Ugly Facts
2010-08-11 - by
Not long after we took up the burden (or had it forced on us) of fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq we decided ‘Democracy Building’ (wherever our army went) sounded like a noble idea.
And no doubt it was noble but nearly nine years later we’ve had an education and learned not everyone agrees.
Even the most stout hearted democracy builder has given up on the idea of converting the warlords in Afghanistan to our idea of how they ought to elect leaders and over in Iraq with the government in crisis no one’s taking wagers democracy will survive the last American soldier in Baghdad stepping onto the transport for home.
Back in the days when he was a candidate for President it looked like a safe bet Obama was going to get us out of both wars. He said Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time fought for the wrong reasons. He didn’t put it quite so bluntly about Afghanistan but it was easy to get the idea if he didn’t see much to be gained fighting in the deserts of Iraq, he probably didn’t see much future in fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan where the Russians, British and Macedonians all came to a bitter ends.
Candidate Obama turned thumbs down the surge in Iraq and promised to get us out of the war but after he was elected President Obama had a change of heart, continued George Bush’s policy in Iraq and launched his own surge in Afghanistan – which now has the distinction of being the longest war in all of American history.
We defeated the German Empire (twice), the Japanese Empire, the British Empire and the Spanish Empire in less time than we’ve been fighting the nomad tribesmen in Afghanistan.
You might expect the President to be focused like a laser beam on that one incongruous fact. But if it has occurred to anyone in Washington it’s odd that it’s taking us three times longer to defeat the Taliban then it did to crush Hitler’s panzers, no one’s saying so.
Instead, Washington has a new ‘counter-insurgency’ strategy to win the war sounds a lot like one of President Obama’s ‘Stimulus Plans.’ The government (the United States government) is borrowing money to build roads, schools and sewer systems – so the Afghanistan’s will love the government.
Is it working?
“There is nothing more tragic than watching beautiful theories being assaulted by gangs of ugly facts,” one former Pentagon analyst said recently.
Ugly Facts
2010-08-11/
Not long after we took up the burden (or had it forced on us) of fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq we decided ‘Democracy Building’ (wherever our army went) sounded like a noble idea.
And no doubt it was noble but nearly nine years later we’ve had an education and learned not everyone agrees.
Even the most stout hearted democracy builder has given up on the idea of converting the warlords in Afghanistan to our idea of how they ought to elect leaders and over in Iraq with the government in crisis no one’s taking wagers democracy will survive the last American soldier in Baghdad stepping onto the transport for home.
Back in the days when he was a candidate for President it looked like a safe bet Obama was going to get us out of both wars. He said Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time fought for the wrong reasons. He didn’t put it quite so bluntly about Afghanistan but it was easy to get the idea if he didn’t see much to be gained fighting in the deserts of Iraq, he probably didn’t see much future in fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan where the Russians, British and Macedonians all came to a bitter ends.
Candidate Obama turned thumbs down the surge in Iraq and promised to get us out of the war but after he was elected President Obama had a change of heart, continued George Bush’s policy in Iraq and launched his own surge in Afghanistan – which now has the distinction of being the longest war in all of American history.
We defeated the German Empire (twice), the Japanese Empire, the British Empire and the Spanish Empire in less time than we’ve been fighting the nomad tribesmen in Afghanistan.
You might expect the President to be focused like a laser beam on that one incongruous fact. But if it has occurred to anyone in Washington it’s odd that it’s taking us three times longer to defeat the Taliban then it did to crush Hitler’s panzers, no one’s saying so.
Instead, Washington has a new ‘counter-insurgency’ strategy to win the war sounds a lot like one of President Obama’s ‘Stimulus Plans.’ The government (the United States government) is borrowing money to build roads, schools and sewer systems – so the Afghanistan’s will love the government.
Is it working?
“There is nothing more tragic than watching beautiful theories being assaulted by gangs of ugly facts,” one former Pentagon analyst said recently.