What's he doing?

03/26/09 WASHINGTON – Concerned about the faltering war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama plans to dispatch thousands more military and civilian trainers on top of the 17,000 fresh combat troops he's already ordered, people familiar with the forthcoming plan said Thursday.

03/27/09 WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Friday ordered 4,000 more military troops into Afghanistan, vowing to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the terrorist al-Qaida network in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
In a war that still has no end in sight, Obama said the fresh infusion of U.S. forces is designed to bolster the Afghan army and turn up the heat on terrorists that he said are plotting new attacks against Americans. The plan takes aim at terrorist havens in Pakistan and challenges the government there and in Afghanistan to show more results.

C'mon man, we can not win this thing. There will be no surrender, we're not going to kill them all, and we're not going to win their hearts and minds with military force. Is there an exit strategy? What's to keep the Tali Ban or Al Qaida or the terrorists from regrouping after we leave? We can not prevent terrorists from setting up training camps. If we clean out Afghanistan they'll set up shop in Pakistan, If we clean up Pakistan, they set back up in Afghanistan. Or move to any one of a hundred other places around the mid east. Jesus, this is a dumb idea! Remember what happened when Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the Persians, the British empire, and Russia invaded Afghanistan? They all lost.
Damn it all I thought you were smarter than this. I still believe you are smarter than this, I voted for you man. You were a breath of fresh air. I hope and pray that this thing isn't your Viet Nam. We're just going to get our guys killed, kill countless numbers of Afghan civilians, turn hundreds of thousands of Afghans against us, re-enforce the hatred that many Middle Easterners have against our foreign policy, all while spending billions and billions on a complete waste of time in a time. If we're going to invest so much blood and treasure on this endeavor lets do it on nation building and not a man hunt with our military. A large part of the reason that Hamas won in Palestine was due to the fact that they poured money into medicines and healthcare for the people as well as school construction. That's how to win the hearts and minds. America should do the same in Afghanistan. Since we destroyed large parts of it lets help rebuild it. This will not only make the Afghans happy but, our military industrial complex as well. After all, part of the reason we blow things up is so we can have our contractors rebuild them. So let's have less destruction and more construction. Roads, sewers, electricity, and so on. Let our foot print be a positive and not a negative. It's not going to win over everyone but, nothing will win over everyone. At a time when our economy is on the verge of imploding and if we're going to deficit spend in a foreign country anyway why not do it in a constructive way. It certain;y beats the shit we keep piling on the heap that is our national debt.

And along the lines of our horrible economic situation. What's with the Geithner and Summers recruitment? As I'm sure you are aware these two were major players in the chicanery that got us into this mess. What made you go with these two? Did they have a sudden come to Jesus moment? What's wrong with some fresh faces and some new ideas? Is Geithner going to hold his old running buddies to account? I doubt it seriously. An administration official said the Treasury Department did its own legal analysis and concluded that those contracts could not be broken. Oh really! When the major airlines broke all those contracts with their pilots and attendants forcing them to take a cut in pay nobody from the government said it couldn't be done. When the major auto manufactures break contracts with the Unions, for some strange reason congress and the senate give their blessings. Does anyone else see a pattern here? Geithner, Summers, and their ilk are holding the world economy hostage and demanding ransom from the US tax payer. If we don't meet their demands they'll crash the economy. It's all a confidence game. When things go their (Wall Street and global corporation's) way the stock market goes up. Whenever Labor and the Unions triumph, (which is a rare occasion indeed) the power brokers will drive the market into the toilet.

And finally,from the UK Telegraph 03/26/09
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged $80 million (£55m) to Mexico to acquire Blackhawk helicopters to fight drug gangs threatening the country's stability.

We're going to give Mexico $80 million so they can buy helicopters. Why don't we just give them to Mexico? I guess once you've sanctioned the printing of a few trillion un-backed U.S. dollars by the Federal Reserve another 80 million is chicken feed. So, let me get this straight: we're going to give $80 million to the Mexican authorities who will in turn buy Blackhawk Helicopters from us in order to better fight the drug cartels. Are you kidding me? I don't know who is advising you on these matters but maybe you aught to fire them and get someone else. Most Mexican police officials are bought and paid for buy the drug cartels. The Mexican government much like our own is corrupt and can't compete with the drug cartels deep pockets. Most of the police are bought and paid for by the same cartels they are hired to fight.

The US secretary of state also acknowledged America's "inability" to stop weapons being smuggled across the border from the US and being used by the drug cartels in a bloody turf war.

Yes it's true illegals give a legal a few hundred $ to go into 1 of 2000 or more gun shops located along the Mexican -United States border. They buy military type weaponry as well as ammunition and sneak it back into Mexico. We're supplying the people were fighting! Why don't we just monitor theses shops more closely or make it unlawful to have a gun shop within 250 miles of the border?
In a previous post I explained how the legalization of drugs could not only reduce crime, eliminate prison overcrowding, increase tax revenues, and create jobs. Now I would like to add that legalizing drugs would devastate the Cartels and reduce the need for further bloodshed and ridiculous deficit spending.

While my man OB14me has already done some very good things, stem cell research, actually allowed the press to ask tough questions, brought to the forefront the need for health and education reforms, spoke in complete sentences, etc etc. He has also shown that while he was elected president of the United States . . . the military industrial complex, Global corporations, and Greed make the rules by which you have to play.

DaG Out