Comments on: Always Keep An Open Mind http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/ Just another Firedoglake weblog Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:24:01 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: marcs http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/comment-page-1/#comment-2943 marcs Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:41:24 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/#comment-2943 <p>Yes, large-scale occupation. Afghanistan is a big country with rough terrain, so trying to exercise real control means you’re operating on a very large scale. The fact that there aren’t many troops just means it’s a large-scale occupation that isn’t working.</p> <p>Reading the article, it’s very clear why Dilegge is outraged with it. From his perspective, it’s defeatist. It commits the cardinal sin of claiming that the Taliban are a nationalist insurgency with their own goals that the U.S. could accomodate without surrendering to the vast, murky International Terrorist enemy (shades of the Vietcong, right?). Look at this quote:</p> <blockquote><p> “This can’t be solved other than by talking to the Taliban,” says a top diplomat in Kabul. A leading aid official adds that it is important to understand the ideological goal of the Taliban: “They don’t have an international-terrorist agenda — they have an Afghanistan agenda. We might not agree with their agenda for the country, but that’s not our war.” </p></blockquote> <p>Such enemy propaganda can only work against the cause of Annihilating the Taliban, which we must do because…well, I forget why it’s necessary, exactly, but they certainly deserve it. For the beheadings and such.</p> Yes, large-scale occupation. Afghanistan is a big country with rough terrain, so trying to exercise real control means you’re operating on a very large scale. The fact that there aren’t many troops just means it’s a large-scale occupation that isn’t working.

Reading the article, it’s very clear why Dilegge is outraged with it. From his perspective, it’s defeatist. It commits the cardinal sin of claiming that the Taliban are a nationalist insurgency with their own goals that the U.S. could accomodate without surrendering to the vast, murky International Terrorist enemy (shades of the Vietcong, right?). Look at this quote:

“This can’t be solved other than by talking to the Taliban,” says a top diplomat in Kabul. A leading aid official adds that it is important to understand the ideological goal of the Taliban: “They don’t have an international-terrorist agenda — they have an Afghanistan agenda. We might not agree with their agenda for the country, but that’s not our war.”

Such enemy propaganda can only work against the cause of Annihilating the Taliban, which we must do because…well, I forget why it’s necessary, exactly, but they certainly deserve it. For the beheadings and such.

]]> By: Teddy Partridge http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/comment-page-1/#comment-2942 Teddy Partridge Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:19:18 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/#comment-2942 <p>Clearly it would be better for the US regime if the only reporting from the battlefield was approved for US consumption.</p> Clearly it would be better for the US regime if the only reporting from the battlefield was approved for US consumption.

]]> By: macaquerman http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/comment-page-1/#comment-2941 macaquerman Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:05:39 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/#comment-2941 <p>Large-scale occupation???!!!! The Rose Bowl holds more troops than all of NATO’s forces in Afghanistan.</p> Large-scale occupation???!!!! The Rose Bowl holds more troops than all of NATO’s forces in Afghanistan.

]]> By: marcs http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/comment-page-1/#comment-2940 marcs Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:55:07 +0000 http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/nirvsdave/#comment-2940 <p>It actually is true that the attempt to understand the enemy may lead to sympathy with them. After all, they are human beings and they are right in their own minds — they usually have reasons for what they are doing. Just as we in America have reasons for all the civilians we have killed over the decades. Understanding fuzzes the “moral clarity” necessary for sustained aggression, and is the first step to the dreaded “moral equivalence”.</p> <p>Probably Dilegge’s issue is not the gathering of intelligence, but the fact that Rosen is putting it into the popular press, where it could interfere with the propaganda necessary to sustain popular support of the continued occupation of Afghanistan. Speaking of which, have you ever done a post on why exactly we need a large-scale occupation of Afghanistan seven years after 9/11, and whether doing this actually makes us safer?</p> It actually is true that the attempt to understand the enemy may lead to sympathy with them. After all, they are human beings and they are right in their own minds — they usually have reasons for what they are doing. Just as we in America have reasons for all the civilians we have killed over the decades. Understanding fuzzes the “moral clarity” necessary for sustained aggression, and is the first step to the dreaded “moral equivalence”.

Probably Dilegge’s issue is not the gathering of intelligence, but the fact that Rosen is putting it into the popular press, where it could interfere with the propaganda necessary to sustain popular support of the continued occupation of Afghanistan. Speaking of which, have you ever done a post on why exactly we need a large-scale occupation of Afghanistan seven years after 9/11, and whether doing this actually makes us safer?

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