Comments (21) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   Ripit said, 2 months ago

   Ha! What to do, really?

2. 

   omQ R said, 2 months ago

   Ted: You might (most likely not) care to know that I found nothing wrong with this ‘toon. Had to make it a favourite. Most excellent.

3. 

   sirrom567 said, 2 months ago

   Watching “60 Minutes” last night, seeing a piece on soldiers in Afghanistan, I had the sinking feeling it was a 1967 TV report about Vietnam. Just with a lot of dust and hills instead of jungle.

4. 

   cjr53 said, 2 months ago

   It certainly as changed from a half-hearted, placate the “Victims of 9-11,” invasion to find Osama Bin-Laden, close personal friend of the W and Crew, into another Viet Nam.

   Find Osama, declare a victory and leave.

   We should never have gone to Iraq. Especially the National Guard. That’s where they were when needed in New Orleans. W and Crew, masters of poor planning for 98% of Americans, masters at transferring wealth to themselves.

5. 

   sirrom567 said, 2 months ago

   Bingo.

6. 

   mattro53 said, 2 months ago

   When will we ever learn?
   The answers, my friend, are blowing in the wind.

7. 

   rikoshayrabbit said, 2 months ago

   I guess nobody learned, after the Russians got their butts kicked, that the Afghans don’t welcome invaders. Looks like the Iraqis don’t groove on it either. There’s always a price to pay when you’ve got it in your head that you’re the rightful king of the world. Ask the English. They never know when to leave.

8. 

   DrCanuck said, 2 months ago

   Bumpers: Just like American Puritanism, the terrible, paralysing fear that somewhere, someone is having a good time.

9. 

   ReasonsVentriloquist said, 2 months ago

   Riko,

   
   

   1. The Russians didn’t “get their butts kicked” they just didn’t “win.”

   
   

   2. The Ruskies didn’t win, not because of the Afghanis but because of the Americans. If we didn’t arm and feed and pay them, they’d still be “preoccupied” with the Rusians.

   
   

   3. The English leave at least. When the Greeks took you over you stayed took! Same with the Romans! And you think the Brits were hard on the subjects, I got two(ish) words “Who’s Sparticus?”

   
   

   4. The price to pay only comes after you’ve taken all the money out. Most conquests have a possitive cash flow for quite some time.

   
   

   5. Infrastructure is what the Afghanistan war is all about now. The clear, safe pathway for the gas line from the Caspian sea to the far east. Don’t forget that two of Obama’s toppermost aides from day one were resigned oil men (they resigned and then could work on this project while Obama could say that he was clean of the oil companies.) If the Afghanistan Banana stand could understand that they were going to get a sweet deal like the Alaskans have (but that with no deal there’s no pipleline), they’d be on board in a Ho Chi minute!

   
   

10. 

    motivemagus said, 2 months ago

    RV - The English left? See which side of the road they drive on in India? What language is spoken everywhere?
    And if you think the Romans were that much nastier than the Brits, check out the history of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

11. 

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 2 months ago

    The Raj lasted 89 years, the Romans (by the way, you DO know why they’re called the Romantic Languages, right?)

    The Romans were in Israel from 63BC to 313 AD.

    They (the Brits) held this country from 1609 to 1776, 167 years. Of that maybe 50 of it was when this country was more than a collection of wood tents.

    I’m not defending the Brits’ empire ambitions, but the fact remains that they do leave… How long have we occupied Guam now? How long were we in the Phillipines? Overall, we’re already knocking on England’s door for longevity of the empire.

12. 

    rikoshayrabbit said, 2 months ago

    I’ll say it again… the Russians got their butts kicked, AND, they didn’t win either. Empires crumble, after they’ve spread themselves too thin. It’s the same old story. It is always unbridled arrogance that goes unchecked until it all collapses. America will be nothing, or very small and insignificant some day.

13. 

    meowdam said, 2 months ago

    I call it the 2% factor -
    2% of the people in the world are screwing it up for the other 98% ,

14. 

    mattro53 said, 2 months ago

    Bumpers, that’s bigoted nonsense. My landlord is Muslim, and he and his family are happy and do celebrate things.
    Nice series of rationalizations in a lame attempt to justify imperialism, RV.

15. 

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 2 months ago

    Who said I was justifying Imperialism. I’m pretty sure I said…wait, let me go look for it, don’t move…. Here it is “I’m not defending the Brits’ empire ambitions, but the fact remains that they do leave… ”

    But thanks for trying to put words in my mouth.

16. 

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 2 months ago

    Rikoshay,

    And I’ll say it again. The Russians were fighting the Americans in Afghanistan.

    The Afghanis have no such big brother in this conflict. Therefore, trying to compare the two conflicts as “Apples to apples” is wrong.

17. 

    edmondd said, 2 months ago

    I call it the 2% factor -
    2% of the people in the world are screwing it up for the other 98% –Meowdam

    I think this aphorism deserves to be included in history’s most famous quotes. Or at least be expounded on one of Ted’s cartoons, making sure Limbaugh is rightly portrayed as being part of that infamous 2%.

18. 

    AJLCAB said, 2 months ago

    RV, if the Russians did not win because of the Americans then who are we fighting ? It is solely business interests that have driven both the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. Business backed by the American attitude that we have the most powerful armed forces in the world. We need to prove this as often as possible to the rest of the world and ourselves yet we don’t want to appear as bad (or worse) than the last 2 military powers that felt the need to impose their image of a perfectly run world on everyone else. Those being Communist Russia and Nazi Germany. In some places a theocracy IS a nation’s best form of government. In others, socialism is the best solution for that country’s people. Why do we feel the need to impose democracy on everyone when WE don’t have a democracy. For those of you not clear on how things are run here, the U.S is a republic. On this one I agree with George Will. We should not spend our limited resources ‘nation building’ in other parts of the world when OUR nation needs so much rebuilding. Besides, our record on nation building is not so good. Both Vietnam and Iran removed U.S backed dictators through force and violence

19. 

    fritzoid said, 2 months ago

    AJLCAB, don’t forget to add Cuba to your last sentence.

20. 

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 2 months ago

    Ajlcab,

    “RV, if the Russians did not win because of the Americans then who are we fighting ?”

    Huh? How do you pervert this question out of what I said?

    ” It is solely business interests that have driven both the Iraq and Afghan conflicts.”

    I disagree and at the same time I agree. We went into Afghanistan to take out the Taliban, which had created such an environment of intolerance that allowed Al Queda to launch an attack on the United States.

    There are business interests in Afghanistan that are looking to profit from an Afghanistan that is more “in tune” with the values of the 21st century, but, while they were in Afghanistan when we got there, they are not the reason that we went. Indeed those interests would have been willing to work with any regime that would work with it, but the costs of working with a compliant government are remarkably lower. Especially when someone else is paying to make them compliant.

    ” Business backed by the American attitude that we have the most powerful armed forces in the world.”

    We do. We have for quite some time. I’ll do you the courtesy of not jumping to what I think your conclusion is.

    ” We need to prove this as often as possible to the rest of the world and ourselves…”

    What a second… So the military is the strong arm of American business interests or the phallus symbol of the American public? One might say this is the flexion point where your philosophy becomes head scratchingly fuzzy logic.

    “… yet we don’t want to appear as bad (or worse) than the last 2 military powers that felt the need to impose their image of a perfectly run world on everyone else. Those being Communist Russia and Nazi Germany. ”

    Godwin’s Law You lose! When was the last time the Russian Army won anything aside from rolling tanks into Eastern Europe? How about NEVER? Napoleon and Hitler both lost in their bids to conquer Russia based on the fact that Russia had the ability to retreat until the invaders’ supply lines got too long. And the invaders ran out of bullets from killing so many Russians.

    ” In some places a theocracy IS a nation’s best form of government.”

    BullSh1t. No government should run based on mythology. Religion is antithetical to reason. Religion is open to the interpretation of the official using it and any question of that authority is an affront to God. That’s why Thom Jefferson wrote the Declaration Of Independence. If you don’t believe in the values of the DOI, then we really don’t have enough common ground to base a discussion on.

    “In others, socialism is the best solution for that country’s people. Why do we feel the need to impose democracy on everyone when WE don’t have a democracy.”

    I get the feeling here that you are just flinging around words without a full understanding of what they mean individually, forget knowing what they mean bunched up.

    Remember that flex point I was talking about? Well now you’re in full spin cycle because of it. Again; Who is the military working for? Do businesses want Democracies? Heck no! Do you actually believe that GWB went into Iraq to establish a Democracy? That was just the next justification for a war that was waged by war profiteers. They threw that one out after they tried the 9/11 lie and it started to fade, then the WMDs faded Then the get Saddam justification wore out its welcome.

    Can you see what I mean about how you’re being spun? You pick and choose which lies you want to believe without taking the time and putting in the effort to try to discern what’s fact and what’s noise.

    ” For those of you not clear on how things are run here, the U.S is a republic”

    Oh boy, I don’t see this going someplace good… Here, read this first http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/republic

    It’s like you think that since “Republicans” are the “Opposite” of “Democrats” then a “republic” must be the opposite of a “democracy”.

    No, a republic is the “opposite” of an empire. Julius Caesar was the first Roman Emperor. He changed the government of Rome from a Republic to an Empire. And Senators killed him for it. (I’m sure you heard about that)

    “On this one I agree with George Will. We should not spend our limited resources ‘nation building’ in other parts of the world when OUR nation needs so much rebuilding.”

    George Will and every other half wit out there. It was the same thing the liberals said about the space program. It was the same thing that Joe Kennedy said about FDR getting involved in “Europe’s War.” It’s the same thing Gerry Ford said about NYC. It’s what people say when they want to say “I want mine and the rest of you can drop dead.”

    It makes him look like a “Compassionate Conservative” and makes people who ought to be voting their own self interest tend to vote for his. But the fact is the GW was foursquare behind Reagan/Bush, the Anti Clintons and Bush W. So for him to say now that we ought to be spending it here and at the same time he wouldn’t approve a single penny of spending here unless it was a tax cut for the wealthy is disingenuous to say the least.

    I hope you won’t take too much offense at what I’ve said. I merely pointed out some of your errors in this line of thought.

    Oh. and by the way Viet Nam was a French colony that was rebelling against the French, we went in because Ho Chi Minh was a communist, and we were afraid of communists. So your closing sentence is at least 50% way the eff off.

21. 

    sirrom567 said, 2 months ago

    I am humbled by the literacy of all these comments.

    Let me just offer that Pakistan, not Afghanistan, is the real problem. Pakistan, which if you remember your history, is really Muslim India, not Arab or Persian, should be approached as such.