"President Obama has not slowed the assault on Afghanistan or the violence in Iraq
#82 | POSTED BY REDLIGHTROBOT AT 2009-08-28 04:25 PM"
Interesting post except for that tidbit there bro.
Obama moved our troops back a little bit out of harm's way and turned security of the country over to the iraqis.....the result...??
LESS US TROOPS dead and maimed....I'm down with that.
As for the increase in Shia/Sunni violence, what would one expect?
Did you really believe lilaWol's SURGE ploy was anything more than a chance for him to get out of office and put it on someone, anyone else?
Invading/occupying countries is wrong, it created a huge power vacuum in iraqnam. Previously, the govt there was brutal, but at least kept the various religious fundies from having civil war....
Now, the new iraq govt constitution stipulates no law can be legislated that does not conform to the laws of Islam.....a THEOCRACY that 3 groups want to fight to control......
Imo, Obama is right on a timeline to withdraw within 16 months as he promised in his campaign..
Patience, my friend
#83 | Posted by woke at 2009-08-28 04:35 PM
Regarding the alleged Muslim on Muslim violence - the entire religion can't be blamed for these atrocities, but certainly I would slap Mohammad upside for promoting murder.
I've always suspected a para-military operating within our own inside of Iraq. They appear to be organized in a similar fashion to our troops and have complete and total access - probably perpetrating as our own.
You might find this article interesting:
Afghanistan, Another Untold Story
.. The Taraki government proceeded to legalize labor unions, and set up a minimum wage, a progressive income tax, a literacy campaign, and programs that gave ordinary people greater access to health care, housing, and public sanitation. Fledgling peasant cooperatives were started and price reductions on some key foods were imposed.
The government also continued a campaign begun by the king to emancipate women from their age-old tribal bondage. It provided public education for girls and for the children of various tribes.
A report in the San Francisco Chronicle (17 November 2001) noted that under the Taraki regime Kabul had been "a cosmopolitan city. Artists and hippies flocked to the capital. Women studied agriculture, engineering and business at the city's university. Afghan women held government jobs-in the 1980s, there were seven female members of parliament. Women drove cars, traveled and went on dates. Fifty percent of university students were women."
The Taraki government moved to eradicate the cultivation of opium poppy. Until then Afghanistan had been producing more than 70 percent of the opium needed for the world's heroin supply. The government also abolished all debts owed by farmers, and began developing a major land reform program. Ryan believes that it was a "genuinely popular government and people looked forward to the future with great hope."
But serious opposition arose from several quarters. The feudal landlords opposed the land reform program that infringed on their holdings. And tribesmen and fundamentalist mullahs vehemently opposed the government's dedication to gender equality and the education of women and children.
Because of its egalitarian and collectivist economic policies the Taraki government also incurred the opposition of the US national security state. Almost immediately after the PDP coalition came to power, the CIA, assisted by Saudi and Pakistani military, launched a large scale intervention into Afghanistan on the side of the ousted feudal lords, reactionary tribal chieftains, mullahs, and opium traffickers. ..
