Opinions on the wars 1

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Before you all start freaking out about the question to follow let me first say that A) I am a soldier deployed to Afghanistan, and B) I am adamantly opposed to this war or any war for that matter (would have put that quote by Eisenhower about hating war, but forgot the whole thing). That being said, I would like to know what your opinions are about the current situation in either Iraq or Afghanistan, whether you agree with the war or not, do you think we should be in these countries, and what you think should be done about it. I will from time to time post about the war since I am living it, but I will leave it at this for now.
Just know that I will remain fair and impartial when it comes to hearing everyone's opinions, and maybe try to relay some of this information to someone who can do something about it. Thanks, and remember, "Only a Klingon would fart in an airlock!"

The US invasion of Afghanistan was, seemingly at least, a response to the 9/11 terror attacks and our attempt to hunt down those responsible. Sounds reasonable enough, but after 8 years I think we have to admit that our strategy there has failed. We took the wrong approach–a complete invasion, toppling local governments and creating a power vacuum, etc have only hurt us.

Iraq... well, how to explain Iraq? There is no clear reason why we invaded Iraq. All we really know is that it was an incredibly stupid decision with catastrophic costs, not only to the federal deficit and the US economy but, more importantly, the immense cost in human life, both American and Iraqi. Incidentally, the US invasion of Iraq was in blatant violation of international law, including a number of treaties to which the US is a signatory. Those in the leadership responsible for the breach are guilty of war crimes. Under the Nuremberg Charter, individual soldiers who knowingly participate in such operations could be prosecuted for war crimes if they made no effort to prevent the crimes being committed. Thus, any soldier deployed to Iraq is obligated to disobey orders, or they are committing war crimes in violation of US and international law.

As far as Eisenhower quotes, here's my favorite: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

Last edited by Orwell on 26 Dec 2009, 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

For someone with no real direct knowledge I can only form opinions from what I read. I assume Obama is well briefed on the situation but from my sources I get the opinion that the Afghans and the Iraqis seem to want the withdrawal of all foreign forces. I have read that there are no more than 100 Al Quada militants in Afghanistan and most of the conflict is intertribal and out of objection to the totally corrupt central government that is sponsored by the USA.. The additional forces seemingly will be insufficient to make much difference and the conflict on these terms seems endlessly destructive and useless . It seems oil is a factor. I don't know.

I agree with you on the oil thing on the Iraqi side of things. As for the seemingly small number of Taliban actually in Afghanistan, that is due in large part to the fact that the bulk of their forces tend to hide in neighbouring Pakistan. I have heard that most members of the Taliban are Pakistani and not Afghan, though there are a great deal of Afghan's that are part of the Taliban.

My source on the situation which seems less biased than official sources is at http://www.counterpunch.org/. Columnists there indicate that the general population is not enthusiastic about the Taliban but they are generally less corrupt than the central government and therefore they gain much support.

The democratically elected government of Iraq declared that it wanted us out.

Lets respect the wishes of the Iraqi voters and get the heck out!

Im an agnostic on Afganistan, but its not ovcious to me want the US could accomplish by staying there much longer nor what the danger would be if we pulled out.

I didn't say there were a small number of Taliban in Afghanistan. I said that Al Quada had a small presence. There is a very large difference.

My honest two cents....

Both wars are engineered to acquire power and control of resources for an elite few....using Americans as pawns in a bigger game.

Secondary objective is to deliberately exhaust the US military arsenal so the US is less capable of withstanding hostile offenses from foreign powers. It certainly is economically toppling our nation faster than anything else has in the last 20 years.

Conspiracy by Obama and Bush to destroy American military power? Odd idea. For what reason?

Either nuke the region or get out. What we are doing there is positively insane.

Since there is no way the U.S. can conquer/control a Muslim nation we have two choices: Defend our selves closer to home and/or utterly exterminate the threat. Since we do not have the balls to do the latter, then perforce, we must do the former.

ruveyn

No offense is intended by this but THAT is insane. You cant just deal in absolutes. How would you like it if another nation felt it could justify sending a bunch of people in to occupy your nation because it feels threatened by a bunch of extremist criminals that attacked it live there or because your leader was "supposedly" making WMD's. I'm not necessarily an overly intelligent person nor do i begin to know everything about politics but i think what the United states needs to do about the middle east is
1. Stop with the strong arm tactics, going in and invading a place is a serious decision that can have lingering consequences for years.

2. We have got to learn to use a light touch, rather than an invasion why cant we quietly remove the terrorists using undercover operations that employ men from the same cultural background as the targets, you know, people they will trust. sort of the same way the FBI infiltrated militant left and criminal organizations like the Black Panthers in the 60's or the Warlocks Motorcycle Gang in the 80's.

3. start having a little bit of respect for the sovereignty of middle eastern nations. the culture in that part of the world doesn't respect anything but violent religion based totalitarianism so instead of toppling the dictators why not learn to work with them, manipulate them to give up the terrorists and drug farmers by convincing them that we have a common enemy. the people in that part of the world simply are not used to democracy and clearly are not ready for it. give them time perhaps in a few hundred years they will have a successful revolution an things will change but don't force it on them. When you push someone they tend to push back.

The Catalyst for Afganistan was September 11, however the cause is far deeper and in essence it is an imperialist one. The collapse of the Soviet union created a political vacuum in Central Asia, an area which has the second largest known oil and gas reserves, Afghanistan is strategically placed to provide access to the Caspian sea region which holds approximately 20% of the worlds oil and just under 10% of its gas. By attacking Afghanistan, setting up a client regime and moving vast military forces into the region, the US aims to establish a new political framework within which it will exert hegemonic control.

The official version, that the entire American military has been mobilized because of one individual, Osama bin Laden, is ludicrous. The use of Bin laden is in line with every war waged by the US over the last 3 decades i.e. the American government and the media have sought to manipulate public opinion by portraying the targeted leader as the personification of evil.

In the case of Iraq, the US supported Saddam Hussein in the 1980s as an ally against the Khomeini regime in Iran. But when the Iraqi regime threatened US oil interests in the Persian Gulf, Saddam Hussein was transformed into a demon and war was launched against Iraq. The main purpose of the Gulf War's was to establish a permanent US military presence in the Persian Gulf and gain control of critical oil reserves

When the US government speaks of a war against terrorism, it is thoroughly hypocritical, not only because yesterday’s terrorist is today’s ally, and vice versa, but because American policy produces social catastrophe's that provide the breeding ground for recruits to terrorist organizations. Nowhere are the results of American imperialism’s predatory role more evident than in the the people of Afghanistan and Iraq

Also given the nature of the region, with its vast stores of critical resources, none of the powers in Central Asia will for long accept an Afghanistan settlement in which the US is the sole arbiter. Russia, Iran, China, Pakistan and India all have their own interests. So most likely this will create major nationalistic antagonisms

Well, not "Obama and Bush" but by those who used their power and influence to assist their obtaining their office.

America is pretty much the single world power impeding the UN rising to political dominance. China is a problem to some degree, but China is openly socialist, so the UN has less of an issue with China.

America's economic strength and military might is what enables it to do what it wants. Our military was neutered by the focus of world power shifting from military might to economic might. That's when the "war" against America's economy went full tilt. Economic policy in America is set by people who are heavily involved with globalist planners, and policy over the last 30 years has vigorously worked to break down the structures that enable the average American to obtain and grow personal wealth.

Without economic might, American military might become non-existent, and America is no longer an impediment to the UN's agenda for the world.

Therefore the UN is the sole "Axis of Evil"?

It is all about power and control of resources. Iraq has one of the Worlds largest oil deposits and Afghanistan accounts for 92 percent of total World production of opiates. If there is money to be made, there are people attempting to corner the market.

We originally went into Kuwait because we were paid to do so, US troops were nothing but hired mercenaries.

In my eyes it is.

The UN is modeled for global socialism. They feel it is their right to dictate every aspect of what a person should be able to say and do as well as what you can do as an occupation or if you can keep the fruit of your labor. It's not a world I want to live in....especially since if the UN attains its goals, you'll see a world where only the very wealthy (top 1%) would have all the options while everyone else will be regulated to socialistic poverty where no amount of ingenuity or hard work is rewarded.