12 July 2006

I, U.S., Take You, Afghanistan...

Funny headline and serious story in the New York Times today:
[Afghan Prime Minister] Karzai betrayed little nervousness in public, but when asked whether he was asking for additional American troops and assistance to help quell the surge in attacks in the south, he replied: “Yes, much more, and we’ll keep asking for more and we will never stop asking.”
This guy doesn't play it too close to the vest, does he? In all sincerity, isn't this exactly what every legitimate antiwar activist has been saying since before the first day of the United States' ground war in Afghanistan? There is literally no end in sight, people.

We will (and, indeed, are more or less morally obligated to) keep pouring money into this "war on terror." This highlights once more the most significant problem with the Bush administration's foreign policy: there is no exit strategy when you're fighting a vaguely defined ideological concept. It's worse than 'Nam, and I don't make that comaprison lightly.

Meanwhile, a story in the Christian Science Monitor underscores the challenges facing America's increasingly overtaxed armed forces:
Several months ago, before Haditha was a household name synonymous with allegations of murder and misbehavior against US troops, Rep. John Murtha made a provocative statement.

"The tremendous pressure and the redeployment over and over again is a big part of this," the Pennsylvania Democrat said of the incident in a May 17 briefing. "And this strain has caused them to crack in situations like this."
I think Murtha's association of rape and murder allegations with multiple tours of duty is a very keen and accurate one. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Heck, I'm not sure it's even a tunnel. It might simply be a pit with no bottom. And America is going deeper and deeper into something we can't really see...

Happy Wednesday anyway, I guess.

No comments: