What Winning Looks Like
Here’s a 1.5 hr documentary about Afghanistan. It is a few years old but shows the quagmire. Marine Major Steuber seems like a stand-up guy trying to do the right thing. I wonder if he kept his rank after this documentary came out.
A quick check of my calendar shows that it’s December 22, 2018. Almost five years have passed since Obama declared the war would be over.
Tired of Being Policeman
Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time for others to finally fight…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2018
In response to Trump announcing the US would pull troops out of Syria and cut back troops in Afghanistan, defense secretary James Mattis resigned. Good Riddance.
The warmongers, including many on the left were shocked. In a nauseating article, left-wing VOX called Mattis the last “adult” in the Trump administration.
Perpetual War
These McCain-like warmongers, left and right, will keep us there us there forever.
I say, Thank You, President Trump! Troop Reduction in Afghanistan, Pulling Out of Syria
Staying is absurd. We did not win in 18 years and we won’t win in another 18 years.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Heroin production has skyrocketed, CIA getting a “cut”.
Watching this documentary is heartbreaking on so many levels. I feel horrible for the soldiers exposed to this as well as the psychological damage that results. I feel horrible for the Afghans who just want to live a normal life. How could we have stayed there so long and accomplished nothing positive. Were those ,ie or govt, in charge ignorant or just incompetent? How can this type of problem be solved and what could we have done better to avert this outcome? Bush should have just killed Bin Laden when he had the opportunity, but deliberately let him go, and then left. Thanks Mish for the eye opening documentary.
As long as there is 800 billion going to defense contractors there will be wars anywhere the Empire can find. Most first world countries don’t have that kind of GDP and no 5 countries have defense spending like that. It is the biggest welfare program for boeing, lockheed, all the worthless bases we have scattered around the world. We have become what we hated long ago.
In a world where the primary commodity is credit, it makes sense to export debt. All those bases are there to make sure someone is there to buy it.
We’ve tried interventions and regime change in the Middle East for 50 years and the whole place is way worse and we are out trillions of $$$. They are perfectly capable of fucking things up themselves and it wont’ cost us a penny or a single young man or woman’s life.
No, to TPTB the Middle East is immeasurably BETTER than it was 50 years ago. We collaborated closely with Saudi Wahhabis to turn the Middle East into what it is today. Anyone who dislikes the results there should take it up with every President since FDR, since this was intentional.
The Saudis hated modernity, so we helped them turn back the clock. Today, women in most ME countries dress more conservatively than they did half a century ago. That’s tough to fathom here.
We hated the idea of ME countries turning to socialism, so every step of the way we supported Islamists and jihadi groups to fight leftists. The trillions of dollars and lives lost weren’t for nothing, they were spent with the idea that what we see there today could become reality. This was no accident.
Countries turn to socialism/communism when they get tired of being screwed over by their own govt. Same reason the Afghans join the Taliban. The alternative looks better than the current corrupt regime until they realize “meet the new boss same as the old boss”. Rinse wash repeat. Seems like we will never learn. The biggest source of misery and death in the world is corrupt govt. It looks like we will slowly circle the drain the same way.
Cannot agree more, Mish!
Another obama mess DJT has to clean up.
Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize recipiant, had 110,000 troops in Afghanistan at one time. Massive bases there.
Anyone remember Cindy Sheehan? She basically disappeared during the obama years…
I had no idea there are people who think Obama started the Afghan war.
Obviously Obama did not start the war but Mr. Peace destroyed Libya.
Russia wont fail next time in Afghanistan. So far Putin has yet to fail at expanding his power and authority. We are doomed to the mistake of letting authoritarian regimes expand until there is another world war.
Russia wants it? Let them have it, it’s a curse. The whole region is an empire crushing curse.
Exactly. Our country became great at the start because we stayed out of other countries wars and we were productive. Wars are always destructive to an economy.
Agree regarding wars but this time around Russia and China are operating at a different level and winning. They cannot be trusted.
I still think it would have been better to let the Russians handle the Afghan situation the first time. I believe they would have crushed the islamic extremist movement. The Russians aren’t obligated to play nicely and a lot of the current mess wouldn’t exist. We should have never gotten involved with the Taliban/ Bin Laden in the 80’s and left the Russians alone. The ending of the movie Charlie Wilson’s War is apocalyptical.
Russia is being smarter this time around. They are using their military to partner with regimes rather than fight them. It is what the US use to do well until we decided that overthrowing regimes was more important than moving them towards our values. Russia doesn’t have any values other than becoming a global power again and bringing authoritarian regimes to the world and eventually invading pieces of their territory strategically. Putin is a lot smarter than his Russian and Soviet predecessors who failed both economically and geopolitically.
The US’s history could have gone very different if not for WWII. That can still change if governments around the world align themselves with Russia and China. Neither one of those countries has any regard for human life, liberty or freedom relative to the US, Europe or allies around the world. Anyone who thinks the US can’t one day become an authoritarian regime and be divided between Russia and China is kidding themselves. Russia and China cannot be trusted to be a positive force for the world.
I for one am not so sure that Putin wants what you say he wants. In fact, I think the leaders of both Russia and China at most want to have a modicum of influence over so-called buffer states bordering their countries – i.e., they don’t want potential adversaries to be able to station military assets there. The idea that they are planning for armed conquest of territory strikes me as absurd – they have far more urgent problems to deal with. Putin is actually a bulwark against extreme Russian nationalists who may be more inclined to such adventurism. I grant that both countries have authoritarian characteristics (China far more so than Russia), but there are far worse dictatorships in the world. Regardless of that, US meddling in the Middle East has been a string of catastrophes. Extremely costly in terms of lives and treasure, with absolutely nothing to show for it except for chaos and misery in the entire region. Continuing down the same path falls under Einstein’s famous definition of insanity.
We ARE the authoritarian regime spreading. There are no enemies who can challenge us militarily. What kind of interventionist crack are u smoking
That is no longer true. Military strength is no longer about the size or number of weapons. We left that era awhile back.
“Russia wont fail next time in Afghanistan. So far Putin has yet to fail at expanding his power and authority. We are doomed to the mistake of letting authoritarian regimes expand until there is another world war.”
It was NATO that expanded, right to the Russian border.
Alexander was the only conqueror of Afghanistan. He accomplished this amazing feat by declaring victory and leaving. We should follow his example. If Afghans haven’t learned by now that it’s dangerous to allow mass murderers to move into the neighborhood simply because they claim to be Muslim, they never will.
Genghis Khan conquered them effectively. His technique, while effective, would be considered war crimes today. Tamerlane also conquered them.