[Rhodes22-list] Afghanistan

[Brad Haslett]

Bill,

Lot's of stuff to do today with the free enterprise system so I'll get to
the specifics of your post later.  Regarding the free enterprise system
working on the Gulf - it is!

"Patience is a virtue"

The world has always been full of 'isims'.  I make no apologies for Western
ways, Western thoughts, or Western progress.  This is a small globe, I've
seen much of it.  The current threats came long before 43 and will be there
long after he's gone.  Who in the world has the best value system.  The
French?

Brad



On 1/31/07, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
>
> Dave,
>
> Fight in Afghanistan?  Necessary?  Winnable?
>
> They aren't fighting a civil war--you just have to decide if you want to
> back the drug lords or the religious fanatics.  Nobody has ever been
> able to win in Afghanistan.  Ask the Russians--or the Brits--or anyone
> else who has ever tried.
>
> Larger population than Iraq.  We have nominal control of a single
> city--just like we have nominal control of Baghdad.
>
> And just like Iraq, the original stated purpose of invading is much
> different than the stated purpose now.  (We said we had to invade
> because the government would not "hand over" Osama bin Laden.  When they
> said they couldn't, we said we would simply take him.  Our intelligence
> (oxymoron?) tells us he is still in the exact same place he was when we
> invaded.
>
> We have armed and backed both the Taliban and the Drug Lords.
>
> They don't even have oil.
>
> Be sure to ask Brad why the free enterprise system which can't even
> rebuild our own country, is going to do such a great job rebuilding
> other people's countries.
>
> Bill Effros
>
>
>
>
>
> DCLewis1 at aol.com wrote:
> > Brad,
> >
> > Two comments re your post:
> >
> > - Bush is no conservative?  How many hundred posts have you
> made  defending
> > his actions and his record?  After years  I think  I'm hearing a new
> story
> > line.  Let me add to your disillusionment; jr's  father was no fiscal
> > conservative, nor was Reagan - the fiscal record shows
> it  unambiguously.   And yes, our
> > children will be paying all their bills  for a long time.  And some of
> our
> > children won't be around to pay those  bills because of jr's adolescent
> militarism
> > (Note: this does not say you  shouldn't fight terrorists and terrorism,
> > rather it says you should pick  your fights carefully, and win
> them.  Fighting in
> > Afghanistan - necessary,  go for it.  Fighting in Iraq - unnecessary,
> poorly
> > thought through,  dumb.).
> >
> > - Re the gulf coast rebuild being all about the private sector: Clearly
> the
> > private sector has an extremely important role to play, but just as
> clearly
> > infrastructure, landfill permitting, permitting of all sorts, flood
> control,
> > etc, etc, are legitimate govt functions (legitimate here doesn't mean
> the govt
> > CAN take on those tasks, rather it means the private sector WONT take
> them on
> >  because of liability issues so the govt has to take them on or they
> won't
> > get  done).  Rebuilding from a catastrophe will be very much easier with
> > competent and coordinated government assistance - for example rebuilding
> public
> > bridges, highways, and dikes will all be funded and supervised by the
> government
> > if only because no private entity wants the liability should a public
> bridge
> > or  flood control dike break.  So how about a focused, competent, and
> timely
> > effort?  How about a focal point and leader that reports to the
> President  and
> > speaks for the President?  How about some one person who can stand
> up  and
> > report how the rebuilding is coming along, what resources are required,
> what
> > capabilities have been restored and which will be restored next,
> encourage the
> > populace, etc.  I suspect Cheney could pull it off, he might actually
> > accomplish something useful if he took the task on.
> >
> > What boggles my mind is how little focus, attention, and visibility Bush
> et
> > al have given the gulf coast disaster.  Did he even mention it in his
> State
> > of The Union address?  Instead he drops in occasionally for a photo
> opp  while
> > flying to and from his dude ranch in Texas.  The
> citizenry,  particularly the
> > gulf coast citizenry, deserve better.
> >
> > Dave
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
> >
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