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With much to lose and little to win, let's get out of Afghanistan now
Saturday, October 17, 2009 7:14 AM PDT
When Barack Obama was inaugurated, I promised Lodi News-Sentinel readers that I would write as critically about him as I had about his predecessor, George W. Bush.
I disapproved of Bush, and specifically his Iraq War policy, from the beginning.
Obama's escalation of the Afghanistan War is as craven as anything Bush did in Iraq. And I'll add the frightening footnote that more bloodshed in this latest lost cause is inevitable.
The administration's Afghanistan goals range from eliminating the terrorism threat posed by al-Qaida — based in neighboring Pakistan, not in Afghanistan — to building a stable democratic state, however that's defined.
In an unannounced move revealed this week by the Washington Post, Obama will dispatch an additional 13,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 publicly announced in March.
Although the soldiers are primarily support forces such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police, the buildup Obama has approved for Afghanistan totals 34,000.
In addition, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top military commander in Afghanistan, has requested up to 80,000 more American troops even while he warns that rampant corruption may prevent victory against the Taliban and al-Qaida.
To explain the Afghan escalation, Obama aides say the United States is falling far short of its goals to end endemic corruption, to create a stable government and legal system, and to train a local police force currently crippled by incompetence.
Afghanistan is now so dangerous that many aid workers cannot travel outside Kabul to advise farmers on crops, another key part of Obama's March announcement. The $13 billion spent on civilian aid since the invasion began in 2001 produced nothing.
American results to date in Afghanistan have been so dismal that it is impossible to make an intelligent case for spending more money or putting more lives at risk.
Measured in human terms, lost American lives in Afghanistan have risen from 12 during the war's first year to 242 in 2009, bringing the total number of dead soldiers to 869.
Besides lost lives, military experts project that the Afghanistan War will last at least a decade and its cost will eventually exceed what was spent in Iraq.
Since our 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the United States has spent $223 billion on war-related funding, according to the Congressional Research Service. Aid expenditures, excluding the cost of combat operations, have grown exponentially, from $982 million in 2003 to $9.3 billion last year.
The National Priorities Project, which calculates the tax consequences of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on individual communities nationwide, estimates that Lodi residents have paid $162.5 million to date to support those conflicts.
That sum, according to the project's analysts, would be enough to hire 2,300 elementary school teachers or provide health care for every man, woman and child in Lodi.
The costs keep growing.
Obama is overhauling the U.S. approach to Afghanistan, putting the focus on long-term security, economic sustainability and development. That will require deployment of more Americans.
Anthony H. Cordesman, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has advised General McChrystal, said that while progress had been made since 2001 when American-led forces toppled the Taliban, the overall effort "has been a nightmare; vast amounts have been wasted."
Some argue that the money spent on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq helps protect Americans from future terrorist attacks. That's debatable.
What can't be ignored is that the wars are financed with borrowed money. America is more than $10 trillion in debt, and counting.
Among the many ways to ruin a nation, bankruptcy is high on the list.
One way to climb out of the financial mire that's engulfing us would be to withdraw from the costly, senseless, impossible quests in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Joe Guzzardi retired from the Lodi Unified School District in 2008. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.
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Gator wrote on Oct 25, 2009 4:36 PM:
I’ve reread your post of Oct 23, 2009 1:59 AM and changed my mind.. You didn’t go to school. Right ??? "
Lodian wrote on Oct 24, 2009 6:08 PM:
Gator wrote on Oct 24, 2009 4:06 PM:
rantraves wrote on Oct 24, 2009 8:25 AM:
jbhiker wrote on Oct 23, 2009 6:31 AM:
hicksvilianfromlodi wrote on Oct 23, 2009 1:59 AM:
hicksvilianfromlodi wrote on Oct 23, 2009 1:55 AM:
Gator wrote on Oct 22, 2009 10:04 PM:
And Asia is till all together.. Why did we waste 58,000 plus the MIA.s some one answer
The question with a degree of intelligence.. Waiting, wating, Beuller, beuller????? "
danielh wrote on Oct 22, 2009 5:08 PM:
politicians make local campaign stops to promise their constituents that we will get out soon.
The only time I ever saw a president pull out of a war was Vietnam, when Nixon - Kissinger left behind 2000 MIA's. "
Gator wrote on Oct 21, 2009 9:13 PM:
That the reason for Afghanistan was revenge for 9/11 even though all of the attackers were Saudi
and funded by the Saudis…Iraq was oil and still is oil and Halliburton, KBR, AIG…Old men talk
young men die…Americans need to get their head out of their *** and realize we are hated by many, we are seen as no better than the old Soviet Union. Bushes your with us or against us spoke volumes..As for the Republic/ democracy ideology B/S it’s apples and oranges nothing more. The US Short for United States like USSR was for Union of the Soviet socialist Republic. Nothing more nothing less.. The problem with this country, Greed pure and simple all around.
Politicians and every day Americans. No involvement in government just whine and complain.
We have met the enemy and it R us… "
wtf wrote on Oct 20, 2009 10:12 PM:
rantraves wrote on Oct 20, 2009 7:59 PM:
wtf wrote on Oct 20, 2009 6:14 PM:
You can say that again! And the irony is that as the U.S. spreads "democracy" they've forgotten what that word means.
Modern democracy was created as a reaction to a concentration and abuse of power by the rulers.
Yet, according to a recent report by the U.N. Development Program, the U.S. is THIRD in the world for income disparity between rich and poor. Included in the "Top Ten" are several U.S. allies i.e., Israel, Britain, and Australia.
Link to report here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/107980/countries-with-the-biggest-gaps-between-rich-and-poor
Apparently "Democracy" is NOT what the U.S. is spreading; makes you wonder what they're really up to. (NOTE: I am an American and the term "U.S." refers to the government and their ilk.) "
Gator wrote on Oct 20, 2009 5:49 PM:
Another item, bin laden educated in the US wants to burn a city in the
Worst way.. Getting his hands on a nuke will accomplish goal.I have 500
that says within 3 years a major US city will go up in flames and the nay
saying idiots will moan we never saw it coming. Face the facts boys one
way or an other the US is in big trouble.This country is a shadow of it’s former self,you just don’t have the drive, ambition, pride and grit of the
Greatest generation… "
jramagic wrote on Oct 20, 2009 2:24 PM:
wtf wrote on Oct 20, 2009 10:27 AM:
Get our troops out NOW! "
rantraves wrote on Oct 20, 2009 7:24 AM:
Gator wrote on Oct 19, 2009 10:03 PM:
Are you so gullible that you think that al Qaeda ignorant savages living in caves?? Think
again. Most of the leadership are highly educated people, doctors, engineers and Teachers…They have an unfathomable hatred of America. So jr I take it you don’t have
a problem with am American city nuked and a few hundred thousand die, your really ok with that?? Lose Afghanistan and there is a 100% chance it will come to pass sooner than later. Then jr we’ve left our troops A** hung out to dry since the end of WWII Cut
and run… Don’t finish what we start, waste American lives.. Why go in the first place "
jramagic wrote on Oct 19, 2009 4:04 PM:
The Russian military is not the "Republican Guard"...they whipped the crack Wehrmacht in WW2 and ran them back into Germany. Tough dudes with good equipment. But they gave up on Afghanistan and walked away..... "
Gator wrote on Oct 19, 2009 3:31 PM:
Insurgency war.. "
Gator wrote on Oct 19, 2009 12:17 PM:
every one loves us. That couldn’t be further from the truth. in Pakistan hate is the general
rule of the day.. We have a reputation of starting something and then cut and run Look at
the history since WW II . As I said this country disregards al Qaeda at our peril. I took
my brother in law to the mosque in Lodi and he left on the spot I asked why but he wouldn’t say but his look said it all…As for your GEO POLITICS remark it’s like this
Stan North Korea is nothing but a pest you can be sure there is a nuclear sub close by.
As for Iran Israel purchased 100 million dollars worth of super bunker busters from us
Other than Iran what use does Israel for bombs that can penetrate 50 feet of concrete
Before they explode??? They also have a good number of highly modified F-16 s
You complete the picture Stan… "
rantraves wrote on Oct 18, 2009 5:59 PM:
Gator wrote on Oct 18, 2009 5:00 PM:
Banking the money…A war that should have never been fought…The Afghans harbor
Terrorist who are hell bent on putting the hurt on the US. Oil is not a factor.. This is the
Things they hate about us. Yes Stan people hate us for our life style, our movies our music and mostly we are not Islamic. Now Stan its not just America it’s the entire
Western world, al-Qaeda's No 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri has made the statement to convert
To Islam or die. There are a Billion and a half Muslims of this amount some four hundred
Million are considered radical. Oil is not their reason. We are Zawahri is not a joking man. If
They ever get their hands on a nuke some major US City will burn and people will die…
I’m not joking when I say what’s going on in your local mosque…Pakistan and Afghanistan
Are the two most dangerous countries to the US. Not Iran or North Korea… "
rantraves wrote on Oct 18, 2009 1:58 PM:
Gator wrote on Oct 18, 2009 11:52 AM:
Need missiles a shipping container will do. We don’t have the resources to check all containers
Coming into the country. The time line was said to be 3-5 years a year and a half ago. Now Stan
It could be a thousand times worse than 9/11. So Stan if you think that’s B/S that’s all well and
Good but I would give a million dollars to see the look on your face if it happens. It began when
They blew up the Marine barracks in Lebanon and it won’t stop till they put a big hurt on this
Country. .Keep an eye on the Mosque, you just never know…Sleep well Stan
:-))))))))))))) "
rantraves wrote on Oct 18, 2009 9:01 AM:
Gator wrote on Oct 17, 2009 9:56 PM:
Taliban has proved they can attack most anywhere in the country the past few weeks.
Now for the non believers Pakistan + Taliban+ al Qaeda = Very bad things for
America…Then maybe a Nuke in LA or SF might prove these folks mean business.
They just busted a cell which meant to do some serious S***. You folks in Lodi
had a little fooling around with a start up cell, minor but it was there just the same.
Say it’s 10 pm do you know what’s going on in your local mosque?? Sleep well Amigos. :-))))))))))))))... "
T & C wrote on Oct 17, 2009 4:55 PM:
Obama will NOT let us get out of Afghanistan! The military contractors depend on those billions in weapons and equipment! Afghanistan has been "Fighting each other for 1,000 years, and any fool knows we cannot make them "Behave"! "
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