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Sowell: Another Galling Betrayal
Creators Syndicate ^ | February 18, 2014 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 02/17/2014 5:10:33 PM PST by jazusamo

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To: jazusamo

We could actually succeed at nation building, but it would take far more resources and time than this nation would be willing to invest. It would also have to start with total annihilation (and capitulation) of the enemy plus a very large scale occupation force. Plus, it would also require a belief in our own cultural supremacy and right to rule over the beaten nation.

Our problem is we tried to nation build on the cheap, and we allowed the existing culture to survive rather than crushing it and substituting our own. That’s not meant as an insult to our many brave men and women who gave their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan. They did the absolute best they could with the mission they were given, but both Iraq and Afghanistan still have Muslim governments. That’s a loss cause almost from the get go, and we will see this confirmed more and more as time goes on.


21 posted on 02/17/2014 7:01:09 PM PST by CitizenUSA (Sodomy and abortion: the only constitutional rights cherished by Democrats.)
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To: jazusamo

I agree with Thomas Sowell. Bring ‘em all home, and carpet bomb the place on the way out.


22 posted on 02/17/2014 7:09:39 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: jazusamo
Well said, we have to fight them ruthlessly with a mission to win.

I'd rather be clever than ruthless.

23 posted on 02/17/2014 7:35:02 PM PST by Carry_Okie (Islam offers us three choices: Defeat them utterly, die, or surrender to a life of slavery.)
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To: Carry_Okie

That works for me.


24 posted on 02/17/2014 8:01:17 PM PST by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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To: jazusamo
Crushing Islam in a quick and utter defeat is the most compassionate thing we could do; else they are doomed to denying the obvious pathologies in their cause. In that there is a powerful parallel between Islam and gay activists: both will go to any lengths to force submission from those they know to be legitimate.
25 posted on 02/17/2014 8:10:53 PM PST by Carry_Okie (Islam offers us three choices: Defeat them utterly, die, or surrender to a life of slavery.)
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To: jazusamo

There will be no end to ‘nation-building.’ We can fight a war no other way unless in a truly existential crisis, and then only maybe. Our presidents are to a man megalomaniacs once they assume the position- possibly excepting Reagan.


26 posted on 02/17/2014 8:50:30 PM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINEhttp://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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To: arthurus

“possibly excepting Reagan.”

And George Washington. And DDE.


27 posted on 02/17/2014 9:12:00 PM PST by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: dsc

And George Washington. And DDE.
Actually I was thinking of post WW2 but neglected to add that.

Excepting Wilson, presidents prior may have been fools regarding allies (FDR) but they didn’t seem to think they could change human nature.


28 posted on 02/17/2014 9:46:35 PM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINEhttp://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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To: jazusamo; All

A lesson that could be learned for a lot of people with time to spare...

Watch the “Shoes of the Fisherman”, there is a deep down lesson to be learned, that is illustrated in that film...

When politicians and diplomats try to win wars by getting their hands dirty, with empty promises, once those promises are betrayed by those giving it, how can ANYONE ever believe them (us) ever again with ANY credibility???

I certainly could not...

This treachery by Karzai is an example of how much we have lost our credibility in such a short period of time...

Kerry is such a walking POS under all of our shoes, the American and allied deaths which WILL occur because of this release would not happen if the confidence and respect our country should be getting from Afghanistan’s government would have not been so strained...

And to think my nephew is heading over there very soon to have to deal with this increased risk...

A totally unacceptable condition this far into our efforts to assist getting that region stabilized, if it could have been...But thanks to the Muslim/Communist in Chief and his political ilk, more troops are getting killed over there every year than even the worst year Bush was in charge...

Funny how that gets overlooked by the enablers in the media...

Screw them all...


29 posted on 02/18/2014 2:23:12 AM PST by stevie_d_64 (It's not the color of one's skin that offends people...it's how thin it is.)
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To: jazusamo

Sowell is now dissing Cruz. Apparently, he has gone over to the other side:

http://spectator.org/articles/57851/cruz-control


30 posted on 02/18/2014 11:31:09 AM PST by Hawthorn
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To: Thom Pain

oh, boy. WalMartians...perfect word.


31 posted on 02/18/2014 11:32:59 AM PST by tioga (Every knee shall bend, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.)
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To: Hawthorn

Yes, I’ve read it and discussed it with others and will be posting it shortly. I’m surprised and disappointed with the good Dr.


32 posted on 02/18/2014 12:23:45 PM PST by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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To: jazusamo

“If we learn nothing else from the bitter tragedy of the war in Afghanistan, it should be that we should put an end forever to the self-indulgence of thinking that we can engage in “nation-building” and creating “democracy” in countries where nothing resembling democracy has ever existed.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Matthew 7:5
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.


33 posted on 02/18/2014 1:53:26 PM PST by RipSawyer (No tagline added because I have switched to tackle.)
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To: linMcHlp
February 18, 2018

Thomas Sowell:

If we learn nothing else from the bitter tragedy of the war in Afghanistan, it should be that we should put an end forever to the self-indulgence of thinking that we can engage in "nation-building" and creating "democracy" in countries where nothing resembling democracy has ever existed.

It would be a feat to achieve one of these objectives, but to achieve both at the same time is a gamble that makes playing Russian roulette look like a harmless pastime.

F.A. Hayek said, "We shall not grow wiser until we learn that much that we have done was very foolish." Nothing is more foolish — and immoral — than sending men into battle to risk their lives winning victories that are later lost by politicians for political reasons.

That started long before the war in Afghanistan. Vietnam was a classic example. Years after that war was over, the Communist victors themselves admitted that they lost militarily in Vietnam, as they knew they would. But they won politically in America, with the help of Americans, including the media — as they also knew they would.

The war in Iraq was more of the same.


34 posted on 02/26/2024 9:08:09 PM PST by linMcHlp
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To: jazusamo

Bttt.

5.56mm


35 posted on 02/26/2024 9:12:34 PM PST by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho have got to go. )
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