USA Today ‘s left/right op-ed feature today is a doozy– a “debate” on escalating the Afghan War between regulars Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel. The headline gives it away:
Time to Dig In, Not Bail Out
Forget left or right. Forget politics. Think “war on terror.” Bob and Cal agree that now is not the time to abandon the war in Afghanistan.
The back and forth between arch-conservative Thomas and TV leftist Beckel ends with this exchange:
Bob: As much as my liberal instincts want us out of this war, I have to agree with you that it’s time to stay and fight. The more dangerous path would be to retreat.
Cal: Among the many things I admire about you, Bob, is that you are often able to overcome your instincts when facts get in the way. Your party was once a keeper of freedom’s flame when it came to engaging and defeating Communism. Now we have a new enemy. Nothing would benefit America more than to see Democrats and Republicans unite to defeat this enemy.
The thing that Cal Thomas admires about his liberal sparring partner–his inability to be an actual advocate for the left–is exactly the same qualitythat the corporate media look for in liberal pundits. It earns you a pat on the head from Cal Thomas, and a regular gig as a TV leftist.
This is scary! Afghans need to defend their country if they don’t want the Taliban back. This continual “ignorance” in the States that we have to “win a war” is extremely childish and lacks rational direction. Let the Afghans go back to civil war if that is all their are prepared to do. It is their country. They will only establish stability when they get “tired” of fighting and find what they really want. They shouldn’t be building a country based on what we think they want.
As for “terror”…Most Americans are in an emotional bag of nerves. We can’t be policing the world on an increasing unilateral basis, which is happening in Afghanistan (Italy and other countries are pulling out). We need to find a way to “contain” and pinpoint people who are a threat to us. Spraying bug repellant on the whole world at hundreds of Billions of dollars a pop is not only NOT going to keep the cockroaches out it will bankrupt us as it did the Soviet Union.
Bill Smale just offered the most enlightened and valid summation of the Afghan situation anyone has put forth to date. I can only hope Obama is thinking this realistically.
Instead of the Taliban they have the Northern Alliance (the other Taliban) instead. Karzai, a stooge and corrupt president of six blocks of Kabul, in the fiefdoms of Afghanistan. Our man. The Taliban made the mistake of moving fast enough to take on al-Quaida for the USA who mixed them together ever since. The Taliban, created by the ISI of Pakistan to administer Afghanistan and keep it quite puts us into a quandry doesn’t it? Or does it?
Afghanistan is our base to watch and attack Pakistan as they need to because of the nuclear arsenal there. We shouldn’t be there and it just does worse things to people the longer we are there for imperial reasons. Afghanistan isn’t really a country. Just a crazy quilt of fiefdoms under one flag.