The Democrat Thread

[BigSqwert]

It seems pretty obvious to me, further squeeze the Taliban into disorganization,

 

Why are we at war with them? They never attacked us.

 

further squeeze Al-Qaeda out of the region,

 

All 5 of them?

 

help Pakistan get the breathing room it needs to build its stability,

 

By working with it's corrupt government and tribal warlords?

 

 

and to provide Afghanis with tools necessary to build their own country from the ground up.

 

See previous response.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Why are we at war with them? They never attacked us.

 

Seriously? They harbored and protected al Qaeda and odds are that relationship was not going to end.

[BigSqwert]

Seriously? They harbored and protected al Qaeda and odds are that relationship was not going to end.

Almost all of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis.

[GoSox05]

People keep talking like we can get rid of the Taliban from Afghanistan. The Taliban are Afghanistan. They are not some invading force. They are citizens of that country. Insane as they may be. Its up to the people of Afghanistan to change that.

 

 

[Rex Kickass]

Almost all of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis.

Trained in Afghanistan, controlled by the Taliban - which, by the way, has basically become an arm of Al-Qaeda since 2002.

[BigSqwert]

Trained in Afghanistan, controlled by the Taliban - which, by the way, has basically become an arm of Al-Qaeda since 2002.

And we get rid of them in Afghanistan they'll move to Pakistan, Yemen, etc. It's whack-a-mole and we're losing lives of our own in the process.

[Rex Kickass]

People keep talking like we can get rid of the Taliban from Afghanistan. The Taliban are Afghanistan. They are not some invading force. They are citizens of that country. Insane as they may be. Its up to the people of Afghanistan to change that.

Umm, no not really. If that were true, the Taliban wouldn't have been looking to do power grabs of large swaths of Pakistan over the last year. They represent a violent, extremist view of politics in Afghanistan and they aren't the majority by any means.

[GoSox05]

Umm, no not really. If that were true, the Taliban wouldn't have been looking to do power grabs of large swaths of Pakistan over the last year. They represent a violent, extremist view of politics in Afghanistan and they aren't the majority by any means.

 

 

Than let the people of Afghanistan get rid of them.

[Rex Kickass]

And we get rid of them in Afghanistan they'll move to Pakistan, Yemen, etc. It's whack-a-mole and we're losing lives of our own in the process.

Except its pretty clear that the Afghanistan strategy is part of a larger strategy with Pakistan.

 

I'm sure this is being a bit simplistic, but quick question - are you saying that because this is a non-state actor who can catch a plane we should just leave them alone? It just seems foolish.

 

Not every situation will require this kind of military action. In fact many of them will be more police like in nature. And that's ok. But in this circumstance, there's not a lot of other options out there that make sense.

[Rex Kickass]

Than let the people of Afghanistan get rid of them.

 

And that helps secure Pakistan how?

[BigSqwert]

Except its pretty clear that the Afghanistan strategy is part of a larger strategy with Pakistan.

 

I'm sure this is being a bit simplistic, but quick question - are you saying that because this is a non-state actor who can catch a plane we should just leave them alone? It just seems foolish.

 

Not every situation will require this kind of military action. In fact many of them will be more police like in nature. And that's ok. But in this circumstance, there's not a lot of other options out there that make sense.

I don't think sending tens of thousands of our young men and women to foreign lands to kill/capture/contain a few hundred virtually unidentifiable extremists is a good use of our time, resources, money, and lives. Add to that the tens of thousands of foreign civilians being killed in the crossfire and the increased negative perception from the Islamic world and it seems like a poor cost/benefit proposition. Increased domestic and global security measures would be something I'd rather invest in.

 

Just look at America just before 9/11 and now. We are exponentially weakened with all these global conflicts we're trying to maintain. These extremists have nothing to lose by waiting this out as we occupy their lands and sink additional trillions of dollars into this mess. Foreign invasion and occupation will not eliminate terrorism.

[DukeNukeEm]

And we get rid of them in Afghanistan they'll move to Pakistan, Yemen, etc. It's whack-a-mole and we're losing lives of our own in the process.

You know how much easier it is to kill them in Pakistan and Yemen?

[lostfan]

Than let the people of Afghanistan get rid of them.

I'm just as skeptical of continued involvement as you are, but they really can't do that.

[GoSox05]

And that helps secure Pakistan how?

 

 

Maybe we should invade Pakistan too.

[lostfan]

I don't think sending tens of thousands of our young men and women to foreign lands to kill/capture/contain a few hundred virtually unidentifiable extremists is a good use of our time, resources, money, and lives. Add to that the tens of thousands of foreign civilians being killed in the crossfire and the increased negative perception from the Islamic world and it seems like a poor cost/benefit proposition. Increased domestic and global security measures would be something I'd rather invest in.

 

Just look at America just before 9/11 and now. We are exponentially weakened with all these global conflicts we're trying to maintain. These extremists have nothing to lose by waiting this out as we occupy their lands and sink additional trillions of dollars into this mess. Foreign invasion and occupation will not eliminate terrorism.

If we manage to bring Afghanistan to something resembling a conclusion and this means we're done with imperial-esque activities once this is over, then that's an acceptable compromise to me.

[GoSox05]

I'm just as skeptical of continued involvement as you are, but they really can't do that.

 

We can't either.

[lostfan]

I just had to rip a disappointed liberal a new asshole on Facebook for calling Obama a failure because he hasn't accomplished a long list of historic accomplishments in his first year in office. I'm getting tired of having to do this. Liberals really can be just as uninformed as conservatives but for different reasons.

 

You expect that he should have passed comprehensive healthcare reform, passed immigration reform, ended don't ask don't tell (cannot be done with an executive order contrary to popular belief), ended the war in Iraq immediately (and presumably Afghanistan too, I know you haven't mentioned it most liberals are pissed at him over that even though he was crystal clear what he wanted to do there during his campaign), and we haven't addressed any foreign policy but based on the extension of this set of criticisms I've just outline let's also say convinced Iran to give up its nuclear program and make significant progress on Israel/Palestine, all while trying to recover the nation from a historic global economic meltdown and maintain national security.

 

If he had done 3/4 of these things in one term, let alone less than a year in office, that would probably rank as one of the single most effective leaders in recorded human history. The fact that he's made so much progress on one major legislative priority (healthcare) in his first year is actually a lot.

[jasonxctf]

its funny how people have no idea on how the legislative process works either.

 

i swear, probably 40% of the people in this country probably think that the President makes the laws.

[lostfan]

its funny how people have no idea on how the legislative process works either.

 

i swear, probably 40% of the people in this country probably think that the President makes the laws.

When Pelosi dealt with the CIA drama earlier in the summer I saw someone ask why Obama didn't have the balls to fire her.

[lostfan]

Slate recently had a Write Like Sarah Palin contest. This one in particular is so full of win:

"I brushed aside the p**** willow and cockscomb and jettisoned myself blithely to the still-warm throat of the fecund moose, all the while listening the far-off mewgull calling me, the very sound of America."

[NorthSideSox72]

Slate recently had a Write Like Sarah Palin contest. This one in particular is so full of win:

Amusing, but its not really Palin's style to use that many fancy words.

 

[Balta1701]

Wow. The government recently gave law enforcement the legal right to access cell phone GPS trackers to learn the location of people using them. One company, Sprint...serviced 8 million requests for that data in 1 year.

[Balta1701]

Link

[BigSqwert]

LOL. Who the hell do they have working at the Washington Post?

ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper offers up, via Twitter, a Washington Post correction that addresses what Tapper terms an example of "unreal idiocy."

Let's take a look:

A Nov. 26 article in the Di

s

trict edition of Local Living incorrectly

s

aid a Public Enemy

s

ong declared 9/11 a jo

k

e. The

s

ong refer

s

to 911, the emergency phone number.

Oh, yeah! That's some unreal idiocy all right! Especially considering the article in question was about Public Enemy, the band, and their work in outreach to the homeless. Such an article demands that the reporter have a least some passing knowledge of the subject.

 

The important distinction between "911" and "9/11" could have been made a number of different ways -- by either listening to the song, or reading the title of the song or simply noting that the song "911 Is A Joke" was on an album released on May 26, 1990.

 

via Jason Linkins

[HuskyCaucasian]

Just Weird- Palin's Father: She Left College in Hawaii Because Asians Made Her Uncomfortable

But Palin's father, Chuck Heath, gave a different account to Conroy and Walshe. According to him, the presence of so many Asians and Pacific Islanders made her uncomfortable: "They were a minority type thing and it wasn't glamorous, so she came home."