Joe Galloway: Afghanistan Isn't Worth It

[unhappycamper]

Afghanistan Isn't Worth It
Joe Galloway | September 10, 2009


The debate over our creeping military mission in distant Afghanistan grows ever hotter, and before we march even deeper into trouble, perhaps it's time to dig out the old Powell Doctrine and answer the eight questions it poses.

Gen. Colin Powell, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said these questions all must be answered with a loud YES before the United States takes military action. He listed his questions in the 1990 run-up to the Persian Gulf War, drawing heavily on the Weinberger Doctrine that was laid down by former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger during the debate over America's ends and means in Lebanon.

~snip~

For eight years, we've heard presidents and other politicians talk about setting conditions for a democratic central government in a country -- really a bunch of tribes and clans -- that's never had such a thing in 2,000 years and seemingly doesn't want one now.

The national treasure we've invested in that effort has propped up an ineffective and corrupt Kabul regime. Its only economic success has been the restoration of the opium trade. Afghanistan is now the world's leading producer of opium and heroin, where under the Taliban government that was a death penalty offense.

It's time to make a decision, Mr. President, and I hope that for our sake and yours, you make the right one. Afghanistan isn't worth the life of one more American Soldier, much less the hundreds and thousands that an open-ended commitment to a war that we cannot win would cost.

Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,200550,00.html?wh=news

[KoKo]

1. Saw my first yellow ribbon on car..."Bring 'Em Home" instead of "Support the Troops"

in parking lot yesterday in my pretty Repug area. Nice car..fairly new...but "Bring 'Em Home." Now that would be a "green shoot" of another kind.