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twitterLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
U.S. security at stake in Afghanistan
Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009 | 2:03 a.m.
Regarding Eric Stefik’s letter to the editor in Thursday’s Las Vegas Sun, headlined “History tells us to leave Afghanistan”:
Mr. Stefik ends his letter by stating, “Surely there are better ways we can promote world peace, reduce human suffering and enlist the full commitment of our allies to the cause.”
While Mr. Stefik makes a thoughtful plea to vacate this major front in the war on terrorism, he ignores the most significant contextual characteristics of this war, and most problematically fails to articulate the very real threat of Islamic extremism to America and the free world. In other words, he does not face the fact that America is at war with radical Islamic jihadists, and that the war in Afghanistan is a major front in this global conflict.
Unless we persist in Afghanistan, while also protecting the nuclear arsenal in Pakistan, America’s prospects for security are dim. Let us not be distracted by our experience in Vietnam or the Soviets’ protracted experience in Afghanistan. This is a new day and this is a new war, this global conflict with radical Islamic jihadists.
Discussion: 18 comments so far…
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we have been fighting the war on terror for over 8 years now...
let's check the score board...
shall we...
let's see who is winning...
america...
please...
over 4,250 dead...
over $2 trillion wasted...
that's trillion with a "t"...
started a war based on lies...
world wide reputation ruined...
america is a big big loser in these wars...
iraq...
please...
over 100,000 innocent civilians killed...
nuff said...
iraq is a big big loser in these wars...
afghanistan...
please...
they were ruled by war lords before...
they are ruled by war lords today...
the government is still corrupt, irrelevant and a joke...
same old same old...
afghanistan is a push in these wars...
israel...
bingo...
we have a winner...
winner winner chicken dinner...
israel is at the heart of radical islam's hatred of the west...
arab land was taken to create israel...
arabs want their land back...
arab's hate the fact that america provides essentially unconditional support for israel...
and low and behold...
america is fighting israel's battles against israel's mortal enemies...
now listen up boys and girls...
this is the key....
these battles are being fought with american blood and treasure...
hello...
israel's enemies are being fought by americans with american blood and treasure...
hello...
we have a winner...
the undisputed winner of these wars is the state of israel...
period...
end of story...
critical questions...
did richard perle, paul wolfowitz, doug feith, henry kissinger and others know that israel would be the winner all along and is that why they argued for the invasion of iraq almost immediately after 9/11???
would these folks engage in some good old fashion fear mongering in an effort prolong the use of american blood and treasure in these wars???
will america eventually go broke if they are the only country in the world fighting this battle???
how many more brave young americans must die???
The two "wars", Iraq and Afghanistan, are seriously weakening the financial stability of the USA. They are also creating a whole new generation of mentally damaged returning soldiers, and this, along with the massive domestic spending cut-backs (or alternatively, horrendous deficits), is in my view a far larger threat to the US and the world than any terrorism escalation. The western world needs a fiscally stronger USA. These wars are eroding the very basis of American life.
Bob We are not at war with Afghanistan. War was never declared. We are occupying this country. We attacked a country whose citizens had nothing to do with 9/11. None of the accused terrorists came from Afghanistan.
With the occupation we have in Afghanistan the U.S. will eventually build 2 pipelines from the Caspian Sea region in Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, through Pakistan and be loaded onto tankers in the Arabian Sea.
Type "Afghanistan- A war for Gas and Oil Pipelines" into your address bar. Click on and then click "Centurion 2's weblog". Read. If you are not satisfied go back to the search page and read some more.
It is estimated that there is 236 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in this area around the Caspian Sea and up to 200 billion barrels of oil. This war is not to fight the terrorists, the majority of Afghani citizens carrying weapons have nothing to do with terrorists and just want the occupiers to leave. The day we do leave they will continue to fight each other over their land and religious beliefs and won't, as was stated about the North Vietnamese in the 70's, follow us home and attack us in our homeland.
The fact that there is a huge amount of oil and gas reserves in the mid-east around the Caspian Sea, greed will control the decision to stay. We will be there for quite some time.
Hey Birdie Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban before we attacked them and forced them out of power. They are ruled today by Hamid Karzai, our puppet , who used to work with Enron. Israel being an allie to the U.S. has always been our excuse to arm them with our weapons and back them if there's trouble. This is not why we went into Afghanistan and Iraq.
I agree with belleville that the trillions being spent on these two wars could help our countries' citizens. Of course then we'd be leaving out paychecks to our military industrial complex. That might make them mad.
Birdie, I hope a Jewish person never lends you money in the future. So birdie is the new Sean Penn of America's military.
Because of murdering monsters like Obama, kids will probably never know a time when the US is not killing people for oil.
Obama talked about investing more money and troops into Afghanistan during his election.
It is one of the few promises that he is actually keeping.
We should give him our full support on this one.
Yea rock, there's too much money in oil and gas at stake.
I'm glad people here are finally seeing why we are really in the middle east. OIL! the war rages on, the sinister back room deals are taking place. Mr. Obama is probably just now finding out who really controls this country. The oil companies and their counterparts in the house and senate, as well as the business community. This secret order really controls military policy as well as international trade practices, none of which are there to benefit us the tax paying American citizens.
"Oh Canada" is back with all his anti-war rhetoric...
Now he is stating that our returning soldiers are mentally damaged.
Maybe "Oh Canada" used to be a U.S. Citizen and deserted to Canada during the Vietnam war.
If things are so rosy in Canada, why don't you keep you bias nose in Canada?
"President Barack Obama says he will "finish the job" in Afghanistan."
But we do not know yet what victory in this "Good War" is to Obama.
Obama seems to be performing a cost-pain analysis to determine what to do.
He is looking to fight a "Good War" on the cheap.
We will see if Obama talks about Big Oil and NG on Tuesday
We will see if Obama talks about as Birdie claims "america is fighting israel's battles against israel's mortal enemies..."
We will see if Obama talks about any terrorist running around
We will see if Obama talks about anything that conveys a mission and vision of why we are there.
We should not be there for community organizing or nation building, but just be in the shadows doing our thing with as few people as possible.
Bush understood this hence his containment strategy of using Spooks and Drones to attack whenever and wherever the Taliban and Al-Qaida popped up.
The people are against the Obama escalation for one of two reason, either they are anti-war or they cannot support more troops in Afghanistan if Obama is commander in chief.
We have a weak administration with no stomach for defending America.
Obama cannot even defend the Whitehouse from socialites and lobbyist.
Obama has failed his 3:00 am wakeup moment. Obama is dithering.
So Larry now you are babbling that PTSD does not cause damage to the brain. You probably will argue that some of our soldiers after coming home are not committing suicide.
Larry it seems you have an anti-realism rhetoric.
Are you having a hard time believing that these wars were wrong to begin with?
You, fremmasmind, appear to be nothing more than an anti-war left wing Liberal zealot who lacks the fortitude to support our troops in the field.
I see no reason to theorize or debate with you why we are in Afghanistan. The point is we ARE there and will remain THERE until the mission has been completed and our troops come home.
Larry, all you need to remember when your dealing with left wingers and libs is this; "Life is hard; it's harder if they are stupid" That goes for that Canuck also, don't cha know.
Larry, it's not just me , but there are thousands of Americans citizens wanting to know what is the mission in Afghanistan and what will it take to complete it?
If you would have read my earlier post and typed in " Afghsnistan- A war for Gas and Oil Pipelines", and read that article and maybe read a few more of the articles on the search page, your mind would have started to open up a little. As far as you are concearned it doesn't matter why we're over there just as long as we fight and finish the mission, no matter how long it takes. That would also tell people that no matter what, our soldiers lives are expendible.
There are reasons to go to war, in this case it's an occupation, and I have yet to hear an honorable reason why we invaded Afghanistan. So keep posting your comments against what others are commenting on these pages, It's your right as a citizen. Just don't get upset with the criticism you get back.
Burrito bandit, leave your tortilla too many times and you might get stepped on. Ugh, what a mess.
fremmasmind, you just don't get it. The horse is already out of the barn and he aint going back in...
No matter how much you or I try to theorize why we should or shouldn't be there, we are there and history moves on.
The best we can hope for is that the President will be able to define a workable mission and exit strategy and then get the job done as soon as possible and bring our troops home. Until then, we need to give our troops full undivided support for their efforts.
There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with the decisions our government has made to start these occupations, and for continuing them. Alot of us don't want to see our soldiers losing life or limb because the Bush Administration chose an occupation for profit and future oil and gas resources. Just to stay and fight for the greedy wants of the corporates is not a reason at all to put our soldiers in harms way.
The horse may be out of the barn but there is no honorable mission to be performed. The only answer is an exit stratedy and bring our soldiers home. The oil and gas won't be going anywhere soon. Maybe our oil corporates will decide to purchase these fuels and save the lives of our soldiers.
The difference between you and I is the fact that I want to support our troops in coming home, You want to support our troops to stay and fight. A huge difference.
fromBellevilleCanada: I agree with you. Not only are the returning soldiers coming back with all kind of psychological problems so are some of the citizens of this country suffering from various pyschotic episodes, just read what that birdiedreamin posts or that lcdrmandingonamvet, or ghostcommander. KillerB and on it goes. They're all suffering as you can see. Next time you hit your knees and talk to your God ask for help for the aforementioned. Thank you for your understanding.