Afghanistan War May End By 2024… Maybe

[rug]

by Jack A. Smith
May 21, 2013

Hamid Karzai has let the Pentagon’s cat out of the bag — to the displeasure of the Obama Administration. The Afghan president revealed inside information about President Obama’s war plans after all U.S. “combat troops” completely withdraw in 17 months at the end of 2014.

As was known in recent years, the Obama Administration actually plans to keep troops in Afghanistan after the “withdrawal” at least to 2024. They won’t be “combat troops,” so Obama didn’t actually mislead the American people. Instead they are to be Special Forces troops, who certainly engage in combat but are identified by a different military designation, as well as U.S. Army trainers for the Afghan military, CIA contingents, drone operators, and various other personnel.

The White House has kept other details secret, such as troop numbers and basing arrangements, until it is certain a final Strategic Partnership Declaration is worked out with the Kabul government. When that occurs, the White House expects to make the announcement itself at a time of its choosing, sculpting the information to convey the impression that another 10 years of fighting is not actually war but an act of compassion for a besieged ally who begs for help.

On May 9, however, during a speech at Kabul University, President Karzai decided to update the world on the progress he was making in his secret talks with the U.S., evidently without Washington’s knowledge.

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/05/21/afghanistan-war-may-end-by-2024-maybe/

[babylonsister]

1. And we should believe Karzai...why? nt

[rug]

3. Good question.

[DevonRex]

8. Why should we believe the editor of the Hudson Valley something something...

whatever the hell. Oh yeah, Activist Newsletter. Who wrote something about how North Korea is wonderful and we suck. I linked to it below. The comments he got are fookin brutal.

[Brigid]

2. I'm done with that primitive rockpile.

I have been for a long time now. I no longer care what happens there. Not one more red cent, not one more life!

[morningfog]

4. Well, I care to the extent that I care about all life. But, as for foreign policy

and what the US should be doing, we should have left a long time ago. The Obama surge was a mistake and the sooner we can get out the better.

Iraq is now worse off than it was in 2008, but that is not our problem. Let's get the hell out and let them sort it out. It is their land, not ours.

[Poll_Blind]

5. "SHOULDA READ THE FINE PRINT! SHOULDA READ THE FINE PRINT!"

PB

[kentauros]

6. It has to end sooner than that,

so that our companies (U.S. mining corporations) can get in there to safely strip-mine the place for their estimated $3 trillion in mineral resources.

And then they can build the pipelines from Russia to the southern coasts (like Russia had wanted to do back in the 1980s.)

Why else would we still be there? To fight terror? Nowhere near as much profit in that!

(as if it's needed...)

[DevonRex]

7. Um, "Jack A. Smith is editor of the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter..." Also by him

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/04/03/behind-the-u-s-north-korea-conflict/

Oh my.

[rug]

10. Do you have something against activists?

http://archive.org/details/RagRadio2012-08-03-JackA.Smith

We need many more like him. I look forward to your defense of the Afghanistan war for the next 11 years.

[DevonRex]

12. I like to know whose opinion or reporting I'm reading and if it's worthy of consideration.

After reading some of this man's other articles it became quite clear to me that he has no clue what he's talking about. Unless you go in for that sort of North Korea is wonderful bullshit, of course. And if you do, well then there's just not much to discuss.

But, lol, go ahead and make this about me not liking "activists" if it makes you feel better. And if you think you can get away with it which would be silly, really. This is DU. I absolutely adore Democratic activists. I adore feminist activists. I adore LGBT activists and even volunteered myself last summer because I made a promise and was determined to make good on that promise. It wound up helping me as much as I helped the organization. So I make sure to tell people that. It wouldn't be honest otherwise and it encourages others to volunteer.

[rug]

13. He has no clue?

Well, since you consider it significant to know whose opinion you're reading, I suggest you read his bio at the link. I did read your profile because, as you said, I like to know whose opinion I'm reading. Comparing the two, I estimate he was in federal prison for draft resistance at the beginning of a half century of progressive activism while you were a Republican fundamentalist Christian about to join the military. My dates may be off. Feel free to correct them.

[DevonRex]

14. From his article on North Korea:

"Since the end of the Korean War 60 years ago, the Worker’s Party government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) has repeatedly put forward virtually the same four proposals to the United States. They are:

1. A peace treaty to end the Korean War. 2. The reunification of Korea, which has been “temporarily” divided into North and South since 1945. 3. An end to the U.S. occupation of South Korea and a discontinuation of annual month-long U.S-South Korean war games. 4. Bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang to end tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The U.S. and its South Korean protectorate have rejected each proposal over the years. As a consequence, the peninsula has remained extremely unstable since the 1950s. It has now reached the point where Washington has used this year’s war games, which began in early March, as a vehicle for staging a mock nuclear attack on North Korea by flying two nuclear-capable B-2 Stealth bombers over the region March 28. Three days later, the White House ordered F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to South Korea, a further escalation of tensions.

Here is what is behind the four proposals.

1. The U.S. refuses to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. It has only agreed to an armistice. An armistice is a temporary cessation of fighting by mutual consent. The armistice signed July 27, 1953 was supposed to transform into a peace treaty when “a final peaceful settlement is achieved.” The lack of a treaty means war could resume at any moment. North Korea does not want a war with the U.S., history’s most powerful military state. It wants a peace treaty and diplomatic recognition from Washington."

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/04/03/behind-the-u-s-north-korea-conflict/

It goes on and on in that manner. Apparently all would be peachy on the peninsula if only President Obama withdrew all US troops from the South, despite the fact that ROK wants us there and does not want to become part of Kim Jong Un's hell on earth. It is decades past time for North Korea to realize that they cannot have control over the entire peninsula. The people do not want it. And even though they don't really like the US being there forever, they don't have much choice when a maniac threatens them and actually bombs and kills their citizens from time to time.

I happen to have a son in ROK. He's been living and working there for several years. He gets a real kick out of these kinds of articles, written by buffoons with their heads up their asses. So do I.

[rug]

15. I bet you adored this one.

Obama’s War Record
by Jack A. Smith
October 17, 2012

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/10/17/obamas-war-record/

(You do like the word "adored", don't you?)

[DevonRex]

16. He's worse than batshit crazy, giving W credit for ending Iraq.

But hey, whatever floats your boat. If you like this writer even though he praises dictators who threaten the US with nukes and thinks George W. Bush ended the Iraq War, who am I to try to dissuade you? I wouldn't think of it.

[rug]

17. It's not a matter of giving credit.

He's referring to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E2%80%93Iraq_Status_of_Forces_Agreement

Which in turn generated this batshit crazy comment from Newsweek. (I'm sure you consider Newsweek batshit crazy since it disagrees with you.)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/24/obamas-war-crime-taking-credit-from-bush-adminsitration-for-ending-the-iraq-war.html

But hey, if you want to continue support for more war in Afghanistan as long as this Administration continues to prosecute it, go for it. I suspect you'll be more isolated (and likely more strident as the isolation grows) as the batshit crazy people have had enough of this bullshit.

[Initech]

9. It won't end until we start holding the traitors in the military industrial complex accountable

for their crimes.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. We lost. (Again) Get out. Get over it.