Can we please get out of Iraq now?

Can we please get out of Iraq now?

and afghanistan?

Yes to the first, no to the second.

why? other than we have to support the D’s war?

No to both, I’ll betcha.

Further militarization of US foreign relations, imho. As if it needed that.

If General Jim Jones gets the job, we get an endless supply of Kool-Aid jokes on the Daily Show.

Was the General working for Cheney on some circumventing of the chairmen of the Joint chiefs?

And being a member of the US Chamber of Commerce even if it is on an alternate energy committee is supposed to burnish his liberal credentials how exactly? Isn’t that a little like being a member of the KKK and serving on the race relations board?

Because Iraq isn’t in the U.S. national interest and Afghanistan is.

OT – frank’s house financial services committee hearing on a bailout of the auto industry (from wednesday) is now being shown on cspan3.

Because we’re going to build the pipeline to get “Stans” petroleum products out?

would you please explain that national interest to me?

also i’d like to know what exactly are the goals amnd what are the realist chances and cost estimates for achieving those goals – because we have a lot of national interests right now and i don’t see a counterinsurgency war against the people of afghanistan as very high on that list.

thanks.

damn. worse typing than usual. sorry about that.

Gen. Jim Jones is close to getting the job, according to Dave Rogers at Politico.

A little confusing. You don’t explain WHICH job until a couple sentences later…

Timothy Geithner just announced as Treasury Secretary…as predicted. The masters of the universe are in charge. He’s Rockefeller’s IMF/CFR/FED boy.

Watch for a massive short squeeze on the financials starting this afternoon and accelerating on Monday.

As I keep saying (I’m not getting any response), Obama’s biggest challenge will be to define the mission for our military forces in Afghanistan. Obama, at least, understands the meaning of “mission,” and “strategy,” but he has not ever, to my knowledge, articulated either wrt Afghanistan.

The reason why this is so important is that if he does not define an achievable, affordable mission and strategy in Afghanistan, he risks getting bogged down there, just like Bush got bogged down in Iraq with no exit strategy.

Afghanistan– the graveyard of empires.
Britain: Attempt to rule Afghanistan ended 1919
Russia: Attempt to rule Afghanistan 1979-1989
American: Invaded Afghanistan 2001

Bob in HI

Agree. That’s why I thought the “mission” might be the pipeline that I mentioned in 11.

Empires have been trying to control Afghanistan for over a hundred years. I wonder if anyone on the Joint Chiefs has heard of the Khyber Pass. British bones bleached in the sun for years. How to get the tribal warlords to give up their fiefdoms? How to eradicate the poppy crop without ruining the soil with herbicides? How to mollify the Taliban, even though they’ve apparently shifted their policies? If ensuring that the country is no longer a training ground for fanatics is our main national interest, good luck with that as long as the border region with Pakistan remains inaccessible.

Owe ya a beverage. Glad to see somebody’s on the same wave length, though.

Afghanistan isn’t the problem. Pakistan is.

Gee, I sure am glad we elected a progressive. /s

geithner. damn.

makes sense. after all he did such a great job of fucking up the bear stearns buyout he deserved a promotion.

If America would simply buy up the poppy crop and process it into needed painkillers, the terror-narcotrafficking would end. We’d also had needed painkillers for developing countries’ citizens who need them badly.

Our view of drugs has completely corrupted our foreign policy in south asia.

With all this change, there must be a pony somewhere!

Well, we’ve done our best to destabilize Pakistan, and Obama plans even more, so that should work out well.

BTW, cspan3 was live at some seminar on Pakistan this morning. I flipped on it toward the end so I don’t know what it was. I’m gonna keep an eye out to see if they repeat it or archive it, as it was really informative. Mostly Paks, not USians, and they had in-depth information. Steve Coll was on at the end and he’s one of the few USians who seem to be able to keep their heads on straight.

Our view of drugs has completely corrupted our foreign policy in south asia.

much of latin america too.

It’s the pharma corps that put the kaibosh on that. They need markets for their expensive, patent-protected, side-effected painkillers. No competition from a much less expensive, more effective alternative. No no no, can’t have that.

They’ve got boomers and the US ain’t foolin’ with anybody with boomers.

From Jones’ wiki:

Following his retirement from the military, General Jones became president of the Institute for 21st Century Energy[3], an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce[8] and chair of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council of the United States. He also served as chair of the Independent Commission on Security Forces of Iraq, sponsored by the Atlantic Council of the United States.

General Jones joined the Board of Directors of the Boeing Corporation on June 21, 2007. He serves on the company’s Audit and Finance Committees.

On May 28, 2008, General Jones was elected to the board of directors of Chevron Corporation.

Jones was asked twice by Condoleezza Rice to be Deputy Secretary of State after the resignation of Robert Zoelick. He declined.

On May 25, 2007, Congress created an Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq to investigate for 120 days the capabilities of the Iraq armed forces and police. General Jones served as Chairman of that Commission and reported on Congress on September 6, 2007 noting serious deficiencies in the Iraq Interior Ministry and in the Iraq National Police.

On November 28, 2007, the Secretary of State appointed Jones as a special envoy for Middle East Security. He works with Israelis and Palestinians to strengthen security for both sides.

Yep, for a Marine Corps General, he has liberal written all over him. Explain to me again why he would be a good choice and not another corporatist neoliberal hawk.

Again, that depends on how you define the problem, and what the mission is. If security of the “pipeline” is the mission, that creates a very different mission than if the problem is hunting down Bin Laden, who may not even be in Afghanistan.

If the pipeline is the big deal, the traditional approach is to pay protection money to the strongest tribes along its route, which is usually lots cheaper than “secure and hold” operations. Check out the “security” of Iraqi pipelines for comparison.

Bob in HI

cnbc sez Obama Wall St contributers chose TreasSec.

If the DEA would get the hell out perhaps the price of weed would go down.

You only think he fucked up the Bear Stearns Take Down. He FACILITATED IT on behalf of David Rockefeller.

Watch how much wealth flows toward the Rockefeller dynasty. Citi will wind up inside JP Morgan Chase too.

Study Geithner’s path, and you’ll realize that Obama works for the Banksters, not the other way around.

Summers was first choice but his big mouth did him in.

But that would reduce the need for a police state. Can’t have that.

Wall Street luvs ‘em some Friedmanomics.

maybe these?
part 1
part 2

They’re not even making a secret of the fact that Obama is controlled by Wall St. See my 31 and 34.

what a load of bullshit

change you can believe in.

Thanks. It’s the second link. How did you find it? I did a search on c-span.org for Pakistan & it didn’t come up. I’ll watch the whole thing, since it’s in the library.

Summers was first choice but his big mouth did him in.

So now we get the pale imitation of Summers instead. Makes me feel better.

But that’s the sensible solution, not the military solution. The US has a really big hammer (military) and must use it to address every issue.

the nutroots want their maypo

i’ve been using the cspan archives since they first went beta about a year ago (or more?). love them. this will get you started:

1) to see the list of today’s programs, or for all the programs for a specific day (right side, scroll down)

2) to search the library archive

Thanks.

Along with that whole governing from the center-right that Obama is promising, his Administration choices have followed a similar pattern from mediocre to awful.

Obama will become well acquainted with the Pashtun.

Lol!

That 120 million Wall Street parasites contribution comes in handy at perilous times like these.

I’m listening to it on another screen. Coll speaks first & talks about what is going in US policy toward Afghanistan, so it’s directly relative to this thread.

Maybe he’ll shine Hillary on and ask Kissinger to be SecState.

new thread from jane: Ari Melber on Lieberman and Anonymous Beltway Chickenshitism

spencer – i’ll check back in case you are willing to give me a link or something that might answer my questions @12. thanks.

Coll sez there is no US plan for Afghanistan (there is one for Iraq believe it or not). In the process of making one. Whether Afghanis should hold the elections that are scheduled next year is the first question. Heh. Luv it that US will determine that. Coll thinks the US will let them happen.

since you recommend it i’ll give it a listen now too. but have got to do a few things will i’m listening. will catch up with you later…. thanks.

and the reason for the invasion of afghanistan was what?