Rumsfeld the Optimist
Today, October 7th is the fifth anniversary of the Bush/Rumsfeld/Cheney/Rice invasion of Afghanistan, and the planned defeat of the Taliban which had been ruling the country. Five years, and we are still there with a resurgent Taliban movement that is gaining in strength and effectiveness. The number of troops in Afghanistan from nations besides the United States has reached more than 20,000 -- to add to the approximately 21,000 American troops already serving there. Five years with no end in sight. We learned nothing from the Russians, which is the same mistake that we saw in Vietnam when we didn’t learn from the French.
The reborn Taliban acknowledges that it has adopted the suicide bombings, beheadings and remote controlled bombs of the Iraqi insurgent movement. Nearly 200 civilians have been killed in suicide attacks this year that look all too much like the wave of bombings sweeping Iraq. “We’re getting stronger in every province and in every district and every village,” said Qari Mohammed Yusuf Ahmadi, who calls himself the Taliban’s spokesman for southern Afghanistan. We don’t have helicopters and jet fighters. But, we’re giving America and its allies a tough time. Our Muslim brothers in Iraq are using the same tactics.” It’s true what he says, as Afghanistan is starting to look more and more like Iraq.
Now comes Mr. Rumsfeld in a speech and op-ed piece in the Washington Post, lauding the progress we and the Afghanistan government have made in the fight against the Taliban. He stated that, “Within weeks of our launching combat operations, however, the Taliban regime had been defeated, consigning yet another cruel regime to the dustbin of history. Coalition forces took control of Kabul, and since then the Afghan people have fashioned a new constitution and successfully held the first democratic presidential election in their long history.” In his speech he also pointed out that the economy there has tripled in the past five years. Of course he did not point out that the increase has come almost exclusively from poppy crops used for the manufacture of opium.
What planet is Rummy living on? How many Americans have to die in a war we never finished? We rushed instead to start a pre-emptive, uncalled for, unending war in Iraq in which almost 2,800 American service people have died to date. Is he so arrogant and stubborn that he can’t see what is happening? Or better still, does he really think that the American public is so stupid that they will believe anything he and his cohorts in the White House say? (Excluding the 1/3 of fanatical, right wing, conservative, evangelical Americans who will back him and Baby Bush no matter what they do or say.)
We must change course and Rumsfeld and company have to go……NOW.
The reborn Taliban acknowledges that it has adopted the suicide bombings, beheadings and remote controlled bombs of the Iraqi insurgent movement. Nearly 200 civilians have been killed in suicide attacks this year that look all too much like the wave of bombings sweeping Iraq. “We’re getting stronger in every province and in every district and every village,” said Qari Mohammed Yusuf Ahmadi, who calls himself the Taliban’s spokesman for southern Afghanistan. We don’t have helicopters and jet fighters. But, we’re giving America and its allies a tough time. Our Muslim brothers in Iraq are using the same tactics.” It’s true what he says, as Afghanistan is starting to look more and more like Iraq.
Now comes Mr. Rumsfeld in a speech and op-ed piece in the Washington Post, lauding the progress we and the Afghanistan government have made in the fight against the Taliban. He stated that, “Within weeks of our launching combat operations, however, the Taliban regime had been defeated, consigning yet another cruel regime to the dustbin of history. Coalition forces took control of Kabul, and since then the Afghan people have fashioned a new constitution and successfully held the first democratic presidential election in their long history.” In his speech he also pointed out that the economy there has tripled in the past five years. Of course he did not point out that the increase has come almost exclusively from poppy crops used for the manufacture of opium.
What planet is Rummy living on? How many Americans have to die in a war we never finished? We rushed instead to start a pre-emptive, uncalled for, unending war in Iraq in which almost 2,800 American service people have died to date. Is he so arrogant and stubborn that he can’t see what is happening? Or better still, does he really think that the American public is so stupid that they will believe anything he and his cohorts in the White House say? (Excluding the 1/3 of fanatical, right wing, conservative, evangelical Americans who will back him and Baby Bush no matter what they do or say.)
We must change course and Rumsfeld and company have to go……NOW.
posted by Sam Schoolsky | 8:26 AM
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