Boundaries of Executive Power (1) - Obama and the Afghan Abyss
The Russians justifiably claim Gates may have already forced Obama’s hand. They see a distinct pattern. In August, cleverly using the Caucasus crisis and the unfriendly public mood in the West about Russia, Gates pressed ahead with the signing of an agreement on the deployment of elements of an American strategic missile shield - 10 interceptor missiles at Wick Morskie between the towns of Ustka and Darlowo on the Baltic coast in Poland and an X-radar in Brdy near Prague, Czech Republic. Of course, Russia has concluded that the US deployments are intended to blunt the thrust of its strategic forces in the European theater. ..
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Russia seems to weigh that the war in Afghanistan presents a dilemma of a different kind to Obama and Moscow should not make things harder. Indeed, the Afghan war will be the number one foreign policy priority for the Obama administration. Here too, a struggle has commenced for influencing Obama’s policy. Two Pentagon consultants - Ahmed Rashid and Barnett Rubin - did some kite-flying recently. In an article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine titled “From Great Game to Grand Bargain”, they argued that the US strategy should be to seek compromise with insurgents while addressing regional rivalries and insecurities.
Their recommendation was to offer “political inclusion” to the insurgents “in return for cooperation against…
Stan Moore:
My guess is that Russia is playing mind games (psychological warfare) with the U.S. with a strategy of keeping the U.S. fearful and somewhat agitated for the purpose of bleeding the U.S. white financially. I don’t think Russia is all that threatened by U.S. “defensive” missile systems in Europe, which are ineffective in a military sense to begin with. I think Russia knows that the U.S. has already lost in its design to control Afghanistan for the long term, but by being perceived as belligerant and non-cooperative the Russians can provoke the U.S. military into insisting on expensive tactics that really do not threaten Russia in the sense that U.S. strategic nuclear forces do.
I suspect that the ultimate solution for Russia is to bankrupt the U.S. financially, which will automatically weaken the U.S. militarily as well as cause social unrest.
In a real sense, the Russians are doing to the U.S. what the U.S. did to them twenty years ago. I think the real “wild card” in all of this is the reaction of the American public to the financial disaster that American militarism and financial mismanagement will cause. The Russian people were prone to put up with their suffering with minimal complaint, but the American people may revolt when the structure of society falls apart under financial collapse.
The next couple of years will be particularly interesting in this regard. And if Obama excercises his inner voice of conscience, it will be interesting to see how his presidency develops and what may befall him.
Stan Moore
14 November 2008, 10:50 pmSan Geronimo, CA
Timothy R. Anderson:
Studied.
The terrorists have studied the U.S.-led coalition of military
servicemembers that have been doing military operations in Afghanistan since October 2001.
Each year the tally comes out, the annual tally of how many American military servicemembers have died in Afghanistan ; each year it is higher than the previous year.
The tally for 2008 will be at least 151 .
Does anyone seriously think President-Elect Obama knows what to do to
reverse that ? And that he would if he knew how ?
Seriously ?
Please, inform all of us.
Timothy R. Anderson
16 November 2008, 3:08 pmStan Moore:
I dispute the use of the word “terrorist” to describe Taliban (or any Afghani nationalists) who kill or attempt to kill invading/occupying American/coalition soldiers in guerrilla warfare or ambush warfare. How in any sense is that terrorism?
Stan Moore
17 November 2008, 10:57 amHoward:
Timothy Anderson:
>>Does anyone seriously think President-Elect Obama knows what to do to reverse that ?
A: Yes. leave.
>>And that he would if he knew how ?
17 November 2008, 9:24 pmA: no.
Stan Moore:
Are militias terrorist organizations?
A thought just occured to me that the U.S. Constitution specifically allows the right of citizen militias to bear arms. The American Revolution was fought by citizen militias against uniformed British soldiers (redcoats) who often felt at a tactical disadvantage as their uniforms made them obvious targets.
Militias are usually organized according to military standards, with officers and chains of command, but without uniforms. The Taliban have chains of command, but no uniforms. The same is true at certain times of U.S. Special Forces and British SAS, who I have seen photos of riding horses in Afghanistan on military missions while dressed, not in their own national costumes, but in dress typical of “the enemy”.
So, it appears to me that the Taliban and other militias have an argument that there is hypocrisy by the U.S. in labeling them as terrorists, since the U.S. Constitution acknowledges and no doubt was written in part by militia members who used their arms to defend their homes and families by an occupying power.
I welcome informed comment on this issue…
Stan Moore
18 November 2008, 10:55 amTimothy R. Anderson:
I’m impressed that someone(s) took the time to question the use
of the word terrorist.
There are a lot of persons in Afghanistan who are killing and injuring a lot of other persons in Afghanistan. Same for Iraq.
I just finished reading an article by Martin Chulov of Great Britain’s ” Guardian ” ( http://www.guardian.co.uk )
where the author speaks of the absence of law + order in Iraq.
What has been and is likely to be missing from the American civilians ‘ discussions of the two U.S.-led, U.S.-funded wars
is what exactly are the lives of the non-terrorist Iraqis and the non-terrorist Afghans like ? How do they earn a living ? How long do they wait to buy gasoline ? Are their any ANY doctors around for when their kids are sick ? ANY doctors ? What about postal service ?
Can they count on a letter getting delivered ? What about food ?
What about clean water ? What about a place to clean and dry one’s clothing ? Is it faraway for most of the non-terrorist Iraqis and the non-terrorist Afghans ?
It is pathetic how the corporation-owned, narrow-scope American mainstream media is allowed to ignore the ongoing human suffering
in those faraway distant lands.
I also welcome informed comment on these issues…..
Timothy R. Anderson
24 November 2008, 2:08 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
” Gunmen Storm….” President-Elect Obama will possibly have a
perfect idea ( ? ????? ? ) to fix up the mess in Afghanistan,
let’s hope it occurs to him sooooon. Today’s non-India news showed
that Gunmen Stormed Into Security Bureaucracy Buildings over there in
Afghanistan. Uhhhhhhhhh , the USA’s military has had military operations going on in Afghanistan since October 2001 ; that’s more than seven years …… SEVEN ENTIRE YEARS. And still it is
not right. As the hidden news report on http://www.cbsnews.com hints.
Timothy R. Anderson
4 December 2008, 2:37 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
The Abyss In Afghanistan. It is neglected by the mainstream American media, of course, but
an acute food shortage is currently occurring
in Afghanistan………
from journalist Carlotta Gall:
” A pitiable harvest this year has left small
farmers all over central Afghanistan and northern Afghanistan facing hunger. ” ….
” Aid officials are warning of a food shortage
this winter for 9 ,000, 000 Afghans, more
than a quarter of the population. ”
” The crisis has been generated by the harshest
winter in memory, followed by a drought
across much of the country, which come on top
of the broader problems of
deteriorating security, the
accumulated pressure of returning refugees,
and the effects
of rising world food prices. ”
” The failure of the Afghan government and foreign donors to develop the country’s main
economic sector, agriculture, has
compounded the problem, officials say. ”
” The FAILURE of the Afghan government
and foreign donors to develop the country’s
main economic sector, agriculture, has
compounded the problem, officials say. ”
“The British charity, Oxfam, which conducted
a provisional assessment of conditions
in the province of Daykondi, one of the most
remote areas of Afghanistan, has appealed
for international assistance before winter sets
in. ‘ Time is running out to avert
a humanitarian crisis ‘ Oxfam declared in
a statement. ”
It is sad, isn’t it ? The bosses and workers of Blackwater, DynCorp, Raytheon, Lockheed M.,
Northrop G. , Boeing , and General Dynamics
are EARNING MONEY and the regular persons
of Afghanistan, NOT all of THEM are TERRORISTS !,
to point out what should be obvious but is not !due to the mind-sludge that is the modern-day American mainstream media ! , the regular persons of Afghanistan cannot rely on food, that basic human need ………..
Timothy R. Anderson
16 December 2008, 3:01 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
During the 1990′ s Saudi Arabia’s government treated its poorest
citizens harshly ; the citizens of the USA , for the most part, did not think it was important.
.
During the 2000’s Afghanistan’s poorest citizens faced ( face ! )food shortages and starvation ; the citizens of the USA, for the most part, do not think it is important .
Then, one day, a Tuesday during September 2001, a group of men, mainly from Saudi Arabia, successfully pulled off a stunning
terrorist activity in which more than 2, 975 American civilians
were killed.
So, with that in mind, here’s the piece by Carlotta Gall :
” The World Food Program, which was assisting 4.5 million of the most vulnerable Afghans with food aid in recent years,
widened its program to include an additional 1.5 million Afghans
and extended it further because of a drought to reach a total
of 9 million people until the end of next year’s harvest. ”
source: September 18, 2008 news-article by Carlotta Gall.
It might be significant RIGHT NOW due to the fact that
of all the countries in the world it is the United States of America who has the most military servicemembers on the Afghan soil
RIGHT NOW.
This is not information that CNN will tell you. You’ ll not learn it by tuning into Fox News. No such reporting is likely to be done on NBC, nor CBS, nor MSNBC, nor PBS ; not on Bloomberg’s Business
Channel and not on ABC News. What happens between today and
such-and-such day in the future is being DECIDED by those who
make O.J. Simpson a priority ; those who make Illinois’s governor a
priority; those who make Britney Spears’s new album a priority;
those who make Jim Carrey’s new movie a priority; those who
make Congressperson Frank talking to ” 60 Minutes ” a priority ;
those who make the decline in home sales a priority ; and
those who make helping the American automobile industry out a priority.
Timothy R. Anderson
19 December 2008, 2:21 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
Mark Sappenfield’s news-article in today’s Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com
seems to make my point even better than I do ( lop-sided grin. )
Afghanistan’s a mess. Maybe even worse than the American automobile
industry - - - - the shock !
Timothy R. Anderson
19 December 2008, 3:28 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
My prediction is closer to 50, 000. Hi there everyone. I just looked at YahooNews and it said that the USA’s military is thinking about
sending 30, 000 additional military servicemembers into
Afghanistan.
Saturday, December 20, 2008.
Timothy R. Anderson
20 December 2008, 1:07 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
Guess Who Cheney Was Willing To Be Interviewed By !
I don’t, as a habit, type in stuff about Vice President Cheney. I think maybe the Afghanistan War, now in its SEVENTH year,
is a prime example of where the Cheney / Rumsfeld / Bush approach is
a failed one. So, today, I type in stuff about Vice President Cheney gave an interview to Fox News, wherein he says nice stuff about
Rumsfeld. It is horrid.
Thought You Might Wanna Know,
21 December 2008, 5:33 pmTimothy R. Anderson
Timothy R. Anderson:
Clip And Save For New Years Day 2010.
Hi everyone. Well, getting some folks here in America to discuss ……. RIGHT NOW ,anything other than New Years Eve, or Israel, or Bush, or Obama at this very moment seems kinda difficult, to be honest !
Still, a person whose last name is Williams wrote a piece that
might be interesting to look at, all of y’ all, whether it is
December 31, 2008, or January 1, 2009, or January 1, 2010 or numerous other days !
Here’s the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/29/afghanistan-middleeast
That’s the scoop ; thanks for reading !
Timothy R. Anderson
31 December 2008, 3:33 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
Unheard Shrieks. Part One.
This is an adaptation of Stephanie Salter’s op.-ed. column, published
on Sunday, September 30, 2001……..
” As political satires go, it is a dark and brutal
one that begins on a deceptively positive note :
‘ It was a time of great excitement. The country was up
in arms, the war was on , in every breast burned the holy fire
of patriotism … ‘
” The place was the United States Of America; the time was 1904-1905, and the author was Mark Twain. ”
” In a short story called ‘ The War Prayer, ‘ Twain draws
his unsuspecting reader in with a rousing account of a nation
passionately headed off to war. ”
‘ Sunday morning came……the church was filled…..
With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and
envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and no brothers to send forth to the field of honor there to win for the flag
or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. ‘
” Led by a pastor, Twain’s imagined congregation prays to
‘ an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all ‘
to watch, aid, comfort, bless, and shield ‘ our noble young
soldiers ‘ and make them ‘ strong and confident , ‘
End Of Part One.
8 January 2009, 1:18 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
Unheard Shrieks. Part Two.
” confident,
invincible in the bloody onset; help
them to crush the foe;
grant to them and to their flag + country
imperishable honor and glory. ”
” Then, Twain eviscerates his reader with what he
later told a friend was ‘ the whole truth. ‘
” In the person of a messenger from God ,
‘ an aged stranger .. his long body clothed in a robe
that reached to his feet .. his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale
even to ghastliness ‘ reveals the total reality of the people’s
prayers for victory :
‘ Listen ! ‘ the stranger commands ‘ O Lord, our God,
help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells ;
help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their
patriot dead ! Help us to drown the thunder of the guns
with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain. ‘
‘ Help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of
fire. Help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane
of fire ; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending
widows with unending grief ; help us to turn them out,
roofless with their little children, to wander, unfriended,
through the wastes of their desolated land, in rags + hunger +
thirst, sports of the sun, flames of summer, and the icy winds
of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee
for the refuge of the grave and denied it. ‘
‘ For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes,
blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimmage, make
heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain
the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet ! ‘
” The messenger finishes the prayer by asking for all of this
‘ in the spirit of Love Of Him Who Is The Source Of Love, and
Who Is The Ever-Faithful Refuge And Friend Of All That Are Sore
Beset And Seek His Aid With Humble And Contrite Hearts. Amen. ‘
” Driving in the final nail of irony, Twain closes the grim
parable with the messenger demanding to know whether the
congregation still desires its prayers to be answered. ”
” But no one speaks. ”
” The last sentence of Twain’s story explains: ‘ It was believed
afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense
in what he said. ‘ ”
” Accustomed to criticism despite his literary success, Twain
insisted on keeping this short story ( ” The War Prayer ” )
unpublished until after his death in 1900. ”
” As his first biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, noted in 1912,
Twain confided his reasoning to a friend : ‘ Only dead men
can tell the truth in this world. ‘ ”
” In the century since it was written, ” The War Prayer ”
has been invoked by activists during several conflicts
in which the United States Of America has engaged. Its last
major renaissance was the Vietnam War. ”
” With the memory of that landscape and those people - with
the vision of millions of besieged Afghan children, women, and men - this seems as good a time as any for
another reading. ”
source : adapted from Stephanie Salter’s column,
published nineteen days after the 9-11-01 terrorist attacks ….
Sunday, September 30, 2001.
Typed in by Timothy R. Anderson.
President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the folks who decide
9 January 2009, 2:24 pmwhat is NOT on American television’s ” News” may not acknowledge it, but the persons of Afghanistan are having a very, very
difficult time.
Timothy R. Anderson:
President Bush might make mention of this in his speech tonight,
but in case he doesn’t…………
( here’s a link ! )
http://www.cursor.org/stories/civilian_deaths.htm
Afghanistan Afghanistan Afghanistan. Will it become ” Obama’s War ” ?
Timothy R. Anderson
15 January 2009, 2:49 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
UPDATE: During the time that President Obama has been the President,
USA military servicemembers’ deaths in Afghanistan, monthly tally,
have increased.
For more information,
please visit http://www.icasualties.org
As was the case with President Bush, President Obama is inept
at getting other countries’ leaders to send their military service-
members into Afghanistan and Iraq. Republicans stink at getting help.
Democrats stink at getting help.
Afghanistan’s a mess, y’all. Afghanistan was an opportunity
, all those months ago, waaaaaay back in October 2001. Now it is
a mess.
Timothy R. Anderson
21 July 2009, 12:13 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
It has been since October 2001 that the USA-led military operations
have gone on in Afghanistan. That is a looooong time !
In honor of it being such a long time I developed some questions
that everyone’s welcome to answer for me :
a. How many countries share a border with Afghanistan ?
b. Can you name the countries that share a border with Afghanistan ?
c. Who is the USA’s military’s ” main general ” currently in
charge of “day to day ” operations in Afghanistan ?
d. How many American military personnel have been injured
in Afghanistan since stuff started there in October 2001 ?
e. What major newspaper tells its readers how many American military
servicemembers have been wounded/injured in Afghanistan every day
that it publishes ? Any of them ? Any non-major newspapers ?
f. How many employees of private security guard businesses are
currently on Afghanistan’s soil ?
g. In Iraq, evidently, the population is segmented into different
religious factions —— Sunni Muslim, Shiite Muslim, Christian,
Yazidi ( sp. ? ), and others. The Shiite Muslims are, evidently,
the group with the highest population in Iraq. In Afghanistan,
which religious faction has the largest percentage of Afghanistan’s
population ? What about 2nd largest ?
h. If a non-terrorist Afghanistan citizen wants to purchase
gasoline, is the wait an average of four hours or more ? Or fewer ?
i. Will CBS television ’s ” 60 Minutes” program dare
to investigate the likely true accusations that some
American female military servicemembers are being sexually assaulted
by some American male military servicemembers while in Afghanistan ?
And likely more combinations of genders and assaults ?
j. How many times has Vice President Biden visited Afghanistan
since he started being Vice President ?
How much money does each trip taken by an American politician
to Afghanistan cost ?
k. How many American military servicemembers have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year ? How many French military servicemembers ? How many from Germany ? How many from Canada ?
How many from Australia ?
l. A young man whose name was Tillman left his professional
football career to serve the USA’s military in Afghanistan ?
How many other professional athletes have stopped their athletic
careers to join the USA’s military ? What sports did they stop
playing ? What are their names ?
m. Is it, for the most part, easy or difficult to remember
that the USA ’s military is involved in a war in Afghanistan
that has lasted more than seven years ?
——————–
I await answers.
Timothy R. Anderson, USA Civilian.
8 August 2009, 6:04 pmUSA Citizen, Since 1972.
Timothy R. Anderson:
Maybe you caught it too.
Just to emphasize that which cannot possibly be said too often :
No question mark necessary about Tillman.
Yes, he did.
Timothy R. Anderson
8 August 2009, 6:07 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
Letters A Through M. Hi there everybody. Thanks to those, all of those, who wrote in last week. I still am “processing ” all the material. As I do that, however, I’d like someone to
answer my questions above ( Aug. 8, 2009, 6:04 pm ) ; conveniently presented as letters “a ”
through ” m .” You’d think with all the money, effort, and money that has gone into the Afghanistan War people would WANT to know
at least the minimum about it……..
Timothy R. Anderson
25 August 2009, 12:40 pmMichael Anderson:
Well, OK….I had to do a little research because I’m not that knowledgeable about the country, but here goes:
A & B. Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikstan, Uzbekistan. On, and perhaps very importantly, China, through the Hindu Kush.
C. That one I DID know—Stanley McChrystal. Stone killer.
D. Total wounded U.S.—”seriously injured” (unknownnews.net)—2,046. This is followed by a caveat—- “U.S. troops seriously injured in Afghanistan: To the best of our knowledge, this data is not publicly tracked (if you know a reliable source for this information, please let us know). Posted number reflects our estimate, using a conservative, historically-based ratio of 3:1 (serious injuries to fatalities) for troops.”
E. WaPo and NYT certainly don’t. This will take some digging.
F. Apparently unknown. Link: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=103651
G. Wiki: Religiously, Afghans are over 99% Muslims: approximately 74-80% Sunni and 19-25% Shi’a
H. Can’t find anything now, with various combinations of keywords.
I. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/17/60minutes/main674791.shtml
What’s been done? Apparently nothing.
J. Looks like only once, in January, BEFORE the inauguration.
K. Year to date for U.S.—298 (http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/). France—4, Germeny—5, Canada—21, Australia—4.
L. Apparently none. However, Blackwater and other private security agencies are advertising for pro athletes.
M. I’s easy to remember, but as I said in another post, with all the noise that’s being made to distract us, it’s like playing with a drummer who rushes, so you have to play strangely to make your tune (i.e., situation) sound coherent. Sometimes the details are overlooked.
Thanks for the quiz, TRA.
26 August 2009, 7:01 pm