is such a pathological liar and a murderer and he needs to be impeached and put in prison for the rest of his life.
Since he cares nothing about anyone but his base he has to be stopped before he blows up the planet

[ConsAreLiars]

2. Watch "Taliban Country" to ubderstand why.

http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=17451

An excerpt:
“They fingered us, beat us and humiliated us,” alleges villager Wali Mohammad. “No Muslim should suffer that.” He was imprisoned for three days by the marines after soldiers raided his village and accused him of providing food and shelter to Al Qaeda. His elderly father, Noor Mohammad Lala, was also arrested. “They took my clothes. I could not do anything,” Noor confides. Both men claim they were sexually abused and forced to pose for photographs. “I was so humiliated I couldn’t see for my pain,” states Noor.

The marines’ raid on their village of Passau was so offensive that locals want the camera to record every indiscretion. “They used this as a toilet,” says one man gesturing at the floor of a home. Their wheat harvest was destroyed and the mosque door battered down. As a result of this raid, many people have already left the village. “Almost all the families are gone,” complains the tribal elder bitterly. “Our people are being forced to pack up and leave.”

Also at: http://www.torrentz.com/search_taliban-country

[formercia]

4. People living on the edge.

This is what life would be here without Social Security and other safety nets to protect those who can't protect themselves.

Just Fearless Leader's way to show us what life would be like under his protection. Some of us are nearly there.

What are you going to do when there's no money to buy a donkey to pull that BMW around town?

[TomInTib]

3. Read this article...

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.aspx?cu_no=2&item_no=103566&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

[Disturbed]

5. The US and the Western Powers learned nothing

from the Soviet Union experience in Afghanistan.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Just like the Soviets learned nothing...

from the British experience in Afghanistan over a century before (the retreat from Kabul in 1841-1842 is one of the worst military disasters Britain ever experienced; 16,000 marched out of Kabul, and out of those 16,000, only ONE made it back).

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Retreat-From-Kabul.htm

[Surya Gayatri]

9. Thanks for this link, Tom...

And lest we forget, these are GWB's "good buddies" in the Gulf Emirates talking here!

(Insert "bitter laughter smilie" here.) SG

[acmavm]

7. Afganistan is lost. Why do Americans think that humiliation and

brutality will make anyone cower in fear and submit to their will? How frigging stupid are they?

The resentment will last for hundreds of years. Hell, we're still dealing with the resentment from the Crusades whether anyone wants to believe that or not.

[Disturbed]

8. The irony of the poor Afghans is

that they have $Billions worth of natural gas but the Western Powers just want to steal it, not make a reasonable deal for it.

[Surya Gayatri]

11. You might be interested in reading

John Dean's latest book "Conservatives Without Conscience"--and his research into the authoritarian mindset of neo-cons. They view the world through the twisted prism of power--"I have the power & you shall bow before it". Debasing, demeaning, dehumanizing (for victim and practitioner alike)& ultimately self-defeating, as the fall of authoritarian regimes throughout history has shown. SG

[Kailassa]

10. He meant: "our desire to change the conditions to create terror" n/t

What a lot of emotive hogwash our leaders speak ...

[enough]

12. k&r

[DemReadingDU]

13. But, but...we're spreading democracy

:sarcasm:

[bulletsandspikes]

14. I wasn't alive but didn't they say the same thing

during Vietnam? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[meldroc]

15. As much of a clusterfuck our involvement is under *'s leadership,

I feel really bad just letting Afghanistan falling back to the Taliban. Afghanistan was starting to rebuild. Roads were being built, along with hospitals & such, kids were going to school, cities were starting to get electricity, and now it's all going down the drain, back to the Taliban's twisted 14th century Sharia mentality.