Who Says The Democrats Haven't Learned Anything?

It's probably too soon, but I'm an optimist, albeit a damaged one. (Cynical? I prefer skeptical.)
So when the House started balking today at funding Afghan projects, citing corruption and bellowing about the waste of taxpayer money, I sniffed a plan.
Obama can't take the lead on this, because for the Republicans it's all about Obama all the time.
And why should he?
Congress needs to get us out of there. What better way than to start closing the purse? First the slushy stuff, then the military stuff, and finally, force withdrawal.
I just don't see many Republican candidates making much headway toward election by accusing their opponents of wanting to cut and run from 25 AQ — that was the number estimated to be there, in a report a day or two ago. Good timing? Heh.
Polls show a way high percentage of Americans  think the war in Afghanistan is lost, for fools, just don't care. Most of them forgot we're there.
It's bleeding dollars, and Tea Partiers and whatever sympathizers they have can't muster much to appeal for the opposite action.
I'm willing to bet some resourceful staffers are ready with a nice study to show how much we could reduce spending and reduce the deficit with these cuts.
It's a winner all the way.
I'm feeling better already.

McCrystal Resigns

Aw. I never did got around to setting up a poll. Should he resign? Should he be fired? When will he be fired? When will he resign?
A lot of blogger speculation that he did it on purpose to avoid getting stuck with his own failed Afghanistan strategy.
Anyhoo, here's a little Kos analysis of other things in the Rolling Stone story.

Josh Marshall says of course he resigned. But will they accept it?

It's being reported that Gen. McChrystal has submitted his resignation to President Obama and Secretary Gates. And that's being played in some publications as meaning McChrystal's out.
Not even close. It's entirely possible that McCrystal will be out this afternoon. But in the present circumstances McChrystal submitting his resignation is a given; it is absolutely essential for him to do that. He has no choice.
The question is whether Obama and Gates choose to accept. His submitting his resignation simply isn't the bombshell some are presenting it as.

The Internet Is My Only News Source These Days

So stop me if you've heard this:

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

Or this:

Apparently, according to historian, Douglas Brinkley there is a huge federal gulf recovery act being planned by the Obama administration and by Congress that would be on the scale of Tennessee Valley Authority.

Oh, And Afghanistan

Taplin used this today. Wonder why?

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains. And the women come out to cut up what remains. Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains. An’go to your Gawd like a soldier.

        Rudyard Kipling

Oh, Yeah, And Then There's Afghanistan

Taplin just can't let it go.

The incongruity of the U.S. spending billions on Afghan security so that China can safely mine all of their copper, is not lost on those of us who think the American Empire is Exhibit A as evidence of the Free Rider system for our Asian Frenemies. We pay all the security costs for oil or copper and Asia gets all the benefit.

My Theory About Dick Cheney

is about two seconds old. It came to me reading this by Andrew Sullivan in reference to this.

(The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials...His capture could cripple the Taliban’s military operations, at least in the short term, said Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. officer who last spring led the Obama administration’s Afghanistan and Pakistan policy review.

He's out there pushing disdain for Obama's policies on war and terror because it's been clear from the beginning that they are likely to be noticeably, repeat noticeably, more successful than those of the Bush administration, repeat the Cheney/Bush administration.
And yes, he is a war criminal and deserves to be prosecuted and tried as such. And yes, the Obama administration at some point may have won the war credibility it needs to prosecute him.
In other words, Cheney is running for his life.
Okay, it isn't my idea alone. It's Sullivan's. Sort of.

What Are We Interested In Today?

It's been a dry week for posts. I just can't seem to find much that got the adrenalin flowing enough to recommend.
For instance, this morning all I found was Bill Nighy (below) who got me wishing I'd done a better job of tagging that Brit comedy team I've used before and whose names I can't remember.
In the meantime, I've read the latest NYT analysis on our new Afghanistan effort and a pretty good diary over at Kos citing McClatchy's (as usual) excellent analysis of the filibuster.
But both can be summarized in one sentence — "Afghanistan war still a crapshoot even though we've changed strategy" (new phrase "government in a box" ready to go to put in place once we clear the Taliban out of this obscure area that we've cleared before, maybe that will make a difference) — Republican's abusing arcane Senatorial procedures for political gain (what else is new?).
It is so bad that I am seriously considering mopping the kitchen floor despite the fact we all know this is a fruitless exercise in the season of all mud, all the time.
Poor me.
Hope your weekend works out.
Cheers, Julimac

Fuckistan Cont'd

Sullivan has put together various responses, including his own, to the president's decision.
Me, I've got my fingers crossed. Really, he thought about it, he consulted, he decided.
He's The Decider now.

Fuckupistan Revisited

I know we can count on McClatchy for the best available information. Why? Because it's the only news organization (when it was still Knight Ridder) to not get caught up in the rush to war in Iraq. Don't suppose they'd offer Spencer Ackerman a job, though.
The story linked is not long. It sounds as if the Eikenberry cable made a huge difference. It also makes it clear McCrystal's camp has been leaking all along, and so has the White House.
God, even Joe Biden and Rahm Emanuel. Talk about curtains. Talk about Kabuki.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, unemployment, foreclosures and health care reform.
Yesterday, Sy Hersch was on Fresh Air talking about Pakistan's nukes.
Why would anyone want the job of president? I can barely stand to read about it.

UPDATE: I just reread Ackerman's story, and the whole problem has to do with who was at what meeting when. The fundamentals are the same, and the McClatchy story just expands them a bit so that its clear there are many players working, presumably, for the same goal: As good as we can get in Afghanistan.

Fuckupistan Updated

I linked yesterday to Spencer Ackerman's fine story. Turns out it was a mess.
I have to give him this. He takes full responsibility and details the mistakes he made, most notably the passion to run with a hot story, something I understand very well and which is only exacerbated by the 24/7 news climate.
I think it should also be noted that only rarely has any news organization actually owned up completely to its own faults in such detail. The NYT's and Washington Post's apologies to readers for the execrable Iraq War run-up reporting is the only thing that comes to mind, and they did it years later and buried the apologies.
Ackerman is a small fish working for an Internet start-up trying to find its niche. And he did the right thing the very next day.

 My enthusiasm for a hot story outpaced my professional judgment. For that I take full responsibility, retract the story and issue a full apology for its publication.

Meanwhile, Back In Fuckupistan

Kabuki, I tells ya.
How appropriate the day after Veterans Day that former TPM reporter Spencer Ackerman pulls the curtain back a little so we can see that not only is the Army a mess when it comes to providing actual accurate information, but it's at war with itself.
Relationships that none of us need to know until we notice that someone like Ackerman decides we should.
What I like about this short piece is that it gives us a little of the flavor, while most of the MSM seems intent on writing 30 inches of "empty the notebook" explication that only gets to the meat in the tenth paragraph or, worse, does the same old he said/she said on the size of the troop increase and whether or not  some wingnut thinks Obama is "dithering."
I love the Eikenberry leak no matter who pulled it off. Reports are that SecDef Gates is livid. He even said so at a press conference. Don't know if he can actually fire Eikenberry, though.

Sullivan On Afghanistan

Concise and to the point.

But no one has to sustain a war that is now twice as long as the Second World War if the results of the summer campaign, the exposure of deep corruption in Kabul and the use of Pakistan as a refuge make it a largely impossible endeavor.

Where Are The Terrorists?

Same place you are. Right now. Hi.

When a group has a haven, it will use it for such purposes as basic training of recruits. But the operations most important to future terrorist attacks do not need such a home, and few recruits are required for even very deadly terrorism. Consider: The preparations most important to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks took place not in training camps in Afghanistan but, rather, in apartments in Germany, hotel rooms in Spain and flight schools in the United States.

In the past couple of decades, international terrorist groups have thrived by exploiting globalization and information technology, which has lessened their dependence on physical havens.

By utilizing networks such as the Internet, terrorists' organizations have become more network-like, not beholden to any one headquarters. A significant jihadist terrorist threat to the United States persists, but that does not mean it will consist of attacks instigated and commanded from a South Asian haven, or that it will require a haven at all. Al-Qaeda's role in that threat is now less one of commander than of ideological lodestar, and for that role a haven is almost meaningless.

Women Are Fighting These Wars

I've often briefly pondered what seems like an awful lot of women military dead as the names and pictures scroll down the screen on Jim Lehrer's evening news show on PBS.
It is an awful lot for the "other sex," the one that was supposed to stay out of combat and combat zones.
But I guess these wars have altered the way women are used in combat, likely forever. This NYT story is the first I've seen to focus on it and explain what's happening. I'm sure there have been others and I just didn't see them. Well, maybe not.

Of the two million Americans who have fought in these wars since 2001, more than 220,000 of them, or 11 percent, have been women.

Headline O' Teh Day

US Bombs 300 Tons of Poppy Seeds

I like this part of the steno story best:
Tony Wayne, with the U.S. State Department, said the strikes on poppy seeds, that can be used to make opium and heroin, is part of a strategy shift for the military to stop the Taliban and other insurgents from profiting from drugs. 


Obviously, whoever wrote that  doesn't really get the opium production process, but
anyway, maybe it's working, maybe not. I don't know.
Maybe somebody does.

Why We Are In Afghanistan

Something the major media are unlikely to cover.

Can't Beat 'Em? Then Bribe 'Em.

Zbiggy's answer for Afghanistan is soooo timely, given that the idea of paying people not to do us harm was a hotly debated topic at my local Obama platform committee meeting last night.
Everyone seemed to like the idea a lot, but no one seemed convinced it would actually be taken seriously by the powers.
But Zbiggy's a power and he says pay 'em off.
I like it.

His own program for improving the state of affairs in Afghanistan -- where U.S. casualties have surpassed those in Iraq for two months now -- revolves around pragmatism. He believes Europe should bribe Afghan farmers not to produce poppies used for heroin since "it all ends up in Europe." Moreover, he thinks the tribal warlords can be bought off with bribes, with the endgame being the isolation of Al-Qaeda from a Taliban that is "not a united force, not a world-oriented terrorist movement, but a real Afghan phenomenon."

The Other War

Stunning photos from Afghanistan, take a look. Via Andrew Sullivan.

When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world's most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland.

The first step must be getting off the wrong battlefield in Iraq, and taking the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Barack Obama, Aug. 1, 2007