Can we have our blood and treasure back?
Today's under-reported story: Hamid Karzai's vote tally is so ridiculously high that a UN official told the Guardian that it would have to be "massaged down" for the sake of appearances.
Of course, the hawks will say that just proves we need to stay in Afghanistan forever because the Taliban scared the real voters away.
How many rationales have we burned through already?
Spreading democracy is passe. Osama bin Laden may well be dead. The public has figured out that the optimists think counterinsurgency will take 15 years and billions of dollars. (We don't have a control group so it's hard to say how quickly the violence would subside if we weren't there.)
Now we're in Afghanistan to stabilize Pakistan by bombarding it with killer drones, or something.
Pat Buchanan couldn't have said it better . . .
Posted by: bjk | August 25, 2009 at 06:44 PM
We have flung wide Pandora's Box. Will we witness the decline and fall of the American Empire?
Posted by: blondie | August 26, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Obama could give the order to pull the troops out today.
Posted by: Duke | August 26, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Man your battlestations, art is long.
Posted by: bjk | August 26, 2009 at 05:57 PM
I have a feeling the US isn't in Afghanistan to bring good government to the benighted tribes. Oil pipelines and poppies come to mind... .
Posted by: NoOneYouKnow | August 27, 2009 at 08:39 AM
If the Soviets (and other empires before them) couldn't subdue Afghanistan with absolutely unfettered violence, what hope have we who must perforce play according to Geneva conventions Hoyle?
Quagmire accomplished.
Posted by: cfrost | August 27, 2009 at 04:30 PM