You want to know the results of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Huge Failure

[cali]

What have we got to show for the enormous investment of blood and treasure?

Afghanistan is a mess what with the outrageous corruption of Karzai (aided and abetted by the CIA), the surging strength of the Taliban and unhealed tribal fractures. Iraq is on the verge of bloody sectarian civil war. Sentiment is the Middle East is even more anti-American. Sorry, those are FACTS.

UN: more than 1,000 killed in Iraq due to the increasing violence in May.

A series of attacks last month killed more than 1,000 Iraqis and injured thousands more making the deadliest month since 2006, the United Nations said on Saturday.

The toll of these attacks is 1,045 Iraqis were killed in May, including 963 civilians beside police and members of security forces, as more than 2,397 Iraqis were injured, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.

<snip>

http://breakingnews.sy/en/article/18462.html

Iraq violence: why the death toll is rising
Updated Mon Jul 8, 2013 9:21am AEST

Sectarian violence in Iraq is back at levels not seen since the bloody conflict of 2006/07. Here are the main factors driving the divided country's slide back to the brink of civil war.

<snip>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-05/iraq-spike-backgrounder/4799520

Taliban militants, wearing foreign uniforms, attack Afghan presidential compound

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-25/world/40179189_1_taliban-s-peace-talks-sediq-sediqqi

Afghan attacks raise fears over Taliban strength

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-170076-Afghan-attacks-raise-fears-over-Taliban-strength

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323419604578569463597720412.html

http://www.npr.org/2013/06/18/193135995/a-look-ahead-to-the-future-of-afghanistan

[aquart]

1. Worked out well for China.

[MADem]

2. This might interest you.

http://www.newser.com/story/170676/frustrated-obama-may-leave-zero-troops-in-afghanistan.html

(NEWSER) – President Obama is so sick of dealing with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai that he is seriously considering bringing American military involvement in the country to a speedy and complete end, senior administration officials tell CNN and the New York Times. The "zero option" of leaving no American troops in the country at all after the end of 2014 has been raised before, but it is now being seen as "a realistic path" and is one of the main options under consideration as relations with Karzai deteriorate, a senior US official in Kabul says.

[cali]

3. Mother Jones had a similar story this morning.

[Fumesucker]

4. There have been thousands of millionaires created by the Afghanistan war

Mission Accomplished indeed.

[cali]

5. and at least that many created by the Iraq War.

how could I forget those huge successes?

[Fumesucker]

6. Every dark cloud has a err... silver lining

Erik Prince says so long and thanks for all the moolah.

[bemildred]

7. A classic case of imperial overeach, and all predicted in advance too. They were told.

Compare and contrast:

Spooky Judgments: How Agents Think About Danger

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=68087

[cali]

10. that is a very interesting article. thanks.

[bemildred]

12. Welcome. S4P has put several interesting posts up of late.

I consider it obvious. But it gets far too little attention. Yeats said it best:

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

[cali]

13. Yes, he did. I'm a poetry afficianado with many favorite poems

but that one is invariably in my top ten and has been since I first read it at 14.

[bemildred]

14. All the media brainwashing in this society runs in the direction of encouraging belief.

Like that was a good thing. Questioning things is discouraged, punished, vigorously.

I am not much for poetry, wrong sort of mind, I think, but I know Yeats.

[bluedigger]

8. That really depends on your metrics.

Corporate war profiteers have had a very, very good run.

[southernyankeebelle]

9. Well we did finally get OBL and that was the main mission. We should have

gotten out after that. We didn't go there to fight the Taliban in the first place.

[kenny blankenship]

11. Shit, I coulda told you that in 2001 and 2003

and I did. It's not because I'm a flower waving hippie either.