The essence of success is counterinsurgency, which requires boots on the ground, and plenty of them — 20 to 25 counterinsurgents for every 1,000 people, or some 600,000 for all of Afghanistan, a country larger and more populous than Iraq. The additional 30,000 American forces on tap for deployment to Afghanistan over the next year are sorely needed, but obviously insufficient to protect all 30 million people in the country.
However, insurgencies are not defeated by foreign forces. They are defeated by the security services of the afflicted nation. Thus the long-term answer to the Taliban’s insurgency has to be a much expanded Afghan National Army. Currently 70,000 and projected to grow to 135,000, the Afghan army is the most respected institution in that troubled country. It may need to reach 250,000, and be supported by a similarly sized police force, to provide the security that will cause the Taliban to wither.
Never forget that at the very beginning of this war the US Army had Mullah Omar — the head honcho of the Taliban — in their sights and could have killed him. Instead General Tommy Franks had to talk to the lawyers about the legality of shooting him probably to figure out his own liability. Instead Omar fled, on a bicycle. Franks was later given a medal and praised for all his good work.
As he chased Mullah Omar with his Predator, General Franks considered several times whether or not it was a propitious moment to shoot. Before he made a final decision, he would turn to the lawyer at his side – who happened to be a woman, in this case – and he would ask, “Any issues, ma’am?”
As Mullah Omar’s jeep raced along the road, General Franks withheld fire. Finally, the convoy stopped in front of a mosque, and Mullah Omar and his entourage went inside to pray. For the first time, the group was stationary and gathered in one place. General Franks turned to his lawyer: “Any issues, ma’am?”
“Yes, sir,” she answered. “There are issues.
Why do we even bother fighting these wars in the first place?
“Is Afghanistan the New Viet Nam? Is Obama the New Lyndon Johnson?”
Hmmm. Kennedy & Johnson ignored the French experience. Now, Bush & Obama have ignored the Soviet experience.
All 4 were/are morons in this area.
“Why do we even bother fighting these wars in the first place?”
Money.
No and No.
The Obama fascination and the desire to draw historical comparisons to him is indeed fun, however.
The deal is, Obama is a once in a hundred year president. It is uncanny how this country can elect the right person at the right time of need. The need is here for sure.
Warren Buffet said it best in this video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QiwaHO-hl3M
# 3 Dallas said, “The deal is, Obama is a once in a hundred year president.”
Be thankful for that. The country couldn’t survive 2 in the same century.
Obama is a once in a hundred year president.
Good to see that your expectations of the guy are reasonable at the very least. I mean, he’s practically the new Jonas Salk.
Hey, Dallas. Would you like to make a bet on whether this Afgan adventure turns out well?
BTW…If anyone can find the videos of Warren Buffet and the CEO’s of the following tech companies refering to Bush as a national disaster, please post here for educational purposes.
http://bit.ly/2ncisu
As you can see in the link, only AMD was for McCain. Needless to say, AMD is owned by Saudi Arabia now and going bankrupt.
For Obama….
Intel, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, GE, EDS, Apple, TI, Freescale, Google, Yahoo,
Just nuke the area from orbit. Its the only way to be sure we got them all. If it works for Aliens it should work for the Taliban.
7 Dallas said, …”BTW…If anyone can find the videos of Warren Buffet…”
Interesting but not telling…
Job Creators Prefer John McCain 4-to-1 Over Barack Obama
Over 70 percent of CEOs fear an Obama presidency will be a disaster
http://tinyurl.com/dlq74t
“Why do we even bother fighting these wars in the first place?”
drat..#2 beat me to it..
its all about the money silly..
(you do know we are supplying weapons to Lebanon as well as Israel, ya?)
they need to keep the muslim boogie man/men alive as a distraction, while the central banksters and robber barons setup the NWO/Global Gov/One World Bank via Carbon Sins
oh..and ofc..to serve as a distraction while they dismantle and enslave America piece by piece and turn it into a police state..
they hide nothing. we’re just too brainwashed as a whole to see it..
someone go find Eisenhower’s parting presidential statement.. we all we’re warned long ago..
anyway..Obama was put in to be the fall guy. -he’s an olive branch attached to an a-bomb
-s
-s
#6 Paddy-O, I’m afraid no. I don’t like to bet on ambiguous metrics such as “turns out well”. Especially when you get to grade your own paper.
I know that’s how Republicans like to run things, you know, like:
We will win the “War on Terror” and then grade it later like, “..yeah, we killed Osama’s chauffeur, YEAH!!..”
Mission accomplished!!
# 11 Dallas said,
“#6 Paddy-O, I’m afraid no. I don’t like to bet on ambiguous metrics ”
Name your own metric on what YOU think constitutes “success” in Afghanistan. I’ll wait…
#8 Improbus
You were just watching the movie on Emyst weren’t you?
#9 – Paddy-RAMBO
>>Job Creators
According to Edward M. Kopko, CEO and Publisher of Chief Executive magazine”“We’ve been experiencing consecutive job losses for nine months now.”
And that was in October 2008! Those prescient CEOs had already known that Obama was going to win, and were laying off workers even before the election in anticipation of his oppressive tax plan.
That must be why the CEOs get those whopping salaries and bonuses. They can tell the future.
# 14 Mister Mustard said, “That must be why the CEOs get those whopping salaries and bonuses. They can tell the future.”
Apparently, that’s what Dallas thinks. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought it up. Ask him though to be sure…
@Mr Diesel
No, I just like paraphrasing movie quotes plus I think the idea has merit. Does that section of the Earth produce anything but blood shed and opium?
# 16 Improbus said, “Does that section of the Earth produce anything but blood shed and opium?”
Rugs?
#12. I’ll help you. Let’s go with this as success metrics.
Governance and Rule of law./b>
The people grading this is neither you nor I, but the international community.
# 18 Dallas said, “Governance and Rule of law.”
Who’s governance & who’s rule of law?
#8 is entirely correct… OK, instead clusterbombs and napalm if you are wierd about radiation.
WTF! is this a war or not? If not GTF! out of there and let them kill each other.
If they want to martyr themselves let’s give them what they want.
#19 Oh , for crying out loud. The Afghan government of course!
Any more pearls of wisdom from the left will cost you a nickel 🙂
Wonder how quick Reid-Pelosi-Murtha and the usual cast of characters will claim defeat in Afghanistan?
The Obama War – Defeat you can believe in.
# 21 Dallas said, “#19 Oh , for crying out loud. The Afghan government of course!”
Oh, like the Soviets already accomplished. The Taliban was the government and they had the rule of law in place.
Got it. I have a feeling you will win the “bet”. 😉
Gee not one word slamming the lawyer. What is wrong with you people!?!?
# 24 John C Dvorak said, “Gee not one word slamming the lawyer. What is wrong with you people!?!?”
Well, I’ll slam the guy’s who originally instituted the general practice; McNamara & Johnson…
Oh, and Bush for keeping it alive.
Dallas, Warren buffet may be part of the Corporate Oligarchy and make a lot of the rules regarding giving Obama and giving him his marching orders. But that’s dosn’t make either of them competent. They’re both as lost as Bush, the only difference is which flock is fooling themselves and singing praises.
If a General needs to check with his lawyer before issuing an order, then we’ve lost.
I don’t Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden are concerned about the legal consequences of their actions.
The workforce increased in Dec 2008. The higher unemployment was because the new jobs didn’t keep up with the population.
Wouldn’t this make Obama Richard Nixon? And Clinton Kennedy or Eisenhower?
Plus now the US has paid the family of a Taliban commander that they killed.