[General Battuta]

Great read! Check it out

[NGTM-1R]

I'm pretty sure he reads Petraeus wrong, personally.

I also think he contradicts himself on the concepts of when what he's decrying actually happened and how you're supposed to fight terrorism. He's basically describing the cruise missile diplomacy of the Clinton years (yet later goes on to insult Clinton), but he claims the problems in foriegn policy exist going back to post WW2.

But basically, his "completely bring the troops home blahblah" is completely untenable. (He also obliquely insults the decision to undertake Gulf 1, which is very questionable.) He's also drawing the Vietnam parallel while trying to look otherwise; yes, the Army's not in good shape now because of what's it is going through, but the AVF and various other measures mean it's never going to sink to the depths it did in Vietnam. Vietnam cost the United States Army its soul sometime about 1968, and it did not regain it until the mid-late 1980s. The damage is ugly, but it's not anywhere that deep.

[Dilmah G]

I've only read a bit of it at the moment, but I don't think his "Let's play big brother with Afghanistan" strategy is tenable in the slightest. If there is going to be surveillance ops in Afghanistan, my opinion is that it should be under Afghani command with US guidance if necessary. And I really stress that 'guidance' word there.

Seriously, if we're going to implement a big brother system in Afghanistan, running that SOB is going to be a full time job. The US Army is the US ARMY, not the Afghani Army.

I've got too much of a headache now to read the rest of it.

[Nuke]

he kinda made since up till he stated that he voted for obama.

I've only read a bit of it at the moment, but I don't think his "Let's play big brother with Afghanistan" strategy is tenable in the slightest. If there is going to be surveillance ops in Afghanistan, my opinion is that it should be under Afghani command with US guidance if necessary. And I really stress that 'guidance' word there.

i dont think they have enough yaks for that.

[Flipside]

To be honest, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find a lot of Russian politicians smirking behind their glass of Vodka every time someone mentions the US problems in Afghanistan, it's no secret the US openly supported the Taliban in their fight against Soviet occupation with training and supplies, because Misogynistic thugs were, apparently, better than Communists. Now the 'Red Threat' has gone, people are starting to notice what the Taliban actually are, a violent, radical, poorly educated but, thanks to years of Guerilla warfare and aid, very effective Urban combat group.

[StarSlayer]

To be honest, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find a lot of Russian politicians smirking behind their glass of Vodka every time someone mentions the US problems in Afghanistan, it's no secret the US openly supported the Taliban in their fight against Soviet occupation with training and supplies, because Misogynistic thugs were, apparently, better than Communists. Now the 'Red Threat' has gone, people are starting to notice what the Taliban actually are, a violent, radical, poorly educated but, thanks to years of Guerilla warfare and aid, very effective Urban combat group.

Actually the US was pretty hands off on the actual support part.  We made the mistake pretty much allowing the Pakistani Intelligence run the show and merely bank rolling them.  Therefore the money went to those groups that ISI wanted to support rather than the more moderate leaders like Massoud.  Not to mention it turned the ISI from a two bit division of the Army into the one of the most powerful institutions in Pakistan.  If your ever interested in reading up try Ghost Wars by Steve Coll, its pretty fascinating what SNAFU the whole thing was.

[Flipside]

True, also, the UK wasn't exactly 'innocent' in the whole affair either, but I suppose the point is that as long as America continues to assume that the Taliban are a force that developed in spite of their Foreign Policy, rather than because of it, they cannot win this war by killing people.

The sad thing is that the Coalition has figured out how to win the war now, education, communication and respect has made massive in-roads into the local communities, but the problem is that the training and equipment provided to the Taliban make them a dangerous threat, and one that doesn't need a plan to pack its bags and leave, the Farmers might be uneducated, but they aren't stupid, they'll choose survival over being dead and free.

[Fearless Leader]

Well, considering that the "Global War On Terror" is basically a thinly masked rampage of revenge that any citizen of a NATO country can sign up to take part in, I don't think there will be an ultimate win. Just less fighting.

[General Battuta]

Well, considering that the "Global War On Terror" is basically a thinly masked rampage of revenge that any citizen of a NATO country can sign up to take part in, I don't think there will be an ultimate win. Just less fighting.

Did you read the article? That's the point he's making.

[Turambar]

It's just like farmville.  The only way to win is to stop playing.

[StarSlayer]

To be honest I always thought on Sept 12th we should have embarked on a national campaign towards achieving energy independence or at the very least eliminating our consumption of middle eastern oil as soon as possible.  First it would eventually lead to cutting the majority of the funding for international terrorism and secondly it would make all our future dealings with the region objective, rather then coloured by our national energy needs.  But alas our leaders are a bunch of gutless short sighted wonders unwilling to roll a hard six, so nearly a decade later we still are in the same predicament we were in when we started.

[NGTM-1R]

Did you read the article? That's the point he's making.

No it's not. He's not even making a coherent point, probably because he's responding to questions, but if any point is being made here it's that we should not engage in "optional wars".

[Nuclear1]

We're completely ****ed either way.  We stay in Afghanistan, the war gets worse, more soldiers and civilians die, Taliban (among other groups) keeps on fighting, and it never ends.  We leave Afghanistan, power vacuum occurs, thousands more civilians die, Afghanistan remains a breeding ground of terrorism.

I'm sick and tired of burying my friends coming home from that ****hole. 

[redsniper]

leaders ... unwilling to roll a hard six

This. This is the source of so many of our problems. Adama / Tigh 2012 FTW!

[SpardaSon21]

leaders ... unwilling to roll a hard six

This. This is the source of so many of our problems. Adama / Tigh 2012 FTW!

Wouldn't Adama and Tigh want to nuke the site from orbit just to be sure?

[redsniper]

I guess. So?

[Kosh]

We're completely ****ed either way.  We stay in Afghanistan, the war gets worse, more soldiers and civilians die, Taliban (among other groups) keeps on fighting, and it never ends.  We leave Afghanistan, power vacuum occurs, thousands more civilians die, Afghanistan remains a breeding ground of terrorism.

I'm sick and tired of burying my friends coming home from that ****hole.  

With that trillion dollar mineral find we'll probably never leave.

[SpardaSon21]

I guess. So?

I don't have a problem with turning Afghanistan into an irradiated parking lot made of glass, but other people here might.

[Kosh]

Won't happen, not with natural resources at stake.

[redsniper]

Sometimes... you've got to roll a hard six.