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POPSTomgram: ...Destabilizing Pakistan I found the views presented in this post quite troubling. Upon reflection, I think that is because my cynical suspicion is that its more likely to be true than false. (Even more so, because I really don't like being "cynical").
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POPSWars sending U.S. into ruin. Obama’s Afghan “surge” of 30,000 new troops will cost an additional $33 billion — more than Germany’s total defence budget. Military and intelligence spending relentlessly increase as unemployment heads over 10% and the economy bleeds red ink. America has become the Sick Man of the Western Hemisphere, an economic cripple like the defunct Ottoman Empire. The Pentagon now accounts for half of total world military spending. Add America’s rich NATO allies and Japan, and the figure reaches 75%. China and Russia combined spend only a paltry 10% of what the U.S. spends on defence. There are 750 U.S. military bases in 50 nations and 255,000 service members stationed abroad, 116,000 in Europe, nearly 100,000 in Japan and South Korea. Military spending gobbles up 19% of federal spending and at least 44% of tax revenues. During the Bush administration, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — funded by borrowing — cost each American family more than $25,000.
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POPSUS hopes to route Taliban in new front on Afghan War KABUL (AP) -- A new and possibly decisive chapter of the Afghan war is unfolding. The U.S. is preparing a major attack on the Taliban, the militants are being squeezed in their Pakistani sanctuaries, and the Afghan government is trying to draw them into peace talks. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/02/06/2010-02-06_us_hopes_to_route_the_taliban_in_new_front_on_the_afghan_war.html#ixzz0es9am7cH
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POPSTaliban make children plant IEDs to thwart Army snipers A senior Army source said: ‘The Taliban know that if they get caught in the sights of our snipers, they don’t last long, so they have resorted to hiding behind compound walls and directing children to plant bombs for them. ‘Lots of home-made IEDs detonate before they have even been laid, but the Taliban don’t seem to care whether a child gets killed or maimed. Some boys are as young as 12.’
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POPS"In the Clutches of the American Monster."
A QUOTE: "From here we start our struggle to get our sister released from the clutches of the American monster." is how this article ends, referring to the guilty verdict for a Pakistan scientist, mother of three. As we now know (right?) people are held in U.S. secret prisons for years and years, without trials, tortured, and murdered (one murder conviction thus far, for beating a general to death). Aafia Siddiqui, according to many reports, was one of those victims, held for years in jail, a secret prison, tortured and raped. After escape she was hunted down, arrested by Afghan authorities, and when U.S. troops showed up to take her away she grabbed a gun from one of the guards and shot them down. TYPICALLY, we haven't heard much about this trial: evidence, Q&A, what she said when she was on the witness stand --- but we get a lot of commentary about it. Humm...We're suppose to believe she was also plotting to blow up the Statue of Liberty. But we've managed to do th
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POPSBuzkashi: Afghanistan's national sport ESPN: NFL and Buzkashi bear many similarities . President Hamid Karzai owns nine horses . And, he probably gets the metaphor: Afghan politics can be like buzkashi, just minus the horses and goats
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POPSAfghanistan Who Will Write Its Destiny? I hope that in reading these words and poems from the Afghan Women's Writing Project help you to understand that bombs and armies have impacts that we seldom actually see or hear of from someone on the ground and who will be there long after we have gone.
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POPSTaliban to be paid not to fight After criticizing the Afghan govt for being corrupt ( a most hypocritical effort ), the forces have decided that corruption is the way to go. Bribery
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POPSTQ | Is secret to Afghan 'peace' a deal with Taliban? This question is continually raised and now it appears that such a deal is imminent, if we can believe Hamid Karzai. The reality is that peace in that war-torn nation has only come with deal-making among the factions. That's reality. The wild-card in all the dealing is Al-Qaeda. ___ SOURCE | http://googlelabs.twi.bz/r ___ SEARCH | http://googlelabs.twi.bz/s ___ iWeb Blogger | TQ: Truth TODAY | TRIVIA Tomorrow | http://me.twi.bz/u ALTACITIES | http://altacities.com | http://me.twi.bz/X ___ Help us reach 1,234 subscribers by 5:06 pm (7 sec) on 8-9-10 Matching the numerical sequence 12345678910 Details here | http://me.twi.bz/5
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POPSObama and no-bid contracts The Bush Administration was heavily criticized for awarding no bid contracts..usually when the company awarded was the only company capable of the job. There was never any reason to believe politics was an issue in the no bid contracts during the Bush Administration. However, NOW, it is all about politics. You see, to the Left, politics is a religion. A religion of the State.
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POPSLife in Afghanistan on Jan. 21, 2010 [PICS] Those crazy Amerikuns, being meanz to the Afghan kidz.....but seriously, you can believe the Left's words about America, or you can see for yourself.....a picture is worth a thousand words. Description for each photo: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2010/01/life-in-afghanistan.html
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POPSAnother Broken Promise
The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington-based firm owned by economist and Democratic donor Vincent V. Checchi, will pay the firm $24,673,427 to provide “rule of law stabilization services” in war-torn Afghanistan. A synopsis of the contract published on the USAID Web site says Checchi & Company will “train the next generation of legal professionals” throughout the Afghan provinces and thereby “develop the capacity of Afghanistan’s justice system to be accessible, reliable, and fair.” The legality of the arrangement as a “sole source,” or no-bid, contract was made possible by virtue of a waiver signed by the USAID administrator. “They cancelled the open bid on this when they came to power earlier this year,” a source familiar with the federal contracting process told Fox News. “That’s kind of weird,” said another source, who has worked on “rule of law” issues in both Afghanistan and Iraq, about the no-bid contract to Checchi & Compa
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POPSPresident Obama: You really need to listen to Afghans not in Kabul Afghanistan is not Vietnam but the types of mistakes are the same. Not checking and rechecking "intelligence" so you know you are not just being used to settle a private score. Really knowing the culture so you do not accomplish exactly the opposite of your goals. If you don't want a repeat of people clinging to helicopters as the last allied forces leave, you need to listen to stories like these.
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