Rob Rogers for August 17, 2021

We all applauded and cheered our agreement with this war. Then, we also agreed with Bush II that we were in for the long haul. Considering that we are a democracy, it’s surprising that we stuck to it for 20 years, but not surprising that we couldn’t figure out a plan for staying longer, one that benefited us and the Afghans.

Afghanistan, a land where military might and diplomacy always fails in the end.

A nation that can’t stand on it’s own will never be successful. The Taliban isn’t some super power like Germany in WWII or theSoviet Union after the war. They’re a bunch of seasoned, determined fighters but they certainly don’t have the might of a real army. What they had was the advantage that every home grown army has. Time. They know that eventually the invaders will leave.

ANOTHER DISASTER instituted by the Republicans…and ended by the Democrats.

You can’t build a government in a place that doesn’t think of itself as a country.

Nation building?

Still, NO ONE has put forth ANY concepts of what steps were taken to “nation build”.

Hint: Giving weapons, ammunition, and training is NOT nation building.

We could have succeeded if Cheney hadn’t turned his attention to his war of choice in Iraq.

Mission accomplished?

The end, or just a short pause?

And Osama bin Laden has won.

Mission accomplished.

Whatever happened to “Yippie Ki-Yay”?

Someone elsewhere said that we should have trained and armed Afghan women and girls to fight the Taliban rather than the men. Since they have so much more to lose, women would have not folded like the men.

Bush went to war vs. Iraq (and its non-existent WMDs) as retaliation for 9/11, which was perpetrated by Saudis.

He went to war vs. Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden, who was hiding in Pakistan.

So, two wars, costing $4.5 trillion, against the wrong enemies.

Dead American count: 9/11, 2996; Iraq, 4431; Afghanistan, 2312.

Bin Laden spent about a million dollars on his attacks, or $333 per dead American. Bush racked up more than double the US corpse count but at a cost of ~$4.5 trillion, or $666,000,000 per dead American. Bin Laden was clearly the better Republican, having gotten 2 million times more bang for his buck.

Of course, they’re both pikers compared to the brilliantly cost-effective Donald Trump, who managed to rack up his 600,000 dead Americans by not spending a penny to fight coronavirus.

Bush II said a lot of nonsense.