We cannot lay this on the head of Obama, because he was
NOT responsible for starting a war without a clear mandate
from Congress and without a clear plan of action from
BOTH warfighting field commanders AND exit strategists.

On a general scale, Afghanistan and Iraq are where they
are today because of an accident in geography and demographics.

Today we a have a large population of young and ignorant
midieval-level peasants trying to eke out a living
in a hostile environment that is really nothing more than
barren rock and hot sand. These are countries with
NO OBVIOUS NATURAL RESOURCES and which
technically have NO WAY of supporting (i.e. feeding)
the populations thay have now on any sustainable basis.

The harsh climate and barren lands pretty much preclude
the formation of any type of first world society without
the addition of First-world know-how and of course that
greaser of many hands — OIL — !!!

Mixed in with basic tribalism and lack of technology,
you have a horde of Afghani Mujihadeen riding donkeys
and Iraqi warlords trying to defend a way of life that
THEY THINK is suited to the harsh climate in which they live.

Unfortunately for them, an Arabic man from an extrememly
wealthy Saudi family decided to use one country as a
home base for his operations against the Western World
and the Afghanis are now paying dearly for that
transgression.

The ONLY THING that Afghanistan has in ANY WAY,
SHAPE OR FORM, is that it is a strategically located
land mass that COULD BE used as a well-placed hub
of transport connecting Russia, Europe, Africa, East Asia
and the Middle East together.

Its lands are EXTREMELY VALUABLE as a simple facility
to lay pipes, roads and train tracks that are the hub
of transport for consumer goods, oil, gas and water to many
lands. Whoever controls that land mass can profit immensely
from taking a percentage cut from all the goods, people and
resources passing through and thus we have countries such
as Britian, Soviet Union and today, the USA all fighting dearly
for a piece of the action.

Local warlords and religious leaders of course took offence to
the incoming hordes of outsiders muscling in on their ancestral
lands thus we eventually get the situation we have today.

Iraq is similar except that its greatest resource is
EASILY RECOVERABLE OIL and thus is MORE
VALUABLE to the western world who basically muscled
in on the action when the local leader (i.e. Saddam Hussein)
began acting a little too belligerent and crazy for the tastes
of President Bush Junior…ergo, we get a big WAR!

And to explain some background as to the dynamics of
world power today, we must visit why our position is as
it is. The Western World as we are today is because of
educational sacrifices made many years and generations
ago that has brought us to to a level that on the whole is far
better than living in caves, mud huts and riding donkeys like
the current bunch of warring Afghani Mujihadeen and
Sunni or Shiite Iraqis constrained by their local cultural ties
and base tribalism.

This will sound arrogant and condescending but
The Truth is The Truth !!!

We are the First World BECAUSE we have mostly transcended
tribalism and religious tomfoolery into group cooperation
and the embrace of social, financial and technological
sophistication.

They are living in caves and mud huts (and trust they
ARE living in CAVES and MUD HUTS!) within Iraq and
Afghanistan because of a general lack of public knowledge,
motivation and imagination to go beyond what is today.
The public of those failed states MUST BEAR SOME
RESPONSIBILITY for their own current state of being.

It is Simple Myopia (Short-Sightedness) with regards to
accepting and embracing CHANGE in social mores,
group cooperation and advancement in technology.

And to put it bluntly, they are BACKWARDS and will
STAY THAT WAY until they LEARN to accept change!
My biggest beef is WHY ARE WE (the First World!) even
BOTHERING to deal with them in the manner we are today.

As a Left-Wing Canadian and a paradoxically pro-military
Libertarian, I ABSOLUTELY CRINGE at the hubris of us
21st century Westerners thinking that we could use sporadic
application of general military forces to effect massive cultural
change on a society that requires smaller, more focused steps
to bring it into said 21st century!

How the heck are we to expect them to accept general
elections, massive industrialism and industrialization when the
basics have not even been introduced yet….like a network of
passable roads, clean drinking water, portable electricity and
even the concept of a basic flushable toilet and toilet paper
which 90 percent of the Afghani and Rural Iraqi public has
never seen much yet ever USED!

By trying to use MASSIVE OVERT FORCE to ensure security
you are only making the country more insecure when a tight,
highly focused covert military force could be used COVERTLY
to REMOVE the individuals and groups that stand in the way
of general Afghani and Iraqi societal progress. You do not have
to kill the troublemakers, just REMOVE them physically from
the local power structure and circle of influence.

I know that MANY people REFUSE to change unless forced to
by either internal stressors or external stressors!
And I definitely think using massive overt force as we are
now is a MISTAKE as an external change stressor. I also
think the internal divisive forces that CURRENTLY prevent
a larger societal change in Afghanistan and Iraq can be
mitigated by doing low-level covert internal technical and
social missions to PERMANENTLY REMOVE the cultural
roadblocks and local troublemakers that contribute to the
blockage of social change required to jumpstart the
Afghan and Iraqi march into the 21st century.

So what Obama needs to do NOW is pull out the current
large-scale visible forces from Afghanistan and Iraq and begin
spending more TIME and MONEY on highly mobile, highly
covert direct action groups to coerce, infiltrate, distribute and
negotiate a change in the mindset of the Iraqi or Afghani village
warlord, militiaman and religious leader which will trickle down
to the average villager/city dweller. And after a period of time
the higher ups are found NOT TO BE CHANGING THEIR
HABITS, you do what is done in the western world of work:

YOU FIRE THEM !!!

by either removing them from religious, political & monetary
power or if necessary, creating such localized or personally
debilitating conditions such that they are not in any shape to
interfere or influence!!!

This will take PROBABLY DECADES (50 to 60 years is my
guess) but it is still better than spending 12 billion A MONTH
on current large scale operations. For that kind of money,
I could outfit an entire 1000 man SEAL or DELTA team with
Pashtun and Arabic language and cultural training and have
them influence and engage local village leaders or do covert
in-field direct action to remove the local warlords and drug lords
from power for at least 20 years which would do a heck of a lot
more good than sending a battallion of tanks into Khandahar
or Baghdad.

Think of it! We spend 12 BILLION DOLLARS A MONTH
within Iraq and Afghanistant!!! $12,000,000,000 per Month!

12 billion a month could buy a lot of portable toilets and
toilet paper AND some cheap water well drilling gear in addition
to local training to use and build such materiel by the locals.

12 billion a month could also buy a lot of portable brick kilns
and enough fuel to start building thousands of miles of
passable roads across the entire nation to bring in food from
the local farms to the city markets causing an accompanying
large-scale economic boost that such roads would bring
if the locals are employed in such large labor-intensive
public works.

12 billion a month would buy a lot of cell phones and wireless
infrastructure which would give the average Afghani and Iraqi
folk the freedom to communicate and freedom of choice to
MOVE or STAY as they see fit!

The above 36 billion dollars could turn an enemy into a friend
if applied judiciously and with political skill. But right now,
all I see is a bunch of fear mongering politicos and war-hungry
generals wanting to give it a go without too much thought at
long-term strategic consequences of using large scale military
action within a geographical sphere of influence that does
not REQUIRE large scale military force at all!

I am available for hire if you want a better return
for your taxes than what you have been getting so far!

Any Comments?

We cannot lay this on the head of Obama, because he was
NOT responsible for starting a war without a clear mandate
from Congress and without a clear plan of action from
BOTH warfighting field commanders AND exit strategists.

On a general scale, Afghanistan and Iraq are where they
are today because of an accident in geography and demographics.

Today we a have a large population of young and ignorant
midieval-level peasants trying to eke out a living
in a hostile environment that is really nothing more than
barren rock and hot sand. These are countries with
NO OBVIOUS NATURAL RESOURCES and which
technically have NO WAY of supporting (i.e. feeding)
the populations thay have now on any sustainable basis.

The harsh climate and barren lands pretty much preclude
the formation of any type of first world society without
the addition of First-world know-how and of course that
greaser of many hands — OIL — !!!

Mixed in with basic tribalism and lack of technology,
you have a horde of Afghani Mujihadeen riding donkeys
and Iraqi warlords trying to defend a way of life that
THEY THINK is suited to the harsh climate in which they live.

Unfortunately for them, an Arabic man from an extrememly
wealthy Saudi family decided to use one country as a
home base for his operations against the Western World
and the Afghanis are now paying dearly for that
transgression.

The ONLY THING that Afghanistan has in ANY WAY,
SHAPE OR FORM, is that it is a strategically located
land mass that COULD BE used as a well-placed hub
of transport connecting Russia, Europe, Africa, East Asia
and the Middle East together.

Its lands are EXTREMELY VALUABLE as a simple facility
to lay pipes, roads and train tracks that are the hub
of transport for consumer goods, oil, gas & water to many
lands. Whoever controls that land mass can profit immensely
from taking a percentage cut from all the goods, people and
resources passing through and thus we have countries such
as Britian, Soviet Union and today, the USA all fighting dearly
for a piece of the action.

Local warlords and religious leaders of course took offence to
the incoming hordes of outsiders muscling in on their ancestral
lands thus we eventually get the situation we have today.

Iraq is similar except that its greatest resource is
EASILY RECOVERABLE OIL and thus is MORE
VALUABLE to the western world who basically muscled
in on the action when the local leader (i.e. Saddam Hussein)
began acting a little too belligerent and crazy for the tastes
of President Bush Junior…ergo, we get a big WAR!

And to explain some background as to the dynamics of
world power today, we must visit why our position is as
it is. The Western World as we are today is because of
educational sacrifices made many years and generations
ago that has brought us to to a level that on the whole is far
better than living in caves, mud huts and riding donkeys like
the current bunch of warring Afghani Mujihadeen and
Sunni/Shiite Iraqis constrained by their local cultural ties
and base tribalism.

This will sound arrogant and condescending but
The Truth is The Truth !!!

We are the First World BECAUSE we have mostly transcended
tribalism and religious tomfoolery into group cooperation
and the embrace of social, financial and technological
sophistication.

They are living in caves & mud huts (and trust they ARE living
in CAVES & MUD HUTS!) within Iraq & Afghanistan because
of a general lack of public knowledge, motivation and
imagination to go beyond what is today. The public of those
failed states MUST BEAR SOME RESPONSIBILITY for their
own current state of being.

It is Simple Myopia (Short-Sightedness) with regards to
accepting and embracing CHANGE in social mores,
group cooperation and advancement in technology.

And to put it bluntly, they are BACKWARDS and will
STAY THAT WAY until they LEARN to accept change!
My biggest beef is WHY ARE WE (the First World) even
BOTHERING to deal with them in the manner we are today.

As a Left-Wing Canadian and a paradoxically pro-military
Libertarian, I ABSOLUTELY CRINGE at the hubris of us
21st century Westerners thinking that we could use sporadic
application of general military forces to effect massive cultural
change on a society that requires smaller, more focused steps
to bring it into said 21st century!

How the heck are we to expect them to accept general
elections, massive industrialism & industrialization when the
basics have not even been introduced yet….like a network of
passable roads, clean drinking water, portable electricity and
even the concept of a basic flushable toilet and toilet paper
which 90% of the Afghani & Rural Iraqi public has never seen
much yet ever USED!

By trying to use MASSIVE OVERT FORCE to ensure security
you are only making the country more insecure when a tight,
highly focused covert military force could be used COVERTLY
to REMOVE the individuals and groups that stand in the way
of general Afghani and Iraqi societal progress. You do not have
to kill the troublemakers, just REMOVE them physically from
the local power structure and circle of influence.

I know that MANY people REFUSE to change unless forced to
by either internal stressors or external stressors!
And I definitely think using massive overt force as we are
now is a MISTAKE as an external change stressor. I also
think the internal divisive forces that CURRENTLY prevent
a larger societal change in Afghanistan and Iraq can be
mitigated by doing low-level covert internal technical and
social missions to PERMANENTLY REMOVE the cultural
roadblocks and local troublemakers that contribute to the
blockage of social change required to jumpstart the
Afghan and Iraqi march into the 21st century.

So what Obama needs to do NOW is pull out the current
large-scale visible forces from Afghanistan and Iraq and begin
spending more TIME and MONEY on highly mobile, highly
covert direct action groups to coerce, infiltrate, distribute and
negotiate a change in the mindset of the Iraqi/Afghani village
warlord, militiaman and religious leader which will trickle down
to the average villager/city dweller. And after a period of time
the higher ups are found NOT TO BE CHANGING THEIR
HABITS, you do what is done in the western world of work —>

YOU FIRE THEM !!!

<— by either removing them from religious, political & monetary
power or if necessary, creating such localized or personally
debilitating conditions such that they are not in any shape to
interfere or influence!!!

This will take PROBABLY DECADES (50 to 60 years is my
guess) but it is still better than spending 12 billion A MONTH
on current large scale operations. For that kind of money,
I could outfit an entire 1000 man SEAL/DELTA team with
Pashtun/Arabic language and cultural training and have them
influence and/or engage local village leaders or do covert in-field
direct action to remove the local war & drug lords from power
for at least 20 years which would do a hell of a lot more good
than sending a battallion of tanks into Khandahar or Baghdad.

Think of it! We spend 12 BILLION DOLLARS A MONTH
within Iraq and Afghanistant!!! $12,000,000,000/Month!

12 billion a month could buy a lot of portable toilets and
toilet paper AND some cheap water well drilling gear in addition
to local training to use and build such materiel by the locals.

12 billion a month could also buy a lot of portable brick kilns
and enough fuel to start building thousands of miles/km of
passable roads across the entire nation to bring in food from
the local farms to the city markets causing an accompanying
large-scale economic boost that such roads would bring
if the locals are employed in such large labor-intensive
public works.

12 billion a month would buy a lot of cell phones and wireless
infrastructure which would give the average Afghani & Iraqi
folk the freedom to communicate and freedom of choice to
MOVE or STAY as they see fit!

The above 36 billion dollars could turn an enemy into a friend
if applied judiciously and with political skill. But right now,
all I see is a bunch of fear mongering politicos and war-hungry
generals wanting to give it a go without too much thought at
long-term strategic consequences of using large scale military
action within a geographical sphere of influence that does
not REQUIRE large scale military force at all!

I am available for hire if you want a better return
for your taxes than what you have been getting so far!

Any Comments?

newsflavor.com/opinions/didnt-the-vietnam-war-teach-us-anything/
authspot.com/poetry/freedom-16/
authspot.com/journals/i-am-a-vietnam-war-veteran/

I also have a blog at wdcplace.blogspot.com if anyone is interested in checking it out.