at all levels require bribes and payoffs before any business can be done. The Afghan people
are caught between a corrupt government they despise and a shadow Taliban government
they fear. So, how will the average gum-chewing Afghan greet the news the United States is
no longer interested in high-level corruption, but will continue to oppose graft on the local
levels?
It appears Afghan President Hamid Karzai is miffed with us. One of his top aides was
arrested and Karzai wasn't notified beforehand. His brother, Mahmood, is a part-owner of
Kabul Bank which is in danger of failing because of corrupt lending practices and the U.S.
refuses to bail the bank out. His other brother, Wallid, is the "fixer" in Kandahar and is at
the center of a system of bribery and corruption including getting a piece of the opium trade
which helps to fund both the Taliban and al Qaeda. At least he is on the CIA payroll; but
President Karzai is angry about all the unfavorable press his brother and family and friends
receive.
The Obama Administration has announced it is going to leave the Karzais alone and focus
on local power brokers and corrupt officials (most appointed by the Karzai family). They
promise they won't ignore major corruption; but they will cut the Karzai family criminal
enterprise some slack. They promise to give him advanced notice before they move in on any
one in his government and get his approval. (You don't think he would tip off anyone, do you?
Her is our trusted ally, after all.) It seems the Afghan president is making noises about turning
to Iran or making a separate peace deal with the Taliban to protect his criminal siblings; and
Obama's advisors are so shaken by this possibility that they have agreed to stop pressuring
him to clean up his country.
So, now we will focus on low level corruption and be very discreet about not
embarrassing Karzai every time one of his clan gets caught with his finger in the cookie jar.
We will now go after local crooks and leave the big crooks to the Afghan president. In 2010,
our administration promises to insure U.S. taxpayer's money is fully accounted for unlike for
the last eight years or so. I wish I was making this up. We continue to re-arrange deck chairs
on the Titanic while the hole in the bow gets bigger and bigger.
Afghan financial institutions launder drug money for the Taliban and possibly al Qaeda.
This will continue. The Afghan government protects the opium industry. This will continue.
Afghan politicians will continue to loot the nation's treasury and Americans will pay for all of
this in blood and treasure. The local thugs are all appointed by the national crooks. The local
sharks serve at the pleasure of the national sharks. Obama officials insist this is not a retreat
from rooting out high-level corruption. O.k., so we will call it a strategic withdrawal from the
field instead.
In December, General Petraeus and Secretary of Defense Gates will review the counter-
insurgency strategy for President Obama before troops are supposed to be withdrawing in
July of 2011. You and I know exactly what will happen. In December, they will declare the
strategy sound; and then in July they will announce most troops will stay in the country for
the foreseeable future. Americans will continue to die and good American money will follow
bad as the Karzai crime family continues to steal from its own people and from us. I love the
smell of corruption in the morning. It smells like victory...doesn't it? What do you think?
I welcome your comments and rebuttals. Please send them to lionoftheleft@gmail.com
This is my first of two comments on this post.
ReplyDeleteI must let you know that it is hard for me to get past the title: TO BIG TO CONFRONT
I'll go back and read it and comment again, but first let me correct your title from:
TO BIG TO CONFRONT
to this:
TOO BIG TO CONFRONT.
Let me share with you something I got from Doctor Joe, an English / Reading educator and right-wing RC friend of mine:
"I too believe that it is too warm to wear two sweaters to the game."
In this one sentence, you see that 'too' can mean 'also' and can also be adverb meaning 'excessively' as in 'too warm.'
You also see 'to' used in two ways:
'to wear' as part of an infinitive;
'to the game' as a preposition.
At last, we have the word 'two' meaning '2.'
OK, now I can get back to the retitled post:
TOOO BIG TO CONFRONT
Bernard, to this last sentence of your post:
ReplyDeleteAmericans will continue to die and good American money will follow bad as the Karzai crime family continues to steal from its own people and from us. I love the smell of corruption in the morning. It smells like victory...doesn't it? What do you think?
.....
The first thing I'll do - right now - is to get the synopsis from today's Democracy Now program that deal directly with Afghanistan today.
.........
1st US Soldier of Alleged "Kill Team" Targeting Afghan Civilians Faces Military Tribunal for War Crimes
Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock is the first of twelve US soldiers accused of forming a secret "kill team" in Afghanistan that murdered unarmed Afghan civilians at random and collected body parts, such as fingers, for trophies. They are also accused of using hashish, dismembering and photographing corpses, and possessing human bones such as a skull and leg bones. The Army is attempting to prevent the release of dozens of photographs that reportedly show Morlock and other soldiers posing with the murdered Afghan civilians. [includes rush transcript]
............
So as I read this, I imagine that two soldiers will be convicted of a crime, and no one will ever hint at the possibility that these events point to a cancer underneath, a cancer that programs our young people to hate the Afghanis because .... and there are lots of reasons, usually blaming the victims of something into being incompetent for not throwing off the ... in this case, it is The TALIBAN, but it used to be SADDAM sympathizers? Does anyone remember the 'Gooks' of the Vietnam era? I remember the 'NAT-zies and the JAPS ... yeah I go back to '36 and have always cared about politics. As a kid in prep school I learned that I had a Calling and was being led by Holy Ghost (when I allowed it.)
Bottom line, a couple of soldiers will take a hit for what their training has done to them.
Sorry.
I don't hate the military, don't hand me that.
I hate how our military is being USED.
And I am in good company: My fellow prep school Alumnus Jack McManus has been president of the John Birch Society for many years, and if you would take the time to read his article in the July issue of The New American, you would find his position and yours indistinguishable when it comes to foreign policy / right use of the military.
But see a lot of people will just stop reading this as soon as they notice the words J B S.
We don't listen to each other.
We label, categorize, dehumanize one another for a variety of 'reasons.'
Stop Judging each other by their nametag !
Enuf for now.
Bernard, to this last sentence of your post:
ReplyDeleteAmericans will continue to die and good American money will follow bad as the Karzai crime family continues to steal from its own people and from us. I love the smell of corruption in the morning. It smells like victory...doesn't it? What do you think?
.....
The first thing I'll do - right now - is to get the synopsis from today's Democracy Now program that deal directly with Afghanistan today.
.........
1st US Soldier of Alleged "Kill Team" Targeting Afghan Civilians Faces Military Tribunal for War Crimes
Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock is the first of twelve US soldiers accused of forming a secret "kill team" in Afghanistan that murdered unarmed Afghan civilians at random and collected body parts, such as fingers, for trophies. They are also accused of using hashish, dismembering and photographing corpses, and possessing human bones such as a skull and leg bones. The Army is attempting to prevent the release of dozens of photographs that reportedly show Morlock and other soldiers posing with the murdered Afghan civilians. [includes rush transcript]
............
So as I read this, I imagine that two soldiers will be convicted of a crime, and no one will ever hint at the possibility that these events point to a cancer underneath, a cancer that programs our young people to hate the Afghanis because .... and there are lots of reasons, usually blaming the victims of something into being incompetent for not throwing off the ... in this case, it is The TALIBAN, but it used to be SADDAM sympathizers? Does anyone remember the 'Gooks' of the Vietnam era? I remember the 'NAT-zies and the JAPS ... yeah I go back to '36 and have always cared about politics. As a kid in prep school I learned that I had a Calling and was being led by Holy Ghost (when I allowed it.)
Bottom line, a couple of soldiers will take a hit for what their training has done to them.
Sorry.
I don't hate the military, don't hand me that.
I hate how our military is being USED.
And I am in good company: My fellow prep school Alumnus Jack McManus has been president of the John Birch Society for many years, and if you would take the time to read his article in the July issue of The New American, you would find his position and yours indistinguishable when it comes to foreign policy / right use of the military.
But see a lot of people will just stop reading this as soon as they notice the words J B S.
We don't listen to each other.
We label, categorize, dehumanize one another for a variety of 'reasons.'
Stop Judging each other by their nametag !
Enuf for now.
Bernard, to this last sentence of your post:
ReplyDeleteAmericans will continue to die and good American money will follow bad as the Karzai crime family continues to steal from its own people and from us. I love the smell of corruption in the morning. It smells like victory...doesn't it? What do you think?
.....
The first thing I'll do - right now - is to get the synopsis from today's Democracy Now program that deal directly with Afghanistan today.
.........
1st US Soldier of Alleged "Kill Team" Targeting Afghan Civilians Faces Military Tribunal for War Crimes
Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock is the first of twelve US soldiers accused of forming a secret "kill team" in Afghanistan that murdered unarmed Afghan civilians at random and collected body parts, such as fingers, for trophies. They are also accused of using hashish, dismembering and photographing corpses, and possessing human bones such as a skull and leg bones. The Army is attempting to prevent the release of dozens of photographs that reportedly show Morlock and other soldiers posing with the murdered Afghan civilians. [includes rush transcript]
............
So as I read this, I imagine that two soldiers will be convicted of a crime, and no one will ever hint at the possibility that these events point to a cancer underneath, a cancer that programs our young people to hate the Afghanis because .... and there are lots of reasons, usually blaming the victims of something into being incompetent for not throwing off the ... in this case, it is The TALIBAN, but it used to be SADDAM sympathizers? Does anyone remember the 'Gooks' of the Vietnam era? I remember the 'NAT-zies and the JAPS ... yeah I go back to '36 and have always cared about politics. As a kid in prep school I learned that I had a Calling and was being led by Holy Ghost (when I allowed it.)
Bottom line, a couple of soldiers will take a hit for what their training has done to them.
Sorry.
I don't hate the military, don't hand me that.
I hate how our military is being USED.
And I am in good company: My fellow prep school Alumnus Jack McManus has been president of the John Birch Society for many years, and if you would take the time to read his article in the July issue of The New American, you would find his position and yours indistinguishable when it comes to foreign policy / right use of the military.
But see a lot of people will just stop reading this as soon as they notice the words J B S.
We don't listen to each other.
We label, categorize, dehumanize one another for a variety of 'reasons.'
Stop Judging each other by their nametag !
Enuf for now.
Bernard, to this last sentence of your post:
ReplyDeleteAmericans will continue to die and good American money will follow bad as the Karzai crime family continues to steal from its own people and from us. I love the smell of corruption in the morning. It smells like victory...doesn't it? What do you think?
.....
The first thing I'll do - right now - is to get the synopsis from today's Democracy Now program that deal directly with Afghanistan today.
.........
1st US Soldier of Alleged "Kill Team" Targeting Afghan Civilians Faces Military Tribunal for War Crimes
Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock is the first of twelve US soldiers accused of forming a secret "kill team" in Afghanistan that murdered unarmed Afghan civilians at random and collected body parts, such as fingers, for trophies. They are also accused of using hashish, dismembering and photographing corpses, and possessing human bones such as a skull and leg bones. The Army is attempting to prevent the release of dozens of photographs that reportedly show Morlock and other soldiers posing with the murdered Afghan civilians. [includes rush transcript]
............
So as I read this, I imagine that two soldiers will be convicted of a crime, and no one will ever hint at the possibility that these events point to a cancer underneath, a cancer that programs our young people to hate the Afghanis because .... and there are lots of reasons, usually blaming the victims of something into being incompetent for not throwing off the ... in this case, it is The TALIBAN, but it used to be SADDAM sympathizers? Does anyone remember the 'Gooks' of the Vietnam era? I remember the 'NAT-zies and the JAPS ... yeah I go back to '36 and have always cared about politics. As a kid in prep school I learned that I had a Calling and was being led by Holy Ghost (when I allowed it.)
Bottom line, a couple of soldiers will take a hit for what their training has done to them.
Sorry.
I don't hate the military, don't hand me that.
I hate how our military is being USED.
And I am in good company: My fellow prep school Alumnus Jack McManus has been president of the John Birch Society for many years, and if you would take the time to read his article in the July issue of The New American, you would find his position and yours indistinguishable when it comes to foreign policy / right use of the military.
But see a lot of people will just stop reading this as soon as they notice the words J B S.
We don't listen to each other.
We label, categorize, dehumanize one another for a variety of 'reasons.'
Stop Judging each other by their nametag !
Enuf for now.
I apologize to all. Did not mean to post that comment multiple times. It kept sending me an error message and I thought it was rejecting my comment. James mathscoach@gmail.com
ReplyDelete