"But the Afghans feared the British were training a militia with no loyalty to the central government."

Not unlike Bush's surgerific (except when they set up ambushes for our troops) Iraqi Concerned Neighborhood Jihadists.

And of course the Bush administration knew nothing about this. (Har-de-Har-Har-Har)

I can see the "see no evil" and "hear no evil" but where is the third monkey?

I know there's another one in there somewhere.

Amazing. When it suits your purpose, Bush is an idiot who is not capable of understanding anything. On other occasions, he is completely aware on a realtime basis of the internal, secret works of all the worlds governments and is the coordinator of a worldwide conspiracy against ?????.

It must be nice to be a liberal and not have to deal with reality.

"When it suits your purpose, Bush is an idiot who is not capable of understanding anything. On other occasions, he is completely aware on a realtime basis of the internal, secret works of all the worlds governments and is the coordinator of a worldwide conspiracy against ?????."

Uh, didn't that poster say, "the Bush Administration", not "Bush"?

I look at it from my lifelong conservative viewpoint: Bush is an idiot. The Bush administration is the worry-- it is a conniving group of interventionist scoundrels who have only harmed this country. We need to weed them out and re-establish our constitutional republic.

The Taliban are a spinoff of our creation, the Mujahadeen.

Harmod Karzai is another US creation and paid consultant to Unocal.

What's so great about Democracy is the oil campanies get to do whatever the fuck they want.

KILL FOR OIL

"The Taliban are a spinoff of our creation, the Mujahadeen."

A common myth that has much more to do with what people want to believe than it does reality. We helped them out at one point when we perceived a mutual interest. They might not have been as successful, but they would have been operating under the same philosophies without any outside help. In hind sight, helping them was a huge mistake. But to pretend that they didn't exist before we got involved or that the US is the driving force behind what is, to us, the alien cultural phenomenon of jihad is just ridiculous.

But yeah, Karzai is nothing without us. Al Queda assassinated the widely respected leader of the Northern Alliance two days before 9/11. There is some talk that Massoud found out what was coming and was trying to warn people but the more likely explanation is that they knew he was the only opposing leader who had the respect of the Afghani people. They didn't want him around for the inevitable war that would folow the attack.

A common myth that has much more to do with what people want to believe than it does reality. We helped them out at one point when we perceived a mutual interest. They might not have been as successful, but they would have been operating under the same philosophies without any outside help.


You're such a cock, Sully.

The narrative demands that the US is the root of ALL evil in the world.

How dare you fuck up a perfectly good talking point?!?

"The narrative demands that the US is the root of ALL evil in the world."

I refrain from calling people "America haters" because the tactic is often used by people who are really destructive towards this country. But certain common talking points are so obviously out of whack with reality that a bias seems the only logical explanation for people continually spewing them. That we helped our most dangerous enemies at one point is bad enough so the need to go the extra, nonsensical mile by saying we "created" them is hard to understand.

Sully,


I refrain from calling people "America haters" because the tactic is often used by people who are really destructive towards this country.

"You're either with us or you're against us."

Yes, your point is valid.


But certain common talking points are so obviously out of whack with reality that a bias seems the only logical explanation for people continually spewing them. That we helped our most dangerous enemies at one point is bad enough so the need to go the extra, nonsensical mile by saying we "created" them is hard to understand.

Very true.

Fact is, the Mujahdeen never received a dime from the US government. All of our financial (including weaponry) assistance was via Pakistani secret service. The US concern was not Afghanistan, it was fighting a proxy war with the Russkies.

Blowback certainly plays a role, but the desire for a global caliphate pre-dates the Declaration of Independence. In short, you are 100% correct with this:

They might not have been as successful, but they would have been operating under the same philosophies without any outside help