Friday, August 19, 2011

Glavin on Afstan

From Terry Glavin's excellent essay on Afghanistan:

...The pall that has fallen over Afghan democrats has nothing to do with American guns or American money. What has changed are the reasons the United States is giving for having soldiers in Afghanistan in the first place, and the fire-sale price the White House is now willing to offer to pack everything in....
It's a long read but well worth it. 

[Via GayandRight]

2 comments:

dmorris said...

“On this side we believe in human rights, women’s rights, freedom, justice, democracy. From that side, they are fundamentally against these values"

No. On "That Side",they believe in God,they call Him Allah. Allahu Akhbar!

There's a battle cry that men will die for,"God Is Great"! try,"human rights,women's rights,gay rights,secularism" for a war cry, just doesn't inspire,and it just doesn't work.

When we,the Allies first decided to set foot in Afghanistan,I knew it would end up this way,not because I'm a genius,but because I recognize what we have become.

We,the West,the civilized first world, have become decadent,lazy,fearful unbelievers,and faced with a determined foe who DOES believe in something other than politically correct sound bites,we must always lose.

It's the nature of war,and we aren't prepared spiritually or psychologically,to fight a war. We can only posture and expound on our high ideals,which the Taliban and MB,Al-Qaeda,etc., see for the sophistry it is.

We should have hit Afghanistan hard,blown the hell out of the place,and left it a smouldering ruin,then gone home. By so doing,we'd still have the myth of might, of extreme power,and MAYBE,the enemy would fear us for a while.

But,when we stayed, our weaknesses became more apparent every day,and the enemy knows all he has to do is WAIT,bide his time,and we'll collapse and go home with our tail hanging low,just like we have so many times in the last forty years.

The West,led by the U.S.,is like ancient Rome, we still look good on paper,but we haven't the morale or the conviction to win a war any more.

We are no longer the people that distinguished themselves at the Somme,Vimy Ridge,Guadalcanal,Normandy,we're the grandchildren of those people,and we simply don't have the belief,in ourselves or anything else,to stay on the top.

Good article by Glavin,he ends it rather bitterly,perhaps recognizing,at last,that our leaders have feet of clay.

JR said...

Yes, Glavin certainly seems pessimistic and disappointed with Obama. He's put a lot of time and energy into his relationships with Ahghan democrats who are understandably desperate about Obama's backtracking.