Far more than a decade...
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Originally Posted by
Bob's World
A lot of bad understanding and bad decisions have been compiling for over a decade now.
Nixon's panel on Terrorism in response to the attacks in Munich provided a road map -- but he got busy with domestic politics; Ford's hands were tied; Carter's handling of the Tehran Embassy seizure was disastrous; Regan blew it with Lebanon; Bush 41 decided to pay later; Clinton bombed or attacked four sovereign countries to no avail, Bush 43 let his Christian charitable instincts overrule his duty to the nation; Obama started by presenting an apology to the world's supreme hagglers who will rapidly exploit the slightest sign of weakness and he's gone down hill since...
That's four decades of flawed ME / Islam policy.
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There is no graceful way to walk away from that. Now we worry more about our grace, and our honor. This is one where need to just swallow our pride and walk away...
It's not honor or pride -- those are understood in the ME if less so here in the west, those folks would understand and accept that but they're smart enough to know that's not the reason -- it's domestic political pressures. Venal, stupid, self and party over national interests... :mad:
The Intel Community insists they had no 'actionable' intelligence prior to the attack; I note our ambassador to the UN who I believe works in New York is overruling the Libyans by insisting that the attack on the Consulate in Benghazi was not planned. :eek:
Sheesh. All that US domestic political foolishness as a driver let's those who wish and their fellow travelers know they can get stupid with no repercussions. :(
Crass stupidity. Bill Moore's got it right: "..it is somewhat difficult for any politician at this point to say oops we got this one wrong. It would go entirely against the narrative we created..."
He also said " I suspect the only hope for disengagement from nation building to diplomatic engagement and assistance is to gradually change the narrative over time, which it appears we're doing." I hope that's right -- but I'm terribly afraid it is not -- the foreign policy establishment in both parties have different priorities but both have really bad messianic complexes... :rolleyes:
Use of biased sites on your part does not
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Originally Posted by
Fuchs
constitute a refutation of my statements. ;)
The real problem with your great find is that, while accurate, it is a western interpretation of events. The supreme hagglers who inhabit the Middle East all inherited Ta'arof from the Persian Empires and thus grasp not the crux of a statement but the meaning they wish to ascribe to that statement. IOW "what the President really meant" -- or said -- is not important, the use they choose to make of it is important. These are folks who do not place price tags on merchandise they intend to sell so they cannot be pinned down with ANY specificity. Accuracy in the telling or usage is never an issue...
Further, consider that the Newspaper truth-sorters all play with words like so many lawyers or economists... :D
Kabul attack is a weathervane for HIG?
Watching Afghanistan I'd noted the suicide bomb attack on Afghan women in Kabul, but failed to read on. This FP Blog article starts with this attack, by HIG or Hezb-i-Islami a militant group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and moves onto the wider context:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article..._war?page=full
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The ever pragmatic Hekmatyar is a weather vane, indicating the trajectory of the conflict in Afghanistan and the ever shifting domestic and regional power game. His role in the Sept. 18 bombing shows that the insurgents have the upper hand, their fight against the United States and Kabul government will continue, and Afghanistan is headed toward a messy, full-scale civil war.
Was the Afghan war wrong from the start?
An interesting reflective article by a Reuters correspondent, which pulls together different factors and just about fits here!
A taster:
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Yet in a week where the United States has gone through a bout of soul-searching about the Iraq war, history matters. Were the assumptions that led to the Afghan war also wrong from the start?
A new book by Vahid Brown and Don Rassler, “Fountainhead of Jihad, The Haqqani Nexus: 1973 to 2012” adds to that history by focusing on the Afghan group that actually did have the closest ties to al Qaeda – the so-called Haqqani network.
As I wrote here, the book has unearthed primary sources to show that the patriarch of the Haqqani network, Jalaluddin Haqqani, had as much influence on al Qaeda as the Arab fighters had on him – providing them with support and an Afghan safe haven during the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.
Link:http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/20...rom-the-start/
Pakistan 'frees seven Taliban prisoners'
I know the Pakistani detention of Taliban and other Afghan militant leaders has appeared before, but cannot recall which thread they are in! Nor doe the names listed below "rings any bells". Somehow I doubt their (ISI) imprisonment has been that rigorous, more like "guests within walls".:wry:
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Pakistan has announced the release of seven Taliban prisoners in a bid to help the Afghan peace process.....At least one former senior militant was among the men freed "in order to further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process", said a foreign ministry statement.....The foreign ministry statement named those freed on Saturday as Mansoor Dadullah, Said Wali, Abdul Manan, Karim Agha, Sher Afzal, Gul Muhammad and Muhammad Zai.....Some 26 Taliban detainees have been freed during the past year, it added.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23999752
Report Shows Afghans Overwhelmingly Against Taliban Rule
Report Shows Afghans Overwhelmingly Against Taliban Rule
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Pakistan Taliban Agrees to Ceasefire to Help Afghan Allies
Pakistan Taliban Agrees to Ceasefire to Help Afghan Allies
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As US Draws Curtain on Combat Role, Taliban Plans Patient Comeback
As US Draws Curtain on Combat Role, Taliban Plans Patient Comeback
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