Those Tangled Webs...

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Thu Dec 03, 2009 at 12:11:40 PM EST

One of the ironies of what has transpired in the last eight years since the September 11 attack is that many of the origins of the conflict came from the waning years of the Cold War, as the United States tried to finish off the Soviet Union. The CIA worked overtime in devising covert ways to use radical foreigners for its purposes; unfortunately, it failed to take into account how it could dismantle the monsters it created.

It would seem obvious by now that much of the plotting and scheming in the modern era by various powerful nations to surreptitiously undermine "opponents" usually ends in unforeseen consequences for the "creator." The scenario has repeated itself in different parts of the world.

Here's how it works: A nation trying to weaken and/or destroy an opponent without resorting to overt war supports some group willing to take on the adversary with the covert support of the nation. Even if the tactic works, the consequences in the future cannot be predicted. Quite often, the result is a dangerous "blowback" on the nation that made the violent group possible in the first place. I'll go over at several examples.

Let's Not Obscure the Facts about Afghanistan

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Wed Dec 02, 2009 at 11:48:05 AM EST

I, for one, and sick and tired of the right wing of the Republican party being able to portray us as being non-supportive of our military and of the young people who serve.

Sure, Americans are tired of fighting one war for eight years (Afghanistan) and one for six years (Iraq). Certainly, we all know now that we on the left of the Democratic Party were absolutely right about the lies and distortions used by the Bush administration to get us into Iraq.

We all also would probably agree that we did have the right to invade Afghanistan in order to seek out and destroy the terrorist group that attacked the heartland of the United States on September 11, 2001. When he was running for office, President Obama made it quite clear that he was committed to ending the conflict in Iraq and focusing American effort on Afghanistan.

Afghanistan and September 11 are as connected as Japan and December 7, 1941's attack on Pearl Harbor are.  

Eugene Robinson: Bring the troops home

by: teacherken

Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 02:11:51 AM EST

There are reports that Obama has refused to sign off on any plan until his advisers tell him how they propose to end the expanded war they advocate. But this sounds like just another way of saying: Tell me how we're going to fix the mistake we're about to make.

As long as our goals in Afghanistan remain as elusive as they are now, Obama shouldn't be sending troops. He should be bringing them out.

So writes Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson in Time to head home, his November 13th Washington Post column.  I will both explore the column and offer a very few thoughts of my own.