Don't blame Khadr. He was a fifteen year old kid who thought he was fighting infidel invaders. Which he was, from a Muslim perspective.
When in 1913 fifteen year old kids from Halifax or Toronto lied about their age, joined the army, and went on to kill people, we celebrated them, and we celebrate them to this day.
One of the many pie-in-the-sky feel-good initiatives that various Canadian governments have championed over the past couple of decades has been the cause of "child soldiers." Obviously that was only intended to apply to the primitives on the Dark Continent, otherwise the opinion makers and the political do-gooders wouldn't have lost their zeal so quickly when a Canadian kid got caught on the wrong side of their good intentions.
Anyway, the financial settlement wasn't a reward for what he did or did not do as a 15 year old. It was compensation for our government's conniving in his illegal torture and detention in the years that followed, an ordeal that contravened both Canadian and international law.
As for those outraged over the settlement who compare the outcome of this case to the paltry compensation given our dead and maimed veterans, they're missing the point. They put on those CF uniforms to protect our values, foremost among which is the rule of law. This is what happens when our government tramples those values.
We should be grateful that our government can still be held accountable.
The fact that Khadr now joins the ranks of Arar, Almaki, El-Maati, and Nureddin in the Muslim Millionaires Club isn't Khadr's fault.
You'd hope the boffins in Ottawa are smart enough to detect a pattern here and make an effort to mend their ways.
Showing posts with label Afghanistan War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afghanistan War. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Sunday, May 22, 2016
US war on Taliban totally over after drone strike kills leader!
For some reason that's a story that's getting lots of ink.
In spite of the fact that it's complete bullshit. How many times before has the US eliminated top Taliban leaders? Seems the US forces of righteousness have been rubbing out those Taliban leaders for what, ten or fifteen years by now?
But, just like the Energizer Bunny, those Taliban leaders keep on coming. Knock out one with a drone strike, and there's two more right there to take his place.
Far be it from me to suggest the US strategy is not working, but who can ignore the fact that the US strategy is not working?
Apparently the US high command has no problem whatsoever ignoring the fact that their strategy is not working. They just keep doing the same and doing the same and then doing the same again, and then feigning complete surprise when their strategy is not working!
Hey fellas!... it's not working and it's never worked! The towellers are just sick of having you in their countries!
Go home already!
Let them figure out their own shit!
In spite of the fact that it's complete bullshit. How many times before has the US eliminated top Taliban leaders? Seems the US forces of righteousness have been rubbing out those Taliban leaders for what, ten or fifteen years by now?
But, just like the Energizer Bunny, those Taliban leaders keep on coming. Knock out one with a drone strike, and there's two more right there to take his place.
Far be it from me to suggest the US strategy is not working, but who can ignore the fact that the US strategy is not working?
Apparently the US high command has no problem whatsoever ignoring the fact that their strategy is not working. They just keep doing the same and doing the same and then doing the same again, and then feigning complete surprise when their strategy is not working!
Hey fellas!... it's not working and it's never worked! The towellers are just sick of having you in their countries!
Go home already!
Let them figure out their own shit!
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
After 14 years, America's longest war getting longer
And they still haven't won!
Nor will they by making it longer.
US Army boss in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, announced today that "we need a new Afghanistan plan."
No shit.
Here's a plan, General Campbell; fold the tents and go home. Fourteen years is more than long enough!
Remind us what this war was about... sorry, after fourteen years, the memory gets foggy.
Bringing them democracy? Fail.
Liberating the women? Fail.
Letting the kids fly kites? Fail.
Letting girls go to school? Fail.
Crushing terror? General Campbell said today there's more terrorists in the place than fourteen years ago.
Epic fail.
Securing the terrain for oil and gas pipelines? After fourteen years of failure, the stuff isn't worth enough to warrant getting it out of the ground and building pipelines, and if you had to, you could pipe it out of North Dakota, where the US Army hardly if ever has to machine-gun the locals to maintain order.
With all respect, Mr. General, America doesn't need a new plan.
America needs to go home.
Nor will they by making it longer.
US Army boss in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, announced today that "we need a new Afghanistan plan."
No shit.
Here's a plan, General Campbell; fold the tents and go home. Fourteen years is more than long enough!
Remind us what this war was about... sorry, after fourteen years, the memory gets foggy.
Bringing them democracy? Fail.
Liberating the women? Fail.
Letting the kids fly kites? Fail.
Letting girls go to school? Fail.
Crushing terror? General Campbell said today there's more terrorists in the place than fourteen years ago.
Epic fail.
Securing the terrain for oil and gas pipelines? After fourteen years of failure, the stuff isn't worth enough to warrant getting it out of the ground and building pipelines, and if you had to, you could pipe it out of North Dakota, where the US Army hardly if ever has to machine-gun the locals to maintain order.
With all respect, Mr. General, America doesn't need a new plan.
America needs to go home.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Warm welcome for Hagel in Kabul
Warm? Hell, you could almost call it explosive. The Taliban welcomed US Defense Secretary Hagel to Afghanistan today by sending a suicide bomber to the Ministry of Defense HQ.
That's the Taliban equivalent of a 21 gun salute, and Hagel says he appreciated the gesture.
"It's refreshing to see that Kabul is returning to normal after our great victory here. With the evacuation of US troops to be completed next year, I am confident that the ensuing bloodbath as the Taliban slaughter the collaborators will remind the world of just how relatively benign our occupation of Afghanistan actually was."
That's the Taliban equivalent of a 21 gun salute, and Hagel says he appreciated the gesture.
"It's refreshing to see that Kabul is returning to normal after our great victory here. With the evacuation of US troops to be completed next year, I am confident that the ensuing bloodbath as the Taliban slaughter the collaborators will remind the world of just how relatively benign our occupation of Afghanistan actually was."
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
No wonder we lost Afghanistan to the Taliban
According to USA Today and plenty of other media outlets, the guy who was in charge of our Afghan endeavors the last couple of years was preoccupied.
As in he had other things on his mind.
As in while he was busy directing the ISAF/NATO/USA campaign against the towellers from hell, he was even busier sending e-mails to his stateside tart.
Twenty to thirty thousand pages worth of e-mails, if such a thing can even be imagined.
Over the course of two years.
They're not telling us how many e-mails are on a page, but by God, even if it was only one, the guy must have been writing at least fifty per day.
No wonder he didn't notice the towellers were winning!
As in he had other things on his mind.
As in while he was busy directing the ISAF/NATO/USA campaign against the towellers from hell, he was even busier sending e-mails to his stateside tart.
Twenty to thirty thousand pages worth of e-mails, if such a thing can even be imagined.
Over the course of two years.
They're not telling us how many e-mails are on a page, but by God, even if it was only one, the guy must have been writing at least fifty per day.
No wonder he didn't notice the towellers were winning!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Pot-addled hillbilly scoops major think tank by a year
Makes you wonder what Candace Rondeaux and her colleagues at the International Crisis Group are smoking.
You don't need a crystal ball to figure out that Karzai's days are numbered, and this blog has been saying so regularly almost since its inception.
If I were a betting man I'd wager that the crafty Karzai is going to be settled into his villa in Dubai even before the last ISAF troops leave at the end of 2014. "Transition" means handing Afghanistan back to the Taliban and a handful of warlords.
There hasn't been an informed observer worth reading who has said anything else for years. Karzai was never anything other than the West's puppet, as the massively fraudulent 2010 election convincingly demonstrated. The only people saying otherwise these days are Hillary Clinton's speechwriters.
Have the Nations of Virtue learned anything from their Afghan fiasco?
You don't need a crystal ball to figure out that Karzai's days are numbered, and this blog has been saying so regularly almost since its inception.
If I were a betting man I'd wager that the crafty Karzai is going to be settled into his villa in Dubai even before the last ISAF troops leave at the end of 2014. "Transition" means handing Afghanistan back to the Taliban and a handful of warlords.
There hasn't been an informed observer worth reading who has said anything else for years. Karzai was never anything other than the West's puppet, as the massively fraudulent 2010 election convincingly demonstrated. The only people saying otherwise these days are Hillary Clinton's speechwriters.
Have the Nations of Virtue learned anything from their Afghan fiasco?
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Clinton and Panetta team up to tell world not to screw with America
Panetta was in Towelistan today warning the locals that the USA won't be putting up with this back-stabbing shit forever.
Hey Towelers, you're with us or you're against us!
You can't have it both ways.
The only reason America has to launch drone attacks in your country is because you won't do it yourselves.
It's not that we want to violate your sovereignty, it's just that we don't have a choice.
When half the population over there is trying to kill us when we're trying to help you, what choice do we have?
Meanwhile, Mrs. Clinton is waving the finger of righteousness at those Assad minions over in Syria. The violence that the regime is inflicting is "unconscionable".
Which I suppose puts that Syrian violence in a completely different category than good old fashioned USA/NATO violence.
USA/NATO violence is, if nothing else, at least "conscionable".
Which is why we're the good guys and the Towel-heads are the bad guys.
Hey Towelers, you're with us or you're against us!
You can't have it both ways.
The only reason America has to launch drone attacks in your country is because you won't do it yourselves.
It's not that we want to violate your sovereignty, it's just that we don't have a choice.
When half the population over there is trying to kill us when we're trying to help you, what choice do we have?
Meanwhile, Mrs. Clinton is waving the finger of righteousness at those Assad minions over in Syria. The violence that the regime is inflicting is "unconscionable".
Which I suppose puts that Syrian violence in a completely different category than good old fashioned USA/NATO violence.
USA/NATO violence is, if nothing else, at least "conscionable".
Which is why we're the good guys and the Towel-heads are the bad guys.
Leon Panetta is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore
Enough is enough!
The endless squawking when an errant Hellfire takes out an obscure Paki village.
The pouty closing off of supply routes when Apache attack helicopters took out two dozen Paki border troops a couple of months back.
And last but not least, the bags of umbrage taken when those Navy Seals forgot to get prior permission before they dispatched the 9/11 mastermind to his reward.
So Mr. Panetta has put the towelers on notice; shape up or we take the gloves off.
America is SOOO at the end of her long-suffering patience with you people...
The endless squawking when an errant Hellfire takes out an obscure Paki village.
The pouty closing off of supply routes when Apache attack helicopters took out two dozen Paki border troops a couple of months back.
And last but not least, the bags of umbrage taken when those Navy Seals forgot to get prior permission before they dispatched the 9/11 mastermind to his reward.
So Mr. Panetta has put the towelers on notice; shape up or we take the gloves off.
America is SOOO at the end of her long-suffering patience with you people...
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Assassination of Afghan peace envoy more proof of our success
State Department officials are hailing the latest setback to Afghan peace as a great step forward.
Arsala Rahmani was executed by a lone gunman at point bank range as he was being driven to his office in the Afghan capital.
Rahmani was a former Taliban hand-picked by our hand-picked democratic leader, Karzai, to lead peace talks with the Taliban.
As always in such cases, State Department officials are quick to point out that there is a silver lining. The fact that "the enemy" can reach into the heart of Kabul and eliminate a heavily guarded target is not proof they are winning.
No!
Rather, it is proof that our strategy is working. Such acts are acts of desperation by a foe that knows it is on the ropes.
In much the same vein, Senator McCain recently observed that the fact the Taliban now control more of the country than at any time since our invasion eleven years ago is also proof that our strategy is working.
I suppose we are continually bombarded with such idiocy because the option is unthinkable; admitting that the war was a mistake from the beginning, that it is irretrievably lost, and that the only honest and ethical option is for NATO, ISAF, and the US military to pack up and go home.
Arsala Rahmani was executed by a lone gunman at point bank range as he was being driven to his office in the Afghan capital.
Rahmani was a former Taliban hand-picked by our hand-picked democratic leader, Karzai, to lead peace talks with the Taliban.
As always in such cases, State Department officials are quick to point out that there is a silver lining. The fact that "the enemy" can reach into the heart of Kabul and eliminate a heavily guarded target is not proof they are winning.
No!
Rather, it is proof that our strategy is working. Such acts are acts of desperation by a foe that knows it is on the ropes.
In much the same vein, Senator McCain recently observed that the fact the Taliban now control more of the country than at any time since our invasion eleven years ago is also proof that our strategy is working.
I suppose we are continually bombarded with such idiocy because the option is unthinkable; admitting that the war was a mistake from the beginning, that it is irretrievably lost, and that the only honest and ethical option is for NATO, ISAF, and the US military to pack up and go home.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Obama makes like Midnight Rambler in Kabul
That's the protocol for getting POTUS in and out of liberated Afghanistan alive. In and out under cover of darkness, before the locals can set up an ambush.
Obama was in town to sign the agreement that the Falling Downs think tank told you about a couple of weeks ago. Today the big media outlets are speculating about why the oft-difficult Karzai would sign on to such a deal.
The Washington Post poses that question in an article sourced from AP. The answer is so painfully obvious that the question need not be asked
Without continued US propping up, Karzai's rule would be measured in minutes.
Obama was in town to sign the agreement that the Falling Downs think tank told you about a couple of weeks ago. Today the big media outlets are speculating about why the oft-difficult Karzai would sign on to such a deal.
The Washington Post poses that question in an article sourced from AP. The answer is so painfully obvious that the question need not be asked
Without continued US propping up, Karzai's rule would be measured in minutes.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Karzai and Obama to sign ten year extension of US occupation of Afghanistan
US ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker signed a memorandum of understanding today that commits the US to stay in the country for another ten years.
The US presence is said to include a sizable contingent of combat troops and thousands of "trainers".
Both Obama and Karzai are expected to sign the agreement before the NATO summit in Chicago next month.
The agreement also obliges the US to financially prop up the corrupt Karzai regime for the duration.
No word on whether the democratically elected President Obama intends to run this by the American people before signing.
The US presence is said to include a sizable contingent of combat troops and thousands of "trainers".
Both Obama and Karzai are expected to sign the agreement before the NATO summit in Chicago next month.
The agreement also obliges the US to financially prop up the corrupt Karzai regime for the duration.
No word on whether the democratically elected President Obama intends to run this by the American people before signing.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Let's get the Taliban to train the Afghan Army!
This is such a great idea I'm not surprised one of the beltway think-tankers hasn't come up with it.
Instead of having Canada and the other ISAF partners making these ludicrous open-ended committments to "training" the Afghan army, why not let the Taliban take on the job?
After all, they're mostly Afghans, and would therefore be able to avoid all those emarrassing cross-cultural misunderstandings that constantly undermine our training efforts, such as the predeliction the Afghan army officer corps apparently has for sexually explointing pre-teen boys.
Secondly, if one of those recruits snapped and went on a shooting spree, he'd just be taking out a few of their own instead of the far more valuable ISAF members.
Thirdly, we'd save one hell of a pile of money. The tab for training this lot runs into the billions of dollars. The Taliban would be happy to train them for free.
Finally, it just makes good sense to have the winners train the army. The Taliban have fought the most efficient, modern, and technologically advanced military combine in the history of warfare to what a generous observer might concede is a draw.
Why do they need us to train them?
On the down side, I suppose if we went home and left them to their own devices they could no longer be relied on to follow our orders.
Instead of having Canada and the other ISAF partners making these ludicrous open-ended committments to "training" the Afghan army, why not let the Taliban take on the job?
After all, they're mostly Afghans, and would therefore be able to avoid all those emarrassing cross-cultural misunderstandings that constantly undermine our training efforts, such as the predeliction the Afghan army officer corps apparently has for sexually explointing pre-teen boys.
Secondly, if one of those recruits snapped and went on a shooting spree, he'd just be taking out a few of their own instead of the far more valuable ISAF members.
Thirdly, we'd save one hell of a pile of money. The tab for training this lot runs into the billions of dollars. The Taliban would be happy to train them for free.
Finally, it just makes good sense to have the winners train the army. The Taliban have fought the most efficient, modern, and technologically advanced military combine in the history of warfare to what a generous observer might concede is a draw.
Why do they need us to train them?
On the down side, I suppose if we went home and left them to their own devices they could no longer be relied on to follow our orders.
The myth of training Afghanistan's army
As Australia
Supposedly we are training an Afghan army so that the country will be able to “stand on its own feet” in some happy and democratic future when our ten or fifteen or twenty-five year run of doing God’s work there comes to an end.
It is ISAF, NATO and the Pentagon that have arbitrarily decided that 350,000 men under arms is the sufficient number to ensure a secure and “independent” Afghanistan, a number higher by several orders of magnitude than at any time in the country’s history.
The estimated cost of maintaining that army ranges from four to six billion dollars per year. This in a country with gross government revenues in the range of one billion dollars.
Do the math.
What is the nature of the “independence” that a foreign trained, foreign equipped, and foreign funded army is to preserve in Afghanistan
I believe the technical term would be "imaginary".
I believe the technical term would be "imaginary".
Friday, March 30, 2012
CNN:Is the war in Afghanistan unraveling?
Thats the lead to an article on CNN's home page right now. March of 2012.
Is the war in Afghanistan unraveling?
How retarded would you have to be to have that thought cross your mind for the first time in March of 2012?
The war in/on Afghanistan has been unraveling since that first blush of victory eleven years ago. Eleven years ago we'd put paid to the Talibs and their Al Qaeda cohorts. A few short months of carpet bombing, lots of on-the-ground help from the Northern Alliance, and the Taliban were supposedly on the run.
The war has been "unraveling" ever since.
Today, even as over 100,000 ISAF troops remain on the ground, the Taliban are in control of almost all of the country outside the major urban centers. And those major urban centers aren't safe zones for ISAF troops. Rather, they are combat zones.
Is the war in Afghanistan unraveling?
No.
It's over.
We lost.
Is the war in Afghanistan unraveling?
How retarded would you have to be to have that thought cross your mind for the first time in March of 2012?
The war in/on Afghanistan has been unraveling since that first blush of victory eleven years ago. Eleven years ago we'd put paid to the Talibs and their Al Qaeda cohorts. A few short months of carpet bombing, lots of on-the-ground help from the Northern Alliance, and the Taliban were supposedly on the run.
The war has been "unraveling" ever since.
Today, even as over 100,000 ISAF troops remain on the ground, the Taliban are in control of almost all of the country outside the major urban centers. And those major urban centers aren't safe zones for ISAF troops. Rather, they are combat zones.
Is the war in Afghanistan unraveling?
No.
It's over.
We lost.
Monday, March 26, 2012
When you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow
That's been the guiding maxim behind American foreign policy for decades now. Sometimes it works. Mostly it doesn't.
I'm reminded of this quote on hearing the news that three more NATO soldiers went to their reward today at the hands of their Afghan "allies".
The "good" Afghans pretend to be as perplexed about this as we are. Here's Provincial Police Chief Abdul Nabi Elham on the latest killings;
We don't know the motivation for this. Our investigation continues.
Let me help you out a bit with that, Chief Elham. There's a reason your country is known as the graveyard of empires.
Every time the invaders think they've got your people by the balls, and that your hearts and minds are going to follow, you've proven this theory wrong.
You've had your balls grabbed by pretty much every empire over the past five hundred years. In fact, well before the NATO ball-grabbers came along the Soviets had an even firmer grip on your testicles. Look what happened to them.
I think it's time for a bit of a re-write of this old chestnut.
When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds are planning how to cut your throat.
I'm reminded of this quote on hearing the news that three more NATO soldiers went to their reward today at the hands of their Afghan "allies".
The "good" Afghans pretend to be as perplexed about this as we are. Here's Provincial Police Chief Abdul Nabi Elham on the latest killings;
We don't know the motivation for this. Our investigation continues.
Let me help you out a bit with that, Chief Elham. There's a reason your country is known as the graveyard of empires.
Every time the invaders think they've got your people by the balls, and that your hearts and minds are going to follow, you've proven this theory wrong.
You've had your balls grabbed by pretty much every empire over the past five hundred years. In fact, well before the NATO ball-grabbers came along the Soviets had an even firmer grip on your testicles. Look what happened to them.
I think it's time for a bit of a re-write of this old chestnut.
When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds are planning how to cut your throat.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Reuters reports Toweliban have quit negotiations with US over Afghanistan's future
And who can blame them?
The trigger was apparently Sargeant Bales' rampage. If that's true it means they stayed at the table throughout that Koran burning fiasco, which is nothing other than a huge gesture of goodwill on their part.
But I suppose enough is enough. There's a difference between burning books, even holy books, and slaughtering innocent civilians.
Negotiating with the US was always a bit iffy to begin with. After all, the Talibs are Afghans for the most part. It's their country.
Why should they be negotiating about what slice of the pie they're going to get when they know the whole thing is coming their way at the end of 2014?
Or sooner.
The trigger was apparently Sargeant Bales' rampage. If that's true it means they stayed at the table throughout that Koran burning fiasco, which is nothing other than a huge gesture of goodwill on their part.
But I suppose enough is enough. There's a difference between burning books, even holy books, and slaughtering innocent civilians.
Negotiating with the US was always a bit iffy to begin with. After all, the Talibs are Afghans for the most part. It's their country.
Why should they be negotiating about what slice of the pie they're going to get when they know the whole thing is coming their way at the end of 2014?
Or sooner.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Who could commit such an act?
CNN has that headline on its site at the moment. They've consulted a lawyer and a neuropsychologist to tell us that the poor bastard who snapped and went on a kill spree in Afghanistan might have been suffering from "stress".
No shit.
We shouldn't need lawyers and neuropsychologists to figure that out.
It's stressful to have to leave your family behind for months on end? Who knew?
It's stressful to be assigned to a foreign land and risk your life every sleeping and waking moment just by being there? Who knew?
It's stressful to spend months wondering if the next step you take will be your last? Who knew?
It's stressful to wonder every waking moment if the guy you're training plans to kill you?
So a guy breaks under the stress and all of a sudden we need a lawyer and a neuropsychologist to figure out that there is stress in these missions?
Given enough stress, I'm guessing every one of us could commit such an act.
No shit.
We shouldn't need lawyers and neuropsychologists to figure that out.
It's stressful to have to leave your family behind for months on end? Who knew?
It's stressful to be assigned to a foreign land and risk your life every sleeping and waking moment just by being there? Who knew?
It's stressful to spend months wondering if the next step you take will be your last? Who knew?
It's stressful to wonder every waking moment if the guy you're training plans to kill you?
So a guy breaks under the stress and all of a sudden we need a lawyer and a neuropsychologist to figure out that there is stress in these missions?
Given enough stress, I'm guessing every one of us could commit such an act.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Hillary takes break from condemning Syria to profess her profound shock and sadness at civilian deaths in Afghanistan
Can't be easy being the Secretary of State these days.
Every time she saddles up for another self-righteous charge at the bad guys, the reality of America's eleven year slow-motion destruction of Afghanistan comes back to bite her.
She's a true believer though. Yesterday's homicidal rampage hasn't dampened her enthusiasm for bringing peace and prosperity to the Afghan people.
"This terrible incident does not change our steadfast determination to protecting the Afghan people and to doing everything we can to build a strong stable Afghanistan."
One can imagine how thrilled the "Afghan people" must be to hear this.
After following this unmitigated disaster for eleven years, the think tank here at Falling Downs has come up with a simple plan for the US administration to follow that will drastically improve the Afghan people's chances of achieving peace and stability.
Leave!
Every time she saddles up for another self-righteous charge at the bad guys, the reality of America's eleven year slow-motion destruction of Afghanistan comes back to bite her.
She's a true believer though. Yesterday's homicidal rampage hasn't dampened her enthusiasm for bringing peace and prosperity to the Afghan people.
"This terrible incident does not change our steadfast determination to protecting the Afghan people and to doing everything we can to build a strong stable Afghanistan."
One can imagine how thrilled the "Afghan people" must be to hear this.
After following this unmitigated disaster for eleven years, the think tank here at Falling Downs has come up with a simple plan for the US administration to follow that will drastically improve the Afghan people's chances of achieving peace and stability.
Leave!
Pentagon Apology Center working overtime
They cut the ribbon on the new Pentagon Apology Center in the nick of time.
The apologies have been flying thick and fast. The "golden shower snuff video" (rogue soldiers), the Koran burning (honest mistake), the Kapisa shootings of seven civilians this week (honest mistake) and now the Panjwai slaughter (rogue soldier making honest mistake or perhaps sleep-walking).
General John Allen, top gun in Afghanistan, has apologized profusely. Leon Panetta has apologized even more. Even Obama tore himself away from watching college basketball to personally offer Afghan President Hamid Karzai an apology.
The message is this; we are honorable soldiers. We are in your country to kill bad people honorably. Every once in a while a rogue soldier slips through the cracks and brings us dishonor. Or an honorable soldier makes an honest mistake. Please bear with us in these last months before we hand your country back to the Taliban.
We're doing the best we can.
The apologies have been flying thick and fast. The "golden shower snuff video" (rogue soldiers), the Koran burning (honest mistake), the Kapisa shootings of seven civilians this week (honest mistake) and now the Panjwai slaughter (rogue soldier making honest mistake or perhaps sleep-walking).
General John Allen, top gun in Afghanistan, has apologized profusely. Leon Panetta has apologized even more. Even Obama tore himself away from watching college basketball to personally offer Afghan President Hamid Karzai an apology.
The message is this; we are honorable soldiers. We are in your country to kill bad people honorably. Every once in a while a rogue soldier slips through the cracks and brings us dishonor. Or an honorable soldier makes an honest mistake. Please bear with us in these last months before we hand your country back to the Taliban.
We're doing the best we can.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Karzai rolls back womens' rights in Afghanistan
Afghan President Hamid Karzai today announced that from now on women in his country would be “strongly encouraged” to observe the Taliban-era restrictions on their dress and conduct.
He did not go on to define what he meant by strongly encouraged, but some forms of strong encouragement have included beatings, the use of battery acid, and stoning until dead.
The Sharia-based code of conduct prohibits women leaving their homes without the supervision of a male relative. They will also need to be covered in full burqa. Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch has said this represents a sell-out of Afghan women in an attempt to appease the Taliban ahead of US-Taliban negotiations about the future of the country.
The future of the country is of course a done deal. America
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