This is a man.
This is you.
And Pat, the next time you wish to quote some anonymous career State Dept Democrat, try to find one who sounds just a bit more like a sniveling pansy.
Posted on 06/27/2006 12:21:38 AM PDT by RWR8189
"There is an awful feeling that everything is lurching downward," the Western diplomat told The Washington Post.
"Nearly five years on, there is no rule of law. ... The Afghans know it is all a charade, and they see us as not only complicit, but actively involved. You cannot fight a terror war and build a weak state at the same time, and it was a terrible mistake to think we could." What that disconsolate diplomat is saying is that America is losing the Afghan war.
According to the Post report, President Hamid Karzai is losing the confidence of his people and our European allies. The Taliban dominates the southeast of the country at night and is fighting in the largest units it has deployed since the fall of the regime in 2001. Anti-Americanism is spreading. A fatal accident, involving a U.S. military vehicle, caused anti-American riots across the capital.
NATO forces, who are to take over from the Americans in the embattled provinces, are likely to begin taking causalities as soon as they arrive. Meanwhile, the narcotics traffickers are bolder than ever.
In Iraq, the good news -- Zarqawi's death, completion of the Cabinet -- is old news. Sen. Richard Lugar describes present conditions as grim: "Given current events in Baghdad ... quite apart from Anbar province, the violence is horrific."
Lugar was reacting to reports that the U.S. commander, Gen. George Casey, has presented a plan to the Pentagon to substantially reduce U.S. troop levels by year's end and cut U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from today's 14, to five or six by the end of 2007.
But, as there is no sign the insurgency is defeated, and daily evidence it is stronger than ever, how do we propose to draw down U.S. forces from the 127,000 there, without risking disaster?
The new Baghdad government is also proposing an amnesty to the insurgents, though not al-Qaida or the Saddamites. But if this means a free pass into politics for insurgents who have killed U.S. soldiers, America will react with rage -- and demand an even earlier withdrawal.
Neither in Afghanistan or Iraq does there seem to be either a strategic plan to defeat the enemy and build an enduring democracy, or adequate U.S. and allied forces to ensure such a victory.
The question then could not be more critical. If victory in Iraq and Afghanistan is the Bush goal, why does he not tell the nation of the sacrifices victory clearly requires -- an indefinite commitment of far more U.S. troops than we have yet sent into either conflict?
If Bush is not willing to lay it out, or to pay that price, and the Casey plan is the Bush plan, the president and the country had best brace themselves for the possibility of defeat on one or both fronts before the end of the Bush term. For that is where we are headed.
It needs to be stated coldly. The Casey plan, for a drawdown of over half of all U.S. combat brigades in Iraq in 18 months, risks an insurgent triumph, chaos and civil war, ethnic cleansing and a Baghdad that is turned into a hellish no man's land.
A decision not to ramp up U.S. military forces in Afghanistan risks defeat there, as well. For no NATO force we send can match U.S. forces in combat effectiveness, and the Taliban resistance has grown to present levels -- the most impressive in five years -- in the teeth of attacks by U.S. forces now giving way to Europeans.
A U.S. defeat in either country would result in a bloodbath for those who sided with the Americans. It happened in Vietnam and Cambodia. If we lose these wars, it will happen in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Perhaps the above is too pessimistic. But if Americans, with the finest fighting forces on earth, have not been able to defeat the Iraqi insurgency, what makes us believe Iraqis trained by Americans will succeed where we failed? And if the Taliban, after five years of U.S. air strikes and Special Forces search-and-destroy missions, are stronger than ever, who thinks that NATO units that have never seen combat can take them down? President Bush needs to face the truth, and tell us the truth.
We may be at a crossroads in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where he has three choices: Ratchet up the U.S. troop investment to stave off defeat. Endure in what appears to be another "no-win war." Cut America's losses and get out, risking strategic disaster.
The Democratic Party, having voted to begin redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq, has taken its stand: end U.S. involvement, now or soon. If Bush, too, has decided to depart, America had best prepare for the strategic consequences abroad and the political consequences at home of another lost war for the United States.
Good grief .. "is defeat an option" ..??
I knew it! This guy has rocks for brains.
Buchanan has gone so far right he looped around to the left. Sickening.
So, one group of Taliban Jihadists (about 6) who subsequently had their arses shot off, constitutes "huge Taliban forces not seen since 2001"??
This is the first i've heard that " President Hamid Karzai is losing the confidence of his people and our European allies."
Where does this come from? Oh yea, traitor media- the enemies forum.
I guess we should have done nothing, and just allow these Islamic nuts to grow and gather strength for the past five years.
he is genuinely lost his mind. Afghanistan is a paradise compared to what it has been.
well the Iraqi forces can defeat the insurgents alot easier than we can because they won't be operating under the same "rules of engagement". They'll slaughter them willy nilly.
As feminazis have a scorched earth attitude, so do the more general neo-Nazis. After they realize that they're not going to get what they want, they wish for the destruction of our country by enemies.
Because it is there country.
The only way to really defeat a insurgency is for the people that is the locals to will it.
A insurgency to survive needs ground support from the locals.
Coalition troops are mowing down the Taliban by the dozens daily with very few casualties of our own in comparison. Pat's got water on his brain.
According to Pat Buchanan, when the going gets tough, throw in the towel.
Did we build a "weak state" in Afghanistan?
Come on, Mr. Buchanan. God is not finished in Afghanistan yet. First we have to break the false prophets and the grip of the apostates. Do we have to call in the Chinese to carry out the janitorial work?
The democrats sealed their fate of defeat this November by trotting out these series of "cut and run" initiatives and wrapped their political hopes of regaining power around them.
Only cowards, pantywaists, idiots and liberals would ever think cutting and running is the way toward victory.
Ummmmm, when did this happen? What was the vote tally? When did the Demonratic party assume the presidency and majority in CONgress?
If Bush, too, has decided to depart...
What in the world is he talking about???
"My message to the Iraqi people is this: seize the moment; seize this opportunity to develop a government of and by and for the people. And I also have a message to the Iraqi people that when America gives a commitment, America will keep its commitment."
-- President George W. Bush
June 13, 2006
Baghdad, Iraq
KEEP THE PROMISE TO IRAQ! Complete the mission.
Pat writes that line in almost every article he's ever penned since the late eighties, like it's breaking news.
the good news -- Zarqawi's death, completion of the Cabinet -- is old news.
Not as old as Herr Buchanan's "Anti-Americanism is spreading" crap.
Pat, not only did no one like you, you helped give us Clinton. You're a cancerous, decrepit, anti-Semitic, evil old bastard. Now shut up and go play with your pals on MSNBC.
Seeing PJB's dreams on display.
Look at Pakistan, Mr Buchanan.
This is a man.
This is you.
And Pat, the next time you wish to quote some anonymous career State Dept Democrat, try to find one who sounds just a bit more like a sniveling pansy.
The bicoastal elites and their presstitute minions are preparing another very major Vietnam style stab-in-the-back for our brave troops and for all patriotic Americans. Their objective, a decade of defeatism and demoralization into which they can inject their socialist socially engineered agendas. We must fight them every inch of the way.
"well the Iraqi forces can defeat the insurgents alot easier than we can because they won't be operating under the same "rules of engagement". They'll slaughter them willy nilly."
---
Not very Christian of me, but I am really looking forward to this and only wish it were a Pay-Per-View event.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.