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Thread: Sanctuary or Ungoverned Spaces:identification, symptoms and responses

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  1. #11
    Council Member Bob's World's Avatar
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    Carl,

    I offer what I think will work. What you offer can't work IMO. It's really that simple.

    But when you want to paint the PAK Army and the ISI (and for some bizarre reason hold the government of Pakistan harmless) to task for deaths in Afghanistan, you don't want to forget the farmers smoked by a hellfire missile fired by some Kiowa pilot who swore it was Taliban planting IEDs; or that bus of civilians lit up with a Ma Deuce by a nervous E-4 because he was the gunner on the trail vehicle and felt it was following too close, etc, etc.

    It is a matter of historical fact that the Northern Alliance was working with Russian support and that the Russians helped facilitate our relationship to conduct UW with them against the Taliban. It is also a historical fact that many of the Northern Alliance were affiliated with the Soviets during their invasion. This is not rhetoric, I only point it out because it is true, and because it highlights the facts that it is our interests that our enduring, not who we work through to address them.

    But I'm not here to argue, merely to present an informed opinion. I don't expect everyone to agree.

    We've let ourselves get detached from our true interests in the region, and subsequently attached to a particular party that has their own interests and that is taking us down a path away from what is important in the long run to the U.S. We need to stay focused. To leave or to facilitate a reconciliation is not to abandon Mr. Karzai; rather it is to recognize that he has abandoned us. Once we make it clear that we will not write a blank check and offer blind loyalty, I suspect he will adjust his position. If not, I also suspect that we will find that we have not given up much in terms of our national security by not being there.
    Last edited by Bob's World; 02-27-2011 at 05:01 PM.
    Robert C. Jones
    Intellectus Supra Scientia
    (Understanding is more important than Knowledge)

    "The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self." Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)

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