It’s Time to Go

The time to leave Trashcanistan has arrived. Even Uncle Jimbo–of BlackFive–admits the obvious.

We spent far too long marking time in Afghanistan hoping that a fantasy national government would emerge to take control. Then we threw away our last chance to do what was necessary when our Campaigner in Chief announced his political faux surge complete w/ withdrawal date. Shockingly the Taliban just waited us out and now the insurgents are resurgent and we are packing our bags. We did not make the effort and commitments necessary to have any real chance of achieving stability, let alone peace. Afghanistan is exceptional only because it is the hell hole where a small collection of medieval obscurantists plotted their greatest victory against the civilized world. So be it. There are a few left there, mostly hiding out and hanging out with our allies in Pah-kee-stahn. But all in all, there just isn’t enough reason for us to keep half-stepping our way around the Hindu Kush and assorted other rocky wastelands.

It is time to go.

Yep.

12 thoughts on “It’s Time to Go

  1. Where do you want to fight them next?

    Because there will be a “next”.
    Anyone who thinks otherwise has not been paying attention.

  2. In 2001, we should have shown the Muslim world the kind of sign their culture can understand; we should have picked one of their fine cities of strategic import and made it a glass hole in the ground that glowed at night. Force is all they know. Kill 100 of them for each one of us, and call it a day. They would have respected us and an opponent, slithered back into their caves, and waited for another percieved time of weakness to strike again. As it is, they have drained us- and for that, they have to be percieved as having “won”; such as that is.

  3. @Rev. Russ Westbrook
    That is what my approach would have been, with one exception: I would demand a Declaration of War from Congress first.

    This would have made one hell of a statement to the world by showing how far we will go. No footsie games, no protracted bullshit. We will vaporize cities of any nation that chooses that path with us.

  4. You talk about fighting where you “need to” without recognising that there are no free lunches. Every option has a cost, and fighting in Afghanistan may indeed be the low-cost option in terms of Allied lives…

    Maybe.

    What do you think the alternatives are when dealing with people who would not hesitate to sacrifice cities of their own in order to engage in a tit-for-tat exchange of WMDs? Don’t you get the point that Osama and his ilk didn’t care if you nuked a city or two, because he doesn’t share your (supposed) concern for human life.

  5. @Peter
    The issue isn’t our going to Afghanistan; it is (a) doing this without a Declaration of War, and (b) turning this into an endless foray into nation-building. The latter is what is costing us needless lives while giving us negligible benefit while forcing us to throw away hundreds of billions of dollars.

    As for Iraq, you are going to have one hell of a time justifying that one. We killed how many non-combatants there? That country had NOTHING to do with 9/11, nothing to do with Al Qaeda–that group had no presence in Iraq until we went there. Saddam Hussein–as evil as he was–was Mother Teresa compared to everyone else in that region.

    Don’t you get that by engaging in nation-building we were playing into bin Laden’s hand?

    If we gave a crap about making our country safer, we would have (a) slammed our borders shut, (b) gone on a massive tear to deport ALL illegals, (c) kicked out every alien who was a citizen of any country we deemed hostile, and (d) used our troops to enforce our borders.

    As for the tit-for-tat game, fact is Middle Easterners recognize force. Israel proved it twice–in 1967 and 1973. The Arabs bitched up a storm, but they surrendered when they were faced with the prospect of being overrun by angry Jews who were sick and tired of Arab harassment.

    They view our nation-building humanitarian efforts as a sign of weakness. They’re taking our money and laughing at us, while they use it to buy weapons that they use on our troops. Our “friends” over there will shake our hand by day, then take arms against us at night. Just like our Pakistani “friends” were giving Osama bin Laden safe harbor a few hundred hards away from their military academy.

    The Japanese didn’t share our regard for human life either. What they did to our POWs was only slightly better than what the AQ groups have done to our soldiers. But when we nuked two of their cities, the “Japs” got the point: you attack us, and we will respond overwhelmingly.

    (A credible case can be made that the nuclear attacks were not necessary, but the point remains: we showed the world the extent to which we were willing to go to win. And a Japanese culture–that had every bit as much of a “never surrender” mentality then as the AQ/Taliban groups do today–took notice.)

    It may take such a moment for the Middle East, largely because we have a succession of American administrations–from Nixon to Obama–that have sent mixed messages to that region. We have a history of making threats, with responses that range from incomplete to downright tepid. (My favorite President–Reagan–really screwed the pooch by using Marines as sitting ducks“peacekeepers” in Lebanon.)

    As for my nuclear response, I would pick a remote region in Afghanistan for a demonstration. Before that, I’d give a 1-week notice. If they are far-enough away, they can make S’mores and get nice tans while they crap their pants.

    After the demonstration, I’d follow that up with a warning: next terrorist attack, and we start taking out key cities in the Middle East. No deployments of troops, no boots on the ground, no occupation, no money to rebuild your countries, just sheets of glass.

    Sounds unfair, but war isn’t a sporting event. Problem is, we’ve been fighting as if it was Roddick vs. Federer, when in fact we are fighting people who are willing to kill with brutality.

    Having our military return the favor is acceptable.

    We didn’t start this; but we owe it to our country to finish it.

  6. @Peter
    I say this in spite of the fact that, if not for my medical issues, I’d probably be in Iraq or Afghanistan right now. I tried getting into the military–twice–after 9/11.

    The first time, the age clock ran out on me. (I was trying to get a Direct Commission into the Air Force, and turned 35 before the selection board met to act on my application.)

    The second time–after the age limit for the Reserves and National Guard was raised–my L-4-L5 and L5-S1 disks went to crap as I awaited word from the recruiter as to whether I would be eligible, in spite of my age, to make an attempt at getting into the Special Forces.

    (I figured that, being an ultra-marathoner who was willing to work long hours in conditions of discomfort, and having an engineering degree and an IT background, I’d have a fighting chance of getting through SFAS and Q School.)

  7. What RD said, except I would vote for just taking out a city, no “wilderness demonstrations”; if they want to see what a nuclear blast looks like, they can go rent “Doctor Strangelove”. Freaks like Osama will never value life, but most Muslims will value their own; and ultimately, we need the ones who care about their respiration to deal with the loose knives who do not.

  8. @Rev. Russ Westbrook
    Seriously, I’ve got some mixed feelings about our efforts. I’ve read a number of perspectives on the matter, and have some good friends over there right now.

    We need to get out of Iraq. Yesterday. Irrespective of what one feels about whether we needed to go there in the first place, the fact remains: our work there is done and all we are doing is wasting our time and putting our remaining troops in harm’s way, as our asshats in the White House cannot even decide what the hell it is they are supposed to be doing over there.

    As for Afghanistan, our job has long been done. We routed the Taliban; we wrecked the AQ infrastructure as effectively as we could expect to do. We need not bother with nation-building. Militaries–historically–aren’t good at doing the latter anyway.

    As one Congressman once said–and Rush Limbaugh often repeats–militaries are for killing people and breaking things. We’ve killed enough people and broken enough things over there. Leaving the Afghans so they can go back to what they do best–growing poppy and cavorting with goats–is not going to carry any more risk of the bad guys coming to our soil than already exists.

    Besides, our biggest problems are domestic right now.

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